Civil War Soldiers Buried in Portland s St. Mary s Cemetery. Photo by Connie Lenzen

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1 Civil War Soldiers Buried in Portland s St. Mary s Cemetery Louis W. Parmentier Louis W. Parmentier, age 39, died on 30 September 1884 at his home on Water Avenue between Harrison and Lincoln Streets and was buried from Portland s St. Lawrence Church. He was born in France. The cause of death was suicide his throat was cut. His survivors included his wife Elizabeth and children Anna Louisa, Mary Rosella, and Charles R. Parmentier.1 In the 1880s people who committed suicide were not allowed to be buried in consecrated ground. However, Parmentier was buried in St. Mary s Cemetery. The entry for his burial in the St. Lawrence Church register carries these words Committed the deed in a moment of insanity caused by a great loss. 2 It may have been believed that a person who was not in their right mind should not be judged. St. Mary s Cemetery closed in 1930, and the Archdiocese sent letters to lot owners advising them of the cemetery s closure and offering space in Mount Calvary. Announcements were also published in newspapers. Between 1930 and 1937, people stepped up and made the arrangements to transfer family burials. In 1937 the Archdiocese contracted with a professional crew to carefully excavate the cemetery, and the remains and tombstones were transferred to Mount Calvary s St. Mary s section. No one claimed Parmentier s remains, and they are in the St. Mary s section. L. W. Parmentier Co B th 184 NY Inf. Photo by Connie Lenzen Civil War Service, Private, Company B, 184th NY Infantry Spencer Leonard ( ) was a member of the Sons of the Union Veterans of the Civil War. He collected data on Civil War veterans who lived in Oregon, both the veterans who served from Oregon and those who served from other states. The end product was a card file at the Genealogical Forum of Oregon in Portland with data on more than 15,000 veterans. Louis Parmentier s card in the Spencer Leonard collection summarized what was known and added two items: o Parmentier was a charter member of the Stoneman Post. o Parmentier was listed on the 1883 pension roll. 1 Connie Lenzen, St. Mary s Cemetery, Portland s Pioneer Catholic Cemetery (Vancouver, WA: Clark County Genealogical Society, 1987), St. Lawrence Church Burials, , Catholic Church Records of the Northwest, Mss 1580, reel 8.

2 Louis Parmentier s service is cited in the 184 th Infantry roster. 3 He was wounded barely a month after he was mustered in. A. R. Waud s pencil sketch on tan paper illustrates a scene at the Battle of Cedar Creek on 19 October 1864 when Parmentier was wounded. 4 The injury must have been serious since he spent the next seven months in the hospital at Philadelphia. 3 Rosters of the New York Infantry Regiments During the Civil War, Unit History Project New York State Military Museum ( : accessed 4 March 2013), citing 184 th Infantry roster, p Cedar Creek, Virginia, Civil War Photograph Collection, Prints & Photographs Division, Library of Congress ( accessed 4 March 2013).

3 Drawing of the regimental hospital in Philadelphia. 5 After the war The first year that Parmentier was listed in the Portland city directories was 1877, and he was boarding at a hotel in East Portland. He soon moved to the west side of the Willamette River No Parmentier Parmenter, L, machinist, boards Albina House, East Portland Parmentier Louis, engineer, resides west side Second between Salmon & Main Parmentier Louis, engineer, resides west side Second between Harrison and Salmon Parmenter Louis, machinist, resides west side Water near Lincoln Parmentier Louis, machinist, resides 8 S Front near Lincoln. Parmentier Elizabeth Miss, resides 8 S Front near Lincoln Parmentier Lewis, machinist with Smith Bros. & Watson, resides 8 S Front east side between Hall and Lincoln. 5 Regimental hospital 1863, Civil War Photograph Collection, Prints & Photographs Division, Library of Congress ( 4 March 2013). 6 Portland City Directory for 1874 (Portland: A. G. Walling, Job Printer and Book Binder, 1874), S. L. McCormick, Portland City Directory for 1877 (Portland: F. L. McCormick, 1877), S. L. McCormick, Portland City Directory for 1878 (Portland: F. L. McCormick, 1878), S. L. McCormick, Portland City Directory for 1879 (Portland: F. L. McCormick, 1879), S. L. McCormick, Portland City Directory for 1880 (Portland: F. L. McCormick, 1880), R. L. Polk & Co s Portland City Directory, 1881 (Portland: R. L. Polk & Co., 1881), R. L. Polk & Co s Portland City Directory, 1882 (Portland: R. L. Polk & Co., 1882), 313.

4 In 1879 Parmentier was granted a $2.00 monthly pension due to the effects of a gunshot wound to his right foot, leg. 13 His occupation when he enlisted was machinist, and his occupation when he received his pension was engineer. Both of those occupations were named in his city directory listings. The Parmentier family was enumerated in the 1880 Portland census, residing at 8 South Front. 14 Parmentier, aged 35, was an engineer. Elizabeth, his wife, aged 34, was born in New York, as was their eldest child, H. Louisa. The youngest child, Mary R. Parmentier, was born about 1879 in Portland. 13 New York, Civil War Muster Roll Abstracts, , digital index and images, Ancestry.com ( : accessed 14 January 2012). List of Pensioners on the Roll January 1, 1883 Vol. IV (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1883), 808; digital image, GoogleBooks ( : accessed 22 January 2013), citing Louis Parmentier, pension certificate 136, U.S. census, Multnomah County, Oregon, population schedule, Portland, ED 110, p. 31 (penned), dwelling 277, family 277, Louis Parmenter; digital image, Ancestry.com ( : accessed 17 January 2013), citing NARA microfilm publication T9, roll 1083

5 The small one and a half story house at 8 South Front Street was located in the Smith and Watson Iron Works lumberyard 15 where Parmentier was likely employed. The family had four boarders living with them, and conditions had to be crowded. As will be seen, Parmentier had acquired quite a nest-egg, and the boarder s rent would have contributed to it. With an injured foot and leg, walking would have been painful, and the choice of house location was likely deliberate. The move from New York to Oregon in the late 1870s came during the Long Depression, a time when iron work was down. 16 Smith and Watson Iron Works, with their Columbia River Shipbuilding Corporation, built engines of every kind, and their engines were needed for shipbuilding and mills. A notice in the 3 May 1879 Portland paper advertised their services. In order to provide the variety of service, the company would have needed skilled mechanics. 17 Smith Bros. & Watson s Iron Works South Front Street, between Harrison and Hall, Portland, Oregon Manufacturers of Portable, Stationary and Marine Engines and Boilers, High or Low Pressure, Steam and Hydraulic Hoisting Machinery and Elevators, Saw Mill, Grist Mill, Quartz and Machinery of all kinds. Made to order on short notice. Castings of Iron, Brass & Composition, of any Weight or description. Down-town office with DuBois & King, 104 Front street, with Free Telephone Communication with works. 15 Digital Sanborn Map, Portland, Oregon, Vol. 1, 1889; digital image, ProQuest Digital Sanborn Maps (access through participating libraries : accessed 23 July 2012); citing map The Iron Trade Review, Vol. XL (Cleveland, The Penton Publishing Co., 1907), 73; e-book, GoogleBooks ( : accessed 5 March 2013). 17 Morning Oregonian, 3 May 1879, page 4, col. 5; digital image, The Historical Oregonian, (access through Multnomah County Library : accessed 5 March 2013).

6 On 1 October 1884, the Morning Oregonian reported Parmentier s death. 18 Cut His Throat Louis Parmentier, a Machinist, Kills Himself at His Home. Having Lost Six Thousand Dollars by a Recent Business Failure He is Worried to Insanity. A few minutes before 9 o clock last night Louis Parmentier, a machinist employed by Smith Bros. & Watson and resides at No. 8 Hood street, near the South Portland brewery, arose from his bed and taking his razor from a drawer, committed suicide by cutting his throat. He had worked at his trade as usual during the day and had not exhibited to his fellow workmen or friends any singular actions or spoken other than in his sensible everyday manner. After eating his supper he complained of being very tired and almost sick and went to bed soon after. His wife followed him, as soon as she had sent their three children to their cots, and soon fell into a doze. From this she was aroused by what she describes as a confused growling, and then missed her husband from her side. Thinking some dogs were prowling about the house, and that he had gone out to drive them away, she lay quiet for a moment and then softly called: Lou! Lou! There was no reply, and then, said she, when telling the coroner afterward, I heard that horrible gurgling sound. Oh, my God! I can t describe it; it was too terrible. I jumped up, ran out to the kitchen and saw him lying on the floor with the blood in great pools. I thought somebody must have got in the house and killed him, and I fled for my life. I ran to a neighbor s, Mr. Wilson s, and begged him to come and save my children. He got his pistol and came back with me, when we found. Here the poor woman broke down completely and sobbed heavily, crying: What will become of us? Oh, my poor children! The entire neighborhood was soon aroused and the coroner was summoned by means of the nearest telephone. Meanwhile the body of the suicide was left where it had fallen, in the little narrow kitchen, with the face close up against the wall. The children had been taken from the house by thoughtful neighbors who first arrived, and although they wondered much at the strange proceeding they were kept entirely ignorant of what had happened and little suspected its terrible nature. The mother sat in the hallway weeping and wailing, and with a kind of awe neighbors who came kept away from the portion of the house now occupied by death. The coming of the coroner dispelled this feeling, and all crowded into the little kitchen gazed curiously upon the terrible scene there presented. Everything about the room was as nice as the careful housewife could make, the only blot upon its neatness being her own husband, bathed in his blood which had spread in all directions over the floor. He was dressed in shirt and drawers only, and had slippers on his feet when he came into the kitchen. These he had either taken off or kicked off in his struggles, for his death had been by no means devoid of agony. By the appearance of the body and the blood upon the floor, he had twisted himself nearly in right angles to the position in which he first fell when his desperate deed took away his voluntary power. It was a firm and strong hand that seized the razor and inflicted the fatal gash, for the head was at least half severed from the body. The great gaping wound, wide open as it was, caused the coroner to remark that he had seen a great many suicides by throat-cutting, but never such a ghastly one as this. Mrs. Parmentier objected to having the body taken away, and the coroner consented to hold the inquest there and at once. It was finished about midnight, the testimony adduced going to make up the story given above, and, of course, a verdict of suicide while in a fit of temporary insanity was rendered. The funeral will also be held at the residence. The cause of Parmentier s act is supposed to have been the loss of all his savings, amounting to 18 Morning Oregonian (Portland, OR), 1 October 1884, p. 3, col. 5; digital image, The Historical Oregonian, (access through Multnomah County Library : accessed 14 January 2013).

7 $6000, which he had loaned at various times to Claude Pater, the grocery man, who became bankrupt a few weeks since. Pater was a sort of banker for quite a number of Frenchmen in South Portland, nearly all of whom are losers by Pater s failure in sums from $50 upwards. Parmentier had loaned his savings a snug little fortune upon promissory notes. Pater paying a good rate of interest. When the latter failed it was found that Ainsworth & Co. held a claim prior to Parmentier s secured by a first mortgage and amounting to over $8000, which would swallow up the greater portion of the bankrupt s assets. Pater then made an assignment to Parmentier, who was only a few days ago succeeded as assignee by Ivan R. Dawson of the Merchant s Protective Union, to whom quite a number of small claims had been assigned. Some people who could hardly think an ordinary mechanic could have saved so much money, did not hesitate to say that his claim against Pater was fraudulent, and allowed by the latter in order to save something out of the general wreck and cheat all the small creditors. It is probable this talk had considerable to do with the change in assignee mentioned above. At all events it worried Parmentier, and added to the probability that he would get but little if any of his money back, caused him to brood over the matter till he became in a fit condition to take his life. Mrs. Parmentier said, Lou has never been himself since that Pater s failure. He has been so nervous he couldn t sleep nights, and has often talked and acted strangely after coming home from work. I used to tell him, Never mind the money, but he wouldn t listen to me. The deceased was about 35 years old, a native of France and a citizen of the United States, having come to this country with his parents when three years of age. As a machinist he was a capital workman, and one of the most faithful men ever employed by Smith Bros. Watson. As a citizen he bore a good reputation and was sober, steady and industrious. He was a kind husband and father, and himself and family lived comfortable well, always enjoying something more than the ordinary necessaries of life. Having health and a good trade, it is singular that even the loss of accumulated wealth should have impelled him to take his own life, and thus desert his family when they most needed him. Parmentier would have had many reasons to trust Pater. Not only was Pater a fellow Frenchman and a neighbor, he was also a fellow Civil War veteran who had served as a Private in Co. C, 154 th Ohio Infantry. 19 Another article in the newspaper added details. 20 Morning Oregonian, 2 October Parmentier s Suicide More About the Causes Which Drove him to the deed. A Statement from Claude Pater which does not Coincide with his Oath when he Became an Insolvent Debtor. When The Oregonian in its yesterday s issue made the statement that Louis Parmentier lost $6000 by the failure of Claude Pater, and that it was on account of this financial trouble he committed suicide, the reporter only repeated what had been told to him by Mrs. Parmentier and half a dozen of their neighbors, as well as what had already been published some time previously. This was the sole cause assigned for the suicide, and was the one taken into account by the coroner s jury in making up its verdict on Tuesday night. The whole neighborhood believed it to be true, and a simple denial from Mr. Pater would not have been sufficient to 19 Spencer Leonard Civil War Veteran card file; Genealogical Forum of Oregon, entry for Claudius Pater. 20 Morning Oregonian, 2 October 1884, page 4, col. 3; digital image, The Historical Oregonian, (access through Multnomah County Library : accessed 14 January 2013).

8 change this opinion, had not other matters, hitherto unknown, come to light yesterday. Pater, however, felt very indignant at the statement in The Oregonian, and in the afternoon he took to the office of the Evening Telegram and caused to be published in that paper the following alleged denial: Pater s card. I, C. Pater, strongly deny the accusation put against me in the Morning Oregonian. I do not owe Mr. Parmentier $6000 as there stated. I only owe him $200, for which he has ample security, as can easily be ascertained by inquiring of his lawyer, Mr. Gilbert, or of his bondsmen, Messrs. Closet and Perlot, or at the courthouse. I very much regret to be obliged to justify myself before a dead man, but I must do it for my honor and also for my family. C. Pater. Pater evidently considered the above card as a complete vindication of himself and as exonerating him from being event the indirect cause of Parmentier s suicide. But he forgot to reconcile the statement in the card to the oath he took when he became an insolvent debtor and made an assignment to the man who now lies slain by his own hand. Pater then swore that Parmentier was his creditor to the amount of $6200, and if the statement signed by him and printed in last night s Telegram is true, that he owed Parmentier only $200, he has committed perjury, as the assignment papers now on file in the county clerk s office will show. After the usual form of assignment and the necessary obligations thereto are disposed of, the following schedules are given accompanied by Pater s oath to their correctness of which is selfexplanatory: A. Inventory and schedule referred to in the foregoing annexed assignment of the property, estate and effects of Claude Pater of Portland, Multnomah county, state of Oregon, the debtor therein named: Stock of goods, merchandise and fixture sides in the store on the corner of First and Hall streets, on my premises, a more complete inventory whereof I cannot now make, upon account of said store being now closed by an attachment: $ One lot of book accounts belonging to said business: $25.00 The following described real estate, to wit: Portions of lots 7 and 8 in block 121, city of Portland, county of Multnomah and state of Oregon, being a parcel lying in a rectangular shape, 69 ½ feet on First street and 80 feet on Hall street: $ B. List and schedule refereed to in the foregoing and annexed assignment, of the creditors of Claude Pater, the debtor therein named, and the amount of their respective demands, together with their place of residence: J. C. Ainsworth & Co, Portland, $7000 Louis Parmentier, Portland, $62000 McCraken & Mason, Portland, $595 Dr. Eyfus, Portland $700 Guittard, Portland, $120 Weinhard, Portland, $900 Seventeen additional creditors. There are other facts which inquiry developed in connection with this case, and what they

9 prove the public is left to judge. Parmentier was appointed assignee by Pater and accepted the trust, taking the oath and furnishing the necessary bonds on September 22. Two days later McCraken & Mason, who held a claim against Pater of $548, petitioned the court for the removal of Parmentier, charging him with fraud in his duties as assignee. On the same day Parmentier himself presented his resignation to the court, together with a full statement of what he had done while he held the office. The resignation was accepted and Ivan R. Dawson appointed in his stead. The charge of fraud, to which Mr. J. McCraken made oath as to the best of his knowledge and belief, was well founded. The fact is that Pater did not owe Parmentier $6200, but only $200, and that out of friendship for Pater, Parmentier consented to allow himself to be set down as a large creditor. When charged with fraud, Parmentier felt that all was discovered and even went so far as to admit the charge to one of the attorneys in the case. It was this that preyed upon his mind, and as he carefully concealed it from his wife, it day by day grew more into his thoughts. His associates and his countrymen would have been wronged by his action and he felt that when the whole matter was learned he would be despised by all. The conclusion, therefore, is that he chose suicide rather than disgrace. Elizabeth Parmentier filed her husband s probate, and she claimed that Pater owed the money to the estate. 21 Morning Oregonian, 21 October 1884 Probate Court. In the matter of the estate of Louis Parmentier, deceased the machinist who committed suicide by cutting his throat with a razor a few weeks ago his wife, Elizabeth Parmentier, applied for letters of administrations which were granted by the court. In her petition Mrs. Parmentier declares that to her knowledge her husband was not in debt to any one at the time of his death in an aggregate amount of $20; and that he died possessed of property consisting of two promissory notes, one for $200, secured by mortgage, and the other for $3000, unsecured, both given by Claude Pater, the bankrupt grocery man of South Portland. In the history of Parmentier s suicide, two diverse causes obtained credence among people interested in the matter. One was that Parmentier became deranged at the loss of all his money, which he had loaned to Pater, by the latter s failure; and the other was that he entered into a conspiracy to aid in defrauding Pater s creditors, and this being discovered he could not outlive the disgrace. Mrs. Parmentier s petition revives these stories. Pater asserts that he owed Parmentier only $200, and yet the latter s wife avers she hold his note for $3000, while Pater himself in his assignment for the benefit of creditors swore that Parmentier was one of the principal ones, the amount being $6200. As the matter now stands it is certain to create litigation before the assignee can complete the settlement of the estate. Litigation did follow. Elizabeth Parmentier sued Claude Pater for payment of the $3000 note that was made 2 April The case went from Multnomah County to the State Appeals Court and was finally decided in the Oregon Supreme Court. 22 Part of the Supreme Court finding is recorded below. The $3000 was a mortgage on the grocery store. Mrs. Parmentier asserted that Pater and his wife had threatened Parmentier and forced him to write Receipt of six thousand dollars on within notes of the within mortgage is hereby acknowledged, this twenty-fifth day of 21 Morning Oregonian, 21 October 1884, page 5, col. 5; digital image, The Historical Oregonian, (access through Multnomah County Library : accessed 14 January 2013). 22 John Norton Pomeroy, Carter P. Pomeroy, West Coast Reporter, vol. VIII, November 1885 January 1886 (San Francisco: A. L. Bancroft and Company), , citing Parmentier vs. Pater; e-book, GoogleBooks ( : accessed 27 January 2013).

10 September, There was no explanation of the difference between the $3000 and $6000, and it may be assumed that the mortgage was actually for $3000. This gives credence to the newspaper account of fraud. Parmentier was in fear that his part would be discovered. When Mrs. Parmentier was asked You may state to the jury what you noted about the conduct, the mental conduct, of Louis Parmentier, your husband, along about the twenty-third or twentyfourth of September last, she replied: Ans. He wasn t himself at all he hadn t eaten or drunken a thing, not even a cup of tea, for ten days before he took his life; he was nervous; he said to me, Oh, my, all we have got is gone to Pater; there is no seeing what he will do; I told him not to fear Pater; Pater couldn t hurt him; he couldn t eat, he couldn t sleep, he was nervous and excited and wasn t himself at all; both Pater and his wife had something to say in the other room, and when the store was opened, was talking to him; he came out very nervous, and Pater himself came up in the store and said: Before I get through with you I will send you to Salem. [Note: the state prison was in Salem.] Parmentier may have been suffering from Post-traumatic Stress Syndrome. His Civil War service was short, but his injuries were significant. He was a member of two GAR posts. He belonged to Lincoln Post No. 4 with Valentine Kissel, Edward Johnson, and John Winters. 23 In 1881, he was a charter member of Stoneman Post. He would have been able to talk to other men who had similar experiences during the war. While that could be therapeutic, it could also block healing. He could also have felt that he let his comrades down when he agreed to lie about the amount that Pater had borrowed. In February 1879, Congress authorized the Secretary of War to erect military headstones on the grave of Union soldiers buried in private cemeteries. The Cemetery Branch created cards recording the issuance of headstones for veterans who died between 1816 and Parmentier s stone was ordered from Sheldon & Sons. 23 Honors, Tears, Flowers, Morning Oregonian (Portland, OR), 30 May 1889, p. 8, col. 1; digital image, The Historical Oregonian, (access through Multnomah County Library : accessed 14 January 2013). 24 Headstones Provided for Deceased Union Civil War Veterans, , card for Patrick Daly (1877); digital image, Ancestry.com ( : accessed 16 January 2013), citing NARA microfilm publication M1845, roll 5.

11 Elizabeth Parmentier filed for a widow s pension on 19 December She was then a resident of California U.S., Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, , Louis Parmenter; database and images, Ancestry.com ( : accessed 22 January 2013), citing NARA microfilm publication T288, roll not cited.