So what else (or who else) is there to see at Oak Hill Cemetery? Trust me, there’s still a great deal.

You would expect any large Southern cemetery to have Confederate graves. But what about Union ones? At Oak Hill, that would be a yes.

Oak Hill actually has a GAR (Grand Army of the Republic) monument near the back wall. Let me explain for those who might not know exactly what the GAR was in case you encounter a grave located in a GAR plot.

The Grand Army of the Republic

In 1866, Union veterans of the Civil War organized into the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR). Membership was restricted to individuals who served in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, or Revenue Cutter Service during the Civil War, limiting the lifespan of the GAR to 1956.

In 1881, the GAR formed the Sons of Veterans of the United States of America (SV) to carry on its traditions long after the GAR ceased to exist. Membership was open to any man who could prove ancestry to a member of the GAR or to a veteran eligible for GAR membership.

Oak Hill’s GAR monument was erected on April 27, 1891 when the state’s GAR convention took place in Birmingham. The convention was reported in the The Birmingham News and included erection of the new monument, witnessed by about 75 Union veterans. You can see on the monument that it was erected by Birmingham’s Gen. George A. Custer Chapter, Post 1.

It so happened that the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) were holding their own memorial celebration later that day. As you can imagine, their numbers were much higher than the GAR group. I wondered if the new monument would be mentioned by the press and it was.

I admit it, I was surprised to read that. But I shouldn’t have been. While tensions still existed between the two factions, I’d read that as the veterans aged and years passed, they met and swapped stories often at reunion events. Friendships were formed.

Oak Hill’s GAR monument was vandalized in the 1930s and in 1991, the eagle topping it was damaged beyond repair. As it happened, a re-dedication ceremony had just been held a few days before Sarah and I visited Oak Hill. The National Sons of Union Veterans furnished the funds for the restoration (including replacing the eagle) and the local chapter (Major General John T. Croxton, Camp 17) was in charge of overseeing the restoration.

There are 11 Union soldiers buried near the monument and one widow with an additional 26 Union veterans buried throughout the cemetery. Oak Hill determined that Union soldiers from eight states are buried there.

A Union Veteran in Alabama

You’ll notice in the photo above the grave of Corp. Charles Marion Robinson. His death certificate intrigued me because it said he died in Grand Rapids, Mich. but was buried at Oak Hill. How did that happen?

Born in Michigan in 1838, Charles married Martha Kingsbury in St. Joseph, Mich. in 1861. Charles served in the Eighth Michigan Cavalry, Co. F, during the Civil War. The Robinsons lived in Pulaski, Tenn. in the 1870s. Charles worked as a butcher and his son, Charles H., would became one as well.

At some point, the family moved to Ensley, Ala. (a neighborhood of Birmingham). Martha died on Aug. 27, 1894 and was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in an unmarked grave. The 1900 U.S. Census notes that Charles was living with his son, Charles, and his family just down the street from daughter, Carrie, who married Allen Muckenfuss. I’m guessing Charles was a member of the local GAR chapter.

Charles’ obituary solved my mystery. He was visiting family and friends in Grand Rapids, Mich. when he died of a cardiac thrombosis at age 56. His body was sent home for burial with his fellow Union veterans at Oak Hill Cemetery on June 30, 1904.

The O’Byrne Family

The monument for Irish immigrant Michael O’Byrne and his wife, Sarah, is rather striking. I didn’t know when I saw it at Oak Hill that I would see one with a statue almost exactly like it at Oak Grove Cemetery in Brunswick, Ga. in 2020.

Born in 1830 in Ireland, Michael O’Byrne didn’t leave much of a paper trail. I don’t know exactly when he married Georgia native Sarah Taylor, who was 14 years his junior. By 1870, the couple was living in Eufaula, Ala. (about 175 miles away) and had four children. He is listed as a “merchant/grocer”. They had son, Willie, in 1878. The 1880 U.S. Census listed Charles as a “huckster”, a term for someone who sold fruits and vegetables in an open wagon.

At some point after 1880, the family moved to Birmingham. Michael died on April 5, 1893 at the age of 61. Oddly, his obituary states that he was a “pioneer” who came to Birmingham when it was a “struggling village”. Considering he didn’t live there until after 1880, that doesn’t make sense. It also states he was the brother of “our P.O. O’Byrne”. I did some research and P.O. O’Byrne (who did live and work in Eufaula and Birmingham) was 26 years younger than Michael O’Byrne. I think there may have been some confusion over exactly who Michael was.

Sarah O’Byrne died five years later at age 53 on Sept. 8, 1898.

On the base of their shared monument are these words:

In one path they walked, in one grave they sleep.

Father and mother, Oh, Jesus keep.

Civil Rights Pioneer

A number of notable people are buried at Oak Hill Cemetery, from Alabama governors to a World War I Medal of Honor recipient. But one of the most important people buried at Oak Hill is pastor and civil rights activist Rev. Fred Lee Shuttlesworth. While his name is not as familiar as Dr. Martin Luther King or Rep. John Lewis, he played a key role in the American civil rights movement.

Born March 18, 1922 in Mount Meigs, Ala., Rev. Shuttlesworth moved to Birmingham as a child, where he lived with his mother, Alberta, and stepfather, William, a coal miner. He was licensed and ordained as a preacher in 1948, earning an AB from Selma University in 1951 and a BS from Alabama State College in 1953. Rev. Shuttlesworth was minister at First Baptist Church in Selma until 1952, and the next year was called to Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham.

Rev. Shuttlesworth became involved in the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1955. When Circuit Judge Walter B. Jones banned the NAACP from activity in the state in 1956, Shuttlesworth presided over a planning meeting for a new organization that became the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR). He served as its president until 1969.

In November 1956, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that bus segregation in Montgomery was unconstitutional, Rev. Shuttlesworth and the ACMHR moved to challenge segregation on Birmingham’s buses. The night before their campaign, a bomb exploded under Rev. Shuttlesworth’s parsonage at Bethel Baptist. The house was destroyed, but Rev. Shuttlesworth escaped unharmed. The next day, hundreds of protesters sat in the sections reserved for whites on Birmingham buses. Twenty-one participants were arrested and convicted, and the ACMHR filed suit in federal court to strike down the local law mandating segregation.

Establishing the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

Rev. Shuttlesworth joined Dr. Martin Luther King and C. K. Steele in planning a conference of Southern black leaders in January 1957. Held at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, the meeting laid the foundation for what would become the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). At a meeting later that year, Rev. Shuttlesworth became the SCLC’s first secretary.

In 1963, the SCLC united with the ACMHR to protest segregation in Birmingham. SCLC leaders met in January to plan the Birmingham Campaign, known as “Project C” (C for confrontation). Rev. Shuttlesworth issued his Birmingham Manifesto and on April 6, 1963 led the campaign’s first march on city hall.

As the campaign continued, Dr. King and Rev. Shuttlesworth butted heads. As a result of injuries during a march, Shuttlesworth was in the hospital during negotiations that produced a one-day halt to demonstrations. In addition to disagreeing with the halt, Rev. Shuttlesworth didn’t like being left out of the decision. Dr. King, however, persuaded him to publicly support the action.

The Birmingham Campaign ended two days later, with an agreement between the city’s business community and local black leaders that included a commitment to the desegregation of public accommodations, a committee to ensure non-discriminatory hiring practices in Birmingham, and cooperation in releasing jailed protesters.

Later Years

In the mid-1960s, Rev. Shuttlesworth established the Greater New Light Baptist Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. In the 1980s, he founded the Shuttlesworth Housing Foundation, providing grants for home ownership.

Rev. Shuttlesworth received the Presidential Citizens Medal from President Bill Clinton in 2001, with the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport named in his honor in 2008. Rev. Shuttlesworth also became president of the SCLC mid-decade, although he soon left due to disagreements with the internal workings of the organization.

After a year of poor health, Rev. Shuttlesworth died on Oct. 5, 2011 at age 89.

So will there be a Part IV to this series? Yes, indeed…

I’m back at Oak Hill Cemetery! This week, I’ve got three untimely deaths to share with you.

When something in a cemetery looks a little different or unique, I usually take a picture and look into it later. Such is the case of George Allen. Not only was there a small cross-shaped marker sitting on top of a larger, modern dual monument, the death date for George was much earlier than the one for his wife. What happened to George?

The story I found was unlike any I’d ever read before. Who knew a trip to the dentist could be fatal?

Death in the Dentist’s Chair

A native of Virginia, George J. Allen was born to cabinetmaker John H. and Mary B. Allen in 1845. He married Margaret “Maggie” Redwine in Lafayette, Miss. in 1868. In 1870, their daughter, Mary, was born. The family settled in Birmingham. George’s brother, Robert, lived with them in the 1880s. Both brothers appear to have worked as machinists.

George visited a dentist in late May 1882 in Louisville, Ala. (while out of town for work) to have a tooth extracted. After returning to Birmingham, he visited a dentist named Dr. Eubank to “draw the roots” and asked for chloroform to be used. The dentist refused, despite chloroform’s widespread use by dentists/doctors after the Civil War, but then consulted with two colleagues to get their opinions. Remember the name Dr. Luckie. You will see it again.

You can read about the tragic event in the article below.

How the reporters knew that George was insured for several thousand dollars is unknown. The Allens only had one daughter, so the “several children” was an error. Regardless, poor George was dead at the age of 37. His cross-shaped cross marker is small and worn but remains as a heartfelt tribute. You can make out an anchor leaning against the front, signifying the symbol of hope.

Margaret was left to raise Mary on her own. In 1889, Mary wed Birmingham police chief George Bodeker (who later operated his own detective agency). According to U.S. census records, Maggie lived with them for the next three decades. She died on April 3, 1933 at age 85.

Shot on Christmas Night

In another case of “What does the date signify?”, I noticed that one member of the Bowen family died young. I initially guessed it was illness, but I was wrong.

The son of an engineer, Samuel Bowen was one of Welsh immigrants John Bowen and Anna Coons Bowen’s four sons. He was born in Rome, Ga. in 1871. The Bowens lived in Chattanooga, Tenn. before settling in Birmingham, Ala.

Samuel followed in his father’s footsteps and became an engineer, at one time working at the Sloss Furnaces. After the Civil War, Birmingham’s pig iron industry boomed over the next several decades. During the 1880s, as pig iron production in Alabama grew from 68,995 to 706,629 gross tons, no fewer than 19 blast furnaces were built in Jefferson County alone. Today, the Sloss Furnaces are a national historic landmark and have been a museum since 1983.

On Christmas night 1894, Samuel and his older brother, William, were enjoying a drink at Horan’s Saloon. Fellow engineers James Adkins and Bruce Kelly invited Samuel to play a game of poker dice. According to newspaper reports, Samuel accused Adkins of “hogging” the dice. A fight ensued in which all three men threw bottles and glasses at each other. The accounts reported in court of what happened after that differ, but the result was the same. Adkins shot Samuel, who died the next day.

“A Voice We Love is Stilled”

As is often the case, finding out whether or not the culprit(s) was convicted or not proved difficult. A hearing was held and witnesses testified, some saying Adkins shot Samuel in self defense. William testified to the contrary, as did the saloon owner’s father. The last report I found said Adkins had been granted bond at $1,500 from the judge. This leads me to believe he was likely acquitted later or the case was dismissed.

Samuel, two of his brothers, and his parents are buried together at Oak Hill. Only brother Louis is missing. His father, John, had died in 1887. His mother, Anna, died in 1924 at age 84. She lived with William and Thomas (both widowers) in her last years. William was the last Bowen to die in 1942 at age 74.

I did not see Samuel’s haunting epitaph when I was at Oak Hill but cemetery records indicate it reads as follows. The “FCB Brother” refers to his membership in the Knights of Pythias:

A light from our household is gone, A voice we loved is stilled,

A place is vacant in our home, Which never can be filled.

We cannot tell who next may fall, Beneath thy chastening rod,

One must be first, But let us all prepare to meet our God.

F.C.B. Brother

The Hawes Riots

I noticed a beautiful monument for Maurice B. Throckmorton, who died at age 33 in 1888. Again, the seemed young. I had no idea that he was part of a painful chapter in Birmingham’s history — the infamous Hawes riots of December 1888.

The story of the Hawes riots is long and complicated. Oak Hill Cemetery has done a wonderful job of writing a detailed account of it here. I urge you to read it because I don’t have the time/space to do it justice. The basic story of the Hawes Riot is that Richard “Dick” Hawes, a George Pacific engineer, murdered his wife, Emma, and his two daughters, May and Irene.

Hawes often left his family alone at their Birmingham home. Emma was reputed be an alcoholic so young May (thought to be 8) cared for her sister, Irene (age 6), with some household help from neighbor Fannie Bryant. Their son, Willie, lived with family in Atlanta.

On Dec. 4, 1888, boaters found May’s body in Birmingham’s East Lake. Coroner Alfred Babbitt determined the cause of death was murder. Despite being viewed by thousands at Lockwood & Miller’s Funeral Parlor, May’s body was not identified as Hawes’ daughter until the following day.

Fannie Bryant testified that she helped Emma pack for a trip to Georgia to bring Willie home. She had last seen May the previous weekend, when Hawes took her from the house on the way to Atlanta. Witnesses said Hawes had just divorced Emma and gone to Columbus, Miss. to wed a new bride, which turned out to be true. Dick married Mayes Story. She later said he told her he was divorced with only one male child. Police apprehended Hawes soon after that.

More Bodies Found

On Dec. 8, 1888, Birmingham police discovered the bodies of Emma and Irene sunk into the lake at Lakeview Park. Emma, Irene, and May would all be buried in unmarked graves in Oak Hill Cemetery.

As word of the discovery spread, a mob of 1,000 to 3,000 people moved toward the Jefferson County Jail where Hawes was being held. Sheriff Joseph S. Smith issued guns to his deputies, positioning them to protect the jail. He told them to fire into the mob if they crossed the alley toward the jail door.

When the mob appeared near the alley, Sheriff Smith called to them to stop, counting to five. The mob continued across the alley and Smith gave the order to fire. Ten died, including postmaster Maurice B. Throckmorton, a deputy U. S. Marshal, a civil engineer, and a painter. Smith and police chief O. A. Pickard were both placed under arrest the next day while the state militia restored order. The two were released the next year following a deadlocked jury.

Hawes Goes on Trial

The Hawes trial started on Monday, April 22, 1889, presided over by Judge Samuel Greene. Although Hawes was charged with murdering three victims, the state decided the strongest case against Dick Hawes was with May’s murder and built the trial around it.

According to Fannie Bryant, May stayed with her on the night of Dec. 3, 1888. Witnesses saw Richard and May Hawes getting onto a rail on Dec. 3 around 7 to 8 p.m., getting off at the East Lake stop together. Richard got back on the rail for the return trip less than an hour later, alone. Hawes then left the next morning for Mississippi.

According to prosecutors, Hawes’ motive in murdering May was to quiet all knowledge of his previous murder of Emma and Ida. The prosecution maintained that Hawes needed to dispose of his wife and children in order to marry his new bride, who knew nothing about his daughters.

After finding Hawes guilty, the jury decided upon the death penalty on May 3, 1889. The defense submitted several appeals to the Alabama Supreme Court, but all were denied. A St. Louis circus owner requested to display the caged Hawes in his sideshow but was rejected.

Hawes was executed by Sheriff Smith on February 28, 1890. The gallows platform was constructed by J. A. Griffith, who served on the jury. Tickets to the event were being sold on the street for as much as $200. After a prayer, Smith counted to three and pulled the lever, dropping the platform.

Dick Hawes was buried by his brother, Jim, in an unmarked grave in the family’s plot at Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta, Ga. No words were spoken over the grave.

The Fate of Maurice Throckmorton

As for Maurice Throckmorton, I read an account in the Dec. 13, 1888 Weekly Advertiser (Montgomery, Ala.) that his death was likely a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. You’ll notice that Dr. Luckie’s name appears again. Unfortunately, any luck Maurice had possessed had run out.

Maurice left behind a wife, Florence, and a son, Alburto. Florence later remarried to Allen Haskell and had a son with him. Alburto, his wife, Mary, and their daughter, Mary, are buried beside Maurice at Oak Hill. Florence, who died in 1942, is buried in Birmingham’s Elmwood Cemetery.

One of the first things I noticed about Maurice’s monument is that it came from the Muldoon Monument Co. of Louisville, Co., one of the most highly regarded marbleworks in the country. You can find Muldoon monuments in many Southern cemeteries, including a few in Magnolia Cemetery in Augusta, Ga. The company is still in business today. In this case, as family lore claims, Muldoon probably imported this monument from Italy.

I checked to see if there were other people killed as part of the riot buried at Oak Hill. J.R. McCoy, 30, and Charles Bailey, 25, are also there, buried in unmarked graves.

I hope you’ll return for more stories Oak Hill Cemetery in Part III.