Arlington National Cemetery:
Arlington National Cemetery is comprised of land that once belonged to George Washington Parke Custis, grandson of Martha Washington and adopted son of George Washington. Custis spent his life commemorating Washington and built Arlington House on the 1,100-acre plantation as a memorial to the first president. In 1857, Custis willed the property to his only surviving daughter Mary Anna Randolph Custis, who was married to Robert E. Lee.
After the Lee family vacated the property at the onset of the Civil War in 1861, federal troops used the land as a camp and headquarters – beginning on May 24, 1861. In 1863, the government established Freedman’s Village on the estate as a way to assist slaves transitioning to freedom. The village provided housing, education, employment training, and medical care. A property tax dispute, amounting to just over $92.07 cost the Lee family their home and in January 1864, the U.S. government purchased the property for $26,800 at public auction. After Mary Lee’s death, her son, George Washington Custis Lee sued in 1882 for the return of the property and won a Supreme Court case. He then sold the property to the federal government for $150,000.
As the number of Civil War casualties was outpacing other local Washington, D.C.-based cemeteries, the property became a burial location. The first military burial took place on May 13, 1864, for Private William H. Christman. On June 15, the War Department officially set aside approximately 200 acres of the property to use as a cemetery. By the end of the war, thousands of service members and former slaves were buried here.
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/Explore-the-Cemetery/History/History-of-Arlington-National-Cemetery
Eugene Pioneer Cemetery:
A National Historic Cemetery & City of Eugene landmark, the Eugene Pioneer Cemetery was established in 1872 by the Spencer Butte Lodge No. 9 International Order of Oddfellows. It was originally known as the I.O.O.F. Cemetery. The original cemetery was 10 acres with 6 acres added in 1907. There are 752 lots on the 15 acres with about 4500 to 5000 burials.It is an historical repository of stories of the lives of early pioneers who chose this as the final resting places for themselves and their families. Towering Douglas Fir trees, old roses, and lavender and white lilac bushes shade their graves. The Eugene Pioneer Cemetery is The Crown Jewel of the Surrounding area.
http://eugenepioneercemetery.org/history.html
Davis Cemetery District:
Early History:
1855 is the date of the earliest grave marker in the Davis Cemetery which is located on land originally purchased by Col. Joseph B. Chiles in 1850. Descriptions of boundary markers between the property of Jerome C. Davis and his brother-in-law Gabriel F. Brown dating to 1861 refer to a “graveyard fence” but few records of early burials exist today. Only one wooden headstone survived the ravages of vandals and grass fires which swept through the grounds in past years. As a result many of the area’s earliest residents, in particular a large number of Chinese settlers, now lie in unmarked graves, their identities lost forever. However, headstones of all descriptions still mark the burial place of many pioneers who were laid to rest in the Davisville and Tremont cemeteries.
Records of the Catholic Church show that Mrs. I. S. Chiles gave one acre of land for a cemetery in 1874, and county records show she deeded “one acre of land south and adjoining the Davisville cemetery” to Bishop Alemany May 28, 1880. The Davisville Enterprise on September 27, 1900 reported the formation of a Cemetery Association and listed G. W. Pierce, Jr., W. S. Wright, Dr. Walter Bates, Mrs. J. W. Anderson, and Mrs. Minnie Collins as members of the Board of Trustees. W. D. Chiles, who had continued to pay taxes on the cemetery property, agreed to deed an unstated amount of land to the Board of Trustees and plans were made to beautify the plots. Another article on February 8, 1901 announced that the cemetery association had ordered 80 palm and cypress trees to be planted. The Board also voted to have a water tank repaired and had erected a new windmill, the generous gift of William H. Marden.
A petition signed by many local residents asking for incorporation of the Davis Cemetery District was acknowledged by the Yolo County Board of Supervisors on August 31, 1922 with the appointment of trustees J. A. Harby, Mrs. Virginia Saunders (Dixon), and Miss Hattie Weber.
In 1958 the Catholic Diocese deeded to the Davis Cemetery District three acres of cemetery land originally donated by the Chiles family. Acquisition of 20 additional acres purchased from George Chiles between 1962 and 1964 will meet projected needs of the community for the next twenty years.
http://www.daviscemetery.org/spages/SD1140145498