Oak Park Cemetery in Chandler, Lincoln Co. OK

Last week on the way back to OKC I stopped at Chandler City Hall to check the records they might have for Oak Park Cemetery. I had gone through a card file about 10 years ago when looking for some Civil War veterans, but could not remember what kind of records they had.

The clerk took me back to the small room that holds the old record books for the city. There is a card file on which SOME of the burials are recorded. One big problem is that many years are listed with only two numbers. So there is no way to tell from the index card if 01 is 1901 or 2001, for example.

The also have to volumes of records. One is the book with listings by block and plot. This list has many names that have no dates with them- simply a name listed for a specific space. But there were many that DID have death dates listed.

The second volume is an index to cemetery records. This book is alphabetical by surname letter and includes name, age, death/burial date, and lot owner. This book has many entries that the burial volume does not.

So I went through the Burial Record book first and then the Burial Index book, extracting all pre-1920 deaths. Many were duplicates, but there some in each volume not listed in the other. Then I started on the card file and made it through blocks 1 through 4. I still have the majority of the cemetery left to check for the card file, and I will get back to it some day (hopefully this summer).

The City of Chandler is in the process of comparing tombstones to the cemetery records to update the records and make as complete a listing as possible. And they plan to put the information on-line! So I will send them all the entries I Have for Oak Park Cemetery in Chandler to help them with their project. I have the advantage of having some obits and published records, along with tombstone inscriptions from walking the cemetery.

Yet another example of how collaborative efforts can result in a successful project!

Trip to Osage County

Last week I took a trip to Osage County to scout wells for the company I work for. As my cover I was "looking for cemeteries". In addition to spotting and taking pictures of oil and gas wells and drilling sites, I DID visit three cemeteries. Stupid me didn't think to take pictures of the cemeteries!

St. Johns Cemetery near Grainola is a small abandoned cemetery. It is NOT kept up. The cemetery "grounds" appear to be about one to two acres. However, there are only 9 visible graves, all in one row. The entire cemetery grounds, except the strip where the gravestones are located, is used for hay pasture. Three pre-1920 burials are for John H. Eitzman, Lorenz W.H. Eitzman, and Ida Ropers.

Foraker Cemetery, serving the area in Osage County northwest of the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve, is an extremely well maintained and beautiful cemetery. Of the many people buried here, stones for 20 of them have death date before 1920. Surnames for the twenty: Acres, Appel, Bailey, Berry, Bray, Codding, Cox, Davis, Dial, Graham, Grimes, Hobbs, Johnston, Leaton, Mains, Mounts, Tusing and Workman.

Burbank Cemetery, just northwest of the town of Burbank, has a sign that states the cemetery was established in 1925. Although I didn't expect to find any pre-1920 tombstones, I went ahead and walked the small cemetery. I found one Civil War veteran (Elihu B. Myrich of 30th ME Infantry). The most interesting thing, though, is that there were several burial from 1923 and 1924 (mostly infants).

So never assume that the "official" founding date of the cemetery is date of the first burial. Or even that the first official burial is the earliest death date. There are several reasons a burial could precede the founding of the cemetery:
• There was an original family plot around which the "new" cemetery was established.
• Homestead burials for the surrounding area were moved to the cemetery once it was established.
• The earlier stones are actually cenotaphs for family members buried in another location.

My next post will describe my visit to the City of Chandler to look through the records for Oak Park Cemetery.

Ringing in the New Year with a NEW TOTAL!

Now that 2010 has come to an end, I have transferred all "new" entries into the main Oklahoma Death Index (pre-1920) database. As of the end of the day, 31 Dec 2010, the database total is now:

211,868 entries!!

In Nov and Dec alone I added over 29,000 records.

My goals for 2011:

• Get the word out about this blog and my Oklahoma Death Index.
• Do searches for FREE.
• Request donations to continue extractions and cover costs involved (especially travel/gas).
• Reach 300,000 entries by the end of 2011.

I pray you will have a wonderful 2011!

16 Civil War Veterans Identified!

One of my reasons for starting this pre-1920 Oklahoma Death Index was to help in identifying Civil War veterans' graves. As a member of the Sons of Union Veterans (SUVCW) National Graves Registration Committee, and as the Graves Registration Officer for the Department of Oklahoma, it is my job to locate and identify the graves of Civil War veterans.

So this past weekend I spent about an hour scrolling through the index in the file that covers surnames A through E. Starting at the end of the file and scrolling upwards, I was able to identify 16 men as veterans of the Civil War. Now these are men NOT among the 13,000+ already identified (all buried in Oklahoma).

They are:

- Dougherty, William B. Capt 33 OH Inf Hennessey Cemetery, Kingfisher Co.
- Doutheit, Levi Pvt E 2 AR Inf Cummings Cemetery, Pottawatomie Co.
- Dowling, Finton Pvt A 18 IA Inf Arlington Cemetery, Lincoln Co.
- Doyle, William Pvt F 18 IA Inf Vaughn Cemetery, LeFlore Co.
- Doyle, John B. Pvt K 18 IA Inf Green Hill Cemetery Muskogee Co.
- Dukes, John F. Pvt E 16 MO Cav & E 6 MO PEM New Mellette Cemetery, McIntosh Co.
- Dunlap, Robert W. Pvt A 6 MO Inf CSA Woodland Cemetery, Cleveland, Pawnee Co.
- Derr, John J. Transport Service QM Dept US Vols Cashion Cemetery, Kingfisher Co.
- Easley, John T. Pvt E,G 9 TN Cav Retrop Cemetery, Washita Co.
- Echols, Charles E. Pvt E 59 USC Inf Lewisville Cemetery, Haskell Co.
- Edgar, Sylvester C. Pvt F 17 KY Cav Canute Cemetery, Washita Co.
- Elder, Thomas Confederate Army Old Canute Cemetery, Washita Co.
- Eschler, John Pvt F 5 MO Cav & Pvt F Benton Hussars MO Cav Independence Cemetery, Custer Co.
- Evans, Haiden W. Pvt H 14 MO Cav & Pvt D 76 MO EM Oakley Cemetery, Dewey Co.
- Evans, William M. Pvt C 23 IA Inf Carnegie/Oak Grove Cemetery, Caddo Co.
- Ewing, William Pvt D 145 IL Inf Rossville, Lincoln Co.

I can't imagine how many "new" veterans I'll find when I finish the entire alphabet. The one that really excites me is William M. Evans. He served in the same regiment as my ancestor, Sylvester Gridley Beckwith.

"Col." equals Colonel???

In copying some cemetery records and also some info from obit indices, I came across several people whose names, depending on the arrangement of given names and surnames, were preceded or followed by the abbreviation "Col."

To anyone with any experience in genealogy, and especially with military history, this abbreviation has one specific meaning. "Col." stands for the rank of Colonel.

HOWEVER... "Col." did usually mean Colonel, but it did not always indicate a rank. A military veteran who had achieved prominence later in civilian life was often referred to "Colonel". This was often the case even for men who served in the military at the rank of private.

There is another possibility, though. "Col." might be an abbreviation for "colored". This term was often used for blacks. Negroes were often called "colored". The term "Adrican-American" had not yet surfaced.

So if you see an entry in an index preceded or followed by "Col.", do not assume it refers to military rank. It may be an indication of the person's race!

Infant Death Statistics

It's been eye-opening going through cemetery records and finding out how many infants/children never made it to adulthood.

In some rural cemeteries, infants comprise up to 90% of the burials. An average of urban and rural cemeteries, from my data collection the past two years, is in the 40% to 50% range. And if you look at unmarked graves, infants are the large majority.

Most people ignore the infant siblings/children of their ancestors. BUT...they can often place a couple/family in a location between census years, which helps identify their migrations across the US. So many infants are buried in cemeteries that their parents are not buried in.

I'm thankful for the medical care and vaccinations available today!

NEW TOTAL: 200,204 Entries!!!!

I started the year with a goal of reaching 150,000 entries by the end of 2010. In about July I revised that to 175,000, and in September to 200,000. Well, as of yesterday, my database of deaths in Oklahoma up to 31 Dec 1919 is now 200,204 entries!

I get easily bored just sitting down watching sports these days (in my old age). So while I watched OU and Nebraska beat on each other, I had my computer on my lap and did "data entry". It's amazing how many entries I was able to type in while watching the game. Over 400 new additions from the Cleveland County probate index are now in the index.

Some call this multitasking. Others blame such actions on ADD or hyperactivity. It's also been referred to as "work-aholism". But I simply love "doing genealogy". And I'm at my best when compiling records and information.

So by the end of 2010, I expect to have 210,000 entries in my Pre-1920 Oklahoma Death Index. If you need me to check the index for you, email me and I'll do a quick check for free. If it proves useful, a donation would be greatly appreciated. It will help with the cost of gas to go to cemeteries, court houses and libraries around Oklahoma.