In 1852, Hanson and Lavina Stevens and their seven children made a 6-month trek from Iowa to Oregon along the Oregon Trail. One of the few prized items surviving the arduous journey was a slip of rose that Lavina loved. It is not known if she brought a cutting or rose hips. The rose was planted at their homestead in Silverton, Oregon. At some point after her death in 1859, a clipping was planted at her grave in the Bethany Pioneer Cemetery, (SE corner of Hazelgreen Rd and Brush Creek Rd, Bethany, OR). Hanson was also buried at this site upon his death in 1883. The cemetery land was donated by their daughter Mary and her husband Jennings Smith. Mary tended the grave until the last few years of her life. She died in 1923. In later years Tom Ewing (Esson) and Jerry Leone (Mount) tended the gravesite and rose.
In time, the rose in the graveyard was the only remaining offspring of the original. Clippings of this, a hardy and resilient plant, have since been distributed to every branch of the family. In honor of the family’s 100th reunion in 1990, a rose clipping was submitted to the Portland Rose Society.
Bethany Rose is named
After research by Elizabeth Hadden (Esson), it was discovered that it was one of its kind. She was told by a representative at the St. Paul Heirloom Rose Garden that she could name the rose. She named it Bethany. The rose has several distinct characteristics. The blooms are pink, quartered and have no aroma; the stems, lacking thorns, are smooth. Left to its own devices, the bush can become unruly and hardy and will spread riotously over a large area.
Elizabeth Hadden, third daughter of Milton and Ella Esson and great-granddaughter of Hanson and Lavina Stevens shared the story of her research and naming the Bethany Rose at the 2002 Stevens Family reunion.
The rose bush had suffered many indignities over the years. It was cut to ground level and sprayed with weed killer by cemetery groundskeepers more than once, despite pleas from the family to be mindful of the rose when tending the gravesite. The resilient plant survived all these adversities. After an improvement to the cement slab at the gravesite, a “bump-out” planter was created to protect the rose.
Northwest Rose Historians Registry
Family members contacted the Northwest Rose Historians in 2011, after learning of their search for “pioneer roses” to preserve and to list as Heritage Roses. The rose is well documented in reunion meeting records, but we did not realize the significance and appeal of this story as part of Oregon’s cultural history.
While working with the Northwest Rose Historian representatives, we identified a second Stevens family heritage rose, the Ida Esson rose, that has been thriving on the historic Esson property along with the Bethany rose at, Maple Hill Farm, located west of Mt. Angel by the Pudding River.
Our family is honored that the 1852 Bethany Rose and Ida Esson Rose are now listed as Heritage Roses on the Northwest Heritage Rose Registry and planted adjacent to the entrance at the Antique Powerland Museum complex in the Pioneer Rose Collection of the French Prairie Heritage Rose Garden in Brooks, Oregon.
Registry Certificates
Articles
Genealogical Forum of Oregon, The Bulletin, Vol. 61, Number 3, March 2012, Pg. 25 Pioneer Rose Trail, by Northwest Rose Historians-Laura King and Kathleen McMullen
Statesman Journal (2014), Roses link generations from pioneer times to the present, by Barbara Curtin
STEVENS FAMILY 