Zillah City Cemetery is located on Range 20 Twp 11 Sec. 25 SW 1 / 4 . It is 18 miles southeast of Yakima, in Yakima County. When going southeast on Interstate 82 East, take exit 52, turn left at the stop sign, cross over the freeway, and go about 1 / 4 mile uphill. You will see the cemetery on your right at the top of the hill, on the bluff above the freeway. The cemetery is divided down the middle with a wide driveway, with parking on either side, lined with trees. These trees were planted as a memorial to the Zillah Pioneers by the Zillah History Club. To the right is the old section, with old standup tombstones. The new section is on the left, with only flat markers. A children's section is located to your far right beyond the first part of the Old section. There is also a cremation section at the far end of the driveway. It is a lovely cemetery, with the grounds well-kept.

According to cemetery records at City Hall, the first burial was in 1894, which was Margaret G. Rohrer who died November 18, 1894. There are now over 10,000 burials in the cemetery as of 2002. I am told that all markers do not necessarily mean a burial. Some may simply be a memorial to someone.

Many of the markers have only the year of birth and death on them. The ones with death dates since 1964 have been double-checked with the Social Security Death Index, and some back to 1940 have been double- checked with the Washington State Death Index. When found, these dates have been inserted, rather than just the year per marker. Where this has been done, SSDI or WSDI has been listed in the comment column. The dates in the SSDI are sometimes known to be incorrect, so it would be wise to find a second source to verify an accurate date. Also, an incorrect date could be entered because of someone else having the same name, with year of birth and death being close to the same. If you find any known errors with dates, or incorrect spelling of names for a family member, or incorrect relationship listed between two people, please notify the Tombstone Project Director, or myself, Jeri Herbert. If you can fill in dates that are missing, that information would be welcome, also.

On some double markers, only one person's name has been engraved. Where this occurs, the comment column shows "no spouse on marker." On markers for veterans, the military information listed on the marker is shown in the comment column. Many obituaries are on file at the Yakima Valley Genealogical Society. You can check with them for further research. They would be glad to help you.

I enjoyed doing this cemetery, and hope it will be of help to you. Jeri Herbert – can be reached at JerHerbert@aol.com

Updated October 2007.

Yakima County