Mulkey Cemetery is named for Philip Mulkey, a native of Kentucky who arrived in Oregon in 1853, accompanied by his wife, Martha, and several of their adult children. The elder Mulkeys farmed 320 acres of land in what became west Eugene. Philip was the first traveling preacher in Lane County and became a well-known local figure.
Pioneer life in Oregon was rewarding but challenging. Between 1863 and 1865, Martha Mulkey and three of the Mulkey grandchildren died. They were buried on a hilltop above the Willamette Valley, which became known informally as the “Mulkey Cemetery.”
By the late 1870s, more than 25 burials had taken place at the cemetery. In the 1880s, several local families joined together to formally deed the hilltop land as a cemetery. The arrangement was formalized in 1891, when a plat map was made and recorded with the county.
From the late nineteenth century through the 1950s, the cemetery was surrounded by the pear and cherry orchards planted by Edward Hawkins, who came to Oregon as a child in 1845. In 1956, the orchard was subdivided. The area is still known as “Hawkins Heights,” and the names of early settlers have become the names of streets in this quiet residential neighborhood.
The Mulkey Cemetery is maintained by the Mulkey Cemetery Association, a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation. The Association has limited historical information available in our files, but please feel free to let us know if you have a research question you’re working on and we’ll see what we can do to help. We are also happy to receive copies of cemetery-related records, including deeds, death certificates, and biographical information about individuals interred at the Mulkey. Thank you!
Historical Sources for the Mulkey Cemetery
A bibliography of historical materials about cemetery history and families.
