Note: There are a TON of great sources about the Siege of Vicksburg, which took place from May 18 to July 4, 1863. I’m not going to even attempt to write about it here. I barely scratched the surface. If you want to know more, I encourage you to seek out information about it.

Vicksburg, Miss. is about 2.5 hours from Shreveport, La. Vicksburg National Cemetery (VNC) went on my road trip list as an important stop. But there was one grave nearby that I wanted to visit first for the sheer novelty of it.

I’m sure a number of people who visit Vicksburg do so to visit the Civil War battlefield and VNC, which is a Union burial ground. But nearby is Vicksburg City Cemetery (also known as Cedar Hill Cemetery), which is the home to approximately 5,000 Confederates that have been re-interred there from other places, of which 1,600 are identified.

I had heard about Old Douglas from different web sites over the years, and his story intrigued me a great deal. It’s not often you hear about a camel being part of a war on American soil. But in this case, it’s true.

The U.S. Camel Corps

As the story goes, Jefferson Davis got the idea for putting dromedary camels into use by the military in the 1850s. He admired their stamina and ability to go without water. As U.S. Secretary of War in 1852, Davis helped to establish the U.S. Camel Corps and about 33 of them were brought over from the Middle East.

By the late 1850s, about a hundred camels were stationed in Texas. They performed better than horses and mules on rocky slopes. Their feet needed no shoeing, they didn’t need much water, and they were very hardy.

In the case of Douglas, he was a gift to Confederate Col. W. H. Moore by First Lt. William Hargrove. Moore assigned Douglas to carry the instruments and supplies of the 43rd Mississippi Volunteer Infantry Regimental Band. You can read more about that here.

Douglas’s first active service commenced under General Sterling Price in the Iuka Campaign near Corinth. Douglas quickly attained legendary status by causing a stampede among the horses. However, Douglas endeared himself as a camp favorite, befriending young soldiers who proudly carried their new title, “The Camel Regiment.”

The1862 Battle of Corinth was a tragic day that ended with 12,000 casualties. He also served at the Central Mississippi Railroad engagement and the Siege of Vicksburg.

From May 18 to July 4, 1863, Vicksburg was the sight of an estimated 35,825 casualties. During one of the skirmishes, a Union sharpshooter intentionally shot and killed Douglas on June 27, 1863. As the back of Douglas’ cenotaph states, it is highly possible the starving Confederates ate their camel comrade. So I’m betting his remains are not actually there. Still, Douglas is honored like other veterans with a marked grave in Vicksburg City Cemetery.

Vicksburg National Military Park Monuments

After saying goodbye to Douglas, we headed over to nearby VNC. The cemetery is located within the Vicksburg National Military Park. Covering about 40 acres, it holds the remains of 17,000 Civil War Union soldiers, the largest number of Civil War interments of any national cemetery in the country. Of that 17,000, only 5,000 have been identified. Covering ground once manned by the extreme right of Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman’s XV Army Corps during the Siege of Vicksburg, it was established by an act of Congress in 1866.

VNC also contains the remains of veterans of the Mexican-American War, Spanish-American War, the First and Second World Wars, and the Korean War. Vicksburg National Cemetery was closed to burials in 1961.

Vicksburg National Military Park was established in 1899. America’s leading architects and sculptors were commissioned to honor the soldiers and sailors that fought throughout the Vicksburg campaign. The park’s earliest state memorial was dedicated in 1903, and more than 95 percent of the monuments that followed were erected prior to 1917. Today, more than 1,400 monuments, tablets, and markers dot the landscape.

Some of the monuments are for specific state’s regiments that fought in the war. Others are large ones representing each state. I’ve included photos of some of them below.

The Michigan monument is quite impressive. The memorial is a 37-foot tall obelisk made of White Bethel Granite. The lower third was cut from a single piece of granite weighing 40 tons. The cost was $10,000 and it was dedicated on Nov. 10, 1916.

Wisconsin’s monument is made from Winnsboro, S.C. granite and stands 122 feet tall. A bronze statue of “Old Abe” the war eagle, mascot of the 8th Wisconsin Infantry, sits atop the monument. It was erected at a cost of $90,644 and dedicated on May 22, 1911.

The Missouri monument is one of two state memorials at Vicksburg National Military Park dedicated to soldiers of both armies. The height is symbolic of the 42 Missouri units, 27 Union and 15 Confederate. It stands where two opposing Missouri regiments clashed in battle.

The monument features a bronze figure which represents “The Spirit of the Republic,” as well as bronze reliefs depicting both Union and Confederate soldiers. The sculptor was Victor S. Holm. The memorial was erected at a cost of $40,000 and dedicated on Oct. 17, 1917, during the National Peace Jubilee.

I was personally interested in seeing the Illinois state monument. My husband, Chris, has an ancestor from Illinois who fought at Vicksburg and I was hoping to see if his name was inscribed inside of it.

Illinois’ memorial was erected by the firm of Culver Construction Company with William B. Mundie contracting the designers and sculptors. The design was by W. L. B. Jenney and the sculptor was Charles J. Mulligan. Ironically, granite from Stone Mountain, Ga. forms the base and stairway. Above the base is Georgia white marble. The 47 steps in the long stairway are for each day of the Siege of Vicksburg.

Modeled after the Roman Pantheon, the monument has 60 unique bronze tablets lining its interior walls, naming all 36,325 Illinois soldiers who participated in the Vicksburg Campaign. The monument stands 62 feet in height and originally cost $194,423.00 paid by the state of Illinois.

I walked up the steps and entered the coolness of the memorial. It didn’t take me long to find Abraham Newland’s name. A native of Durham, England, Abraham arrived in America as a teenager. Before the Civil War, he was a coal miner. He served as an orderly sergeant with the 124th Illinois Infantry, Company D. He is not buried at Vicksburg because he survived the war and went home to his family in McDonough County, Ill. He died in 1919 at age 81 and is buried in Illinois.

U.S. Colored Troops (USCT)

Nearly 175 regiments of over 178,000 free men and former slaves served during the last two years of the Civil War. Following months of training and physical labor, black troops were finally allowed to prove themselves in a major battle.

By spring 1863, Port Hudson, La. and Vicksburg, Miss. were the only remaining Confederate strongholds on the Mississippi River. On May 27, 1863 the First and Third Louisiana Native Guards were ordered to take a section of the Rebel earthworks at Port Hudson. They charged across 600 yards of open ground, only to be cut down by canister and musket fire. Despite their attempts, the assault failed. Nearly 200 black troops were killed or wounded.

At Milliken’s Bend, La., three regiments of black troops were tasked with guarding a supply depot and nearby military hospital. On June 7, approximately 1,500 Confederate troops attacked the post with hopes of distracting Union forces besieging Vicksburg. As the Rebels attacked, the hastily trained and ill-equipped black troops resorted to fighting with bayonets and clubs in hand-to-hand combat. After the arrival of Union reinforcements, the outnumbered Confederates retreated, leaving the depot and hospital in Union hands.

About 40 percent of the burials at Vicksburg National Cemetery were soldiers in the U.S. Colored Troops (USCT). Until my visit to VNC, I had never seen so many USCT graves in one place before.

For much of the USCT, little information is available. But thanks to the hard work of others, I was able to find out about a few of the soldiers whose graves I photographed while at VNC.

Private Marshall Moore enlisted at Louisville, Ky., on June 27, 1864. He gave his age as 19, his occupation as farmer, and his birthplace as Anderson, Ky. Private Moore served in the 108th U.S. Colored Infantry. He died of disease on Feb. 6, 1866 at Vicksburg.

Andrew “Andy” Treadwell was a private in the 55th Regiment, Co. K. of the U.S. Colored Infantry. He is listed on the African-American Civil War Memorial in Washington, D.C. His FindaGrave.com memorial lists his activities during the war in great detail. He died on Jan. 7, 1866.

According to the U.S. Burial Registers, Military Posts and National Cemeteries, 1862-1960, King Vance enlisted in the 64th Infantry, Co. H in December 1863. According to U.S. Freedmen’s Bureau Records of Field Offices, 1863-1878, he was a farmer and stood 5 feet, 5 inches tall. He died in Vicksburg on Oct. 14, 1865. The cause of death was dysentery.

Remembering Soldiers

Some areas are marked with plaques explaining what state and units the soldiers buried there belonged to. Below are soldiers who belonged to Iowa’s 31st Infantry, 2nd Brigade, First Division, 15th Corps, Sharpshooters Line.

Others did not have signs that I could see.

Vicksburg National Cemetery undoubtedly deserves more time than we had to explore and learn about it than we did. I think by this point in our road trip, we were both a bit worn and weary. I would like to go back and spend some more time under less hot and humid conditions when I can wander the hills a bit.

Our next stop was Greenwood Cemetery in Jackson, Miss. I’ll have a new post ready for you about that in a few weeks.

It’s time to finish up at Shreveport, La.’s Oakland Cemetery. Today I’d I like to focus more on the actual monuments and markers, and their epitaphs, to let them speak for themselves. I think the monument for Harriett Hotchkiss does that well.

Born in 1846 in Shreveport, Harriett Sims Hotchkiss was the daughter of Dr. Thomas P. Hotchkiss and Nancy Hampton Gill Hotchkiss. She was their second child, the couple had several over their marriage. Dr. Hotchkiss was elected on March 20, 1839 to the first municipal government of Shreveport as one of five trustees. He served as a surgeon in the Confederate Army during the Civil War.

For reasons unknown, Harriett died on Oct. 3, 1856. She was only 10. Her death must have been a blow to her parents. The praying figure on top of Harriett’s monument suggests it surely was.

Nancy Hotchkiss died on Feb. 25, 1869 and there appears to be no marker for her. She was 43 at the time. Harriett’s brother, William, died in October of the same year at age 21. Dr. Hotchkiss did not remarry.

When the 1873 yellow fever epidemic struck Shreveport, Dr. Hotchkiss was mostly retired. But he sprang into action to tend the sick, many who had no way of paying him. He succumbed to the illness himself on Oct. 8, 1873. You can see his marker to the left of Harriett’s, I did not get a better photo of it than the one above dominated by Harriett’s monument. He was 59 at the time of his death.

“Mama’s Darling”

Not far from the Hotchkiss graves is this one for James Elmore Atkins. He was the son of James W. Atkins and Lucy Elmore Atkins. Elmore was the name he went by. James W. was a planter who owned a plantation in Knox Point, La. and operated a mercantile in Shreveport with his brother.

Elmore’s monument has Lucy’s named spelled “Lucie”. He had an older sister, Maude. A praying angel kneeling on a pillow tops it. Above Elmore’s name and dates are the words “Mama’s Darling”. I am certain Elmore was dear to Lucy’s heart.

Elmore was only three when he died of bronchitis on March 6, 1892. An article in The Times of Shreveport reported:

For nearly two long weeks, little Elmore endured with more than childish fortitude the pain and suffering and then He gaveth his beloved sleep and the little one has been gathered to into the flock of the Good Shepherd. It is to the stricken parents that the sympathy of friends and relatives is extended; they that need consolation; for it is surely well with their child. No present words can assuage the bitter grief that sweeps across their heart strings right now.

Inscribed on one side is the following epitaph:

Fold him, o Father, in thine arms, and let him henceforth be

a messenger of love between our human hearts and thee.

It must have been heartbreaking to lose Elmore at such a young age. Lucy did give birth to another child, Herbert, in January 1893. He lived a long life, dying in 1973. Maude died in 1910 at age 24 of emphysema. Lucy died in 1922 at age 67. She and Maude are buried together at Shreveport’s Greenwood Cemetery. James W. Atkins remarried to Ethel Colgate. He died in 1930 and is buried with her at Greenwood Cemetery.

“Hope Still Lifts Her Radiant Finger”

Nearby are the monuments for James W. Atkins’ older brother, Joseph Davis Atkins, and his wife, Ophelia Lucille Poole Atkins. The pair married in 1879. They had no children together that I am aware of. Joseph was in business with his brother at the mercantile and in operating their Knox Point plantation.

Joseph died on May 30, 1891 in Shreveport. His obituary states he “had been indisposed for several days from the effects of la grippe, died at this home at Knox Point last Saturday night from paralysis of the brain.” In those days “la grippe” was a form of influenza. He was only 39.

Ophelia was left to carry on without him, which could not have been easy. Joseph’s monument is a testament to her grief. Above his name, it says: “I watch over thee, dear husband.”

On the side is the following inscription, which you can see in the photo below:

Hope still lifts her radiant finger

Pointing to the eternal home

Upon whose portal yet they linger

Looking back for us to come.

Ophelia lived another 35 years, remaining in Shreveport. With no children to comfort her, it had to have been hard. She was close with one of her sisters, who lived in nearby Belcher. Her obituary noted that she was active in her church and Shreveport social circles.

Ophelia had a stroke and died several weeks later in Belcher, La. at age 72 on Nov 18, 1929. She is buried beside Joseph.

“No Ostentation Marked Tranquil Way”

Born in 1878, Leon Rutherford Smith was a Shreveport native. He obtained his law degree from the University of Virginia in 1900 and married Ethel Blanchard the following year. She was the only daughter of Louisiana governor Newton C. Blanchard (serving from 1904 to 1908) and Mary Emmett Barret Blanchard.

After serving on the Caddo Parish school board, Leon decided to run for office and was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives in 1904. He became a state senator in 1912.

Leon and Ethel had one child together, Newton Blanchard Smith, born in 1904. Sadly, Leon died after contracting the Spanish Flu on Oct 19, 1918. He was only 43 years old. Ethel did not remarry. She died in 1945 after having a heart attack. She is buried beside Leon.

Blanchard, who had moved to Poughkeepsie, N.Y. in the 1930s, died there in 1954 at age 50. He is buried with his parents in Oakland.

Leon’s monument has the following inscription:

No ostentation marked his tranquil way, his duties all discharged without display

And Heaven lifts its everlasting portals high

To bid the pure in heart behold his god.

I did a search to see if there was an author, but did not find a name. Apparently, it was a rather popular epitaph because it appears in various forms on a number of grave markers I saw online.

“One Pure Bright Eternal Day”

Finally, let’s turn to the marker for Lillie Wilkinson Sims Starling. Born in 1842, Lillie was the daughter of Ross Wilkinson and Hannah Folwell Wilkinson. She and her family moved to Minnesota before settling in Caddo Parish sometime after 1860.

Lillie married J.T. Sims sometime after 1870. J.T. died of pneumonia on Feb. 5, 1873 at age 27. Lillie gave birth to their son, Thomas Ross Starling, at some point soon after that. Lillie remarried to Joseph Starling in 1881. A native of New York, Starling was employed by the Texas & Pacific Railroad for 25 years. He and Lillie had one son, Joseph, in 1883 but he only lived five months.

Lillie and Joseph were living just over the Texas border in Waskom when she died on Oct. 22, 1885. I don’t know what her cause of death was. Her remains were returned to Shreveport and she was buried beside her first husband, J.T. Sims, and her infant son, Joseph, who had died just two years before. She was 43. Her marker features an elaborate profusion of flowers at the top.

Joseph Staring remarried in 1891 to Maria Stephens. He died in 1927 and is buried with her in Greenwood Memorial Park and Mausoleum in Fort Worth, Texas.

A sad footnote to this story. Remember Lillie’s son Thomas? He moved to Philadelphia, Pa. where some of Lillie’s Wilkinson relatives lived. I found an article that stated due to being despondent over being unable to find work, Thomas ingested acontie. It’s also known as wolfsbane. Ingested in a large enough quantity it can cause death. Thomas died on Sept. 30, 1901 at age 26 in a Philadelphia hospital.

Thomas’ uncle, H.C. Wilkinson, handled his funeral arrangements. Thomas is buried at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia, Pa.

Next time, join me at Vicksburg National Cemetery in Mississippi for the next part of Oklahoma Road Trip 2019.

Last week, I introduced you to Shreveport, La.’s Oakland Cemetery. I’ve got more stories to share with you about some of its more notable residents.

A Wife and Her Two Husbands (Again)

I found yet another “wife and two husbands” set of markers. But this time, the wife is joined by her mother. Take a look at the four monument below. We have, from left to right, Mary Jane DeCarteret Howell Furman, her second husband, Samuel Furman, her first husband, John Howell, and at the end, Mary’s mother, Eliza Scott Davis.

Note that the two markers on the left are made of stone, while the two on the right are made of white bronze, better known as zinc.

The common denominator of this foursome is Mary Jane DeCarteret Howell Furman. Born in 1822 to Eliza Scott DeCarteret (later to become Davis) and Francis DeCarteret in Louisiana, Mary Jane married John Nelson Howell in May 1837 at age 15. Howell was twice her age and served as mayor of Shreveport in 1844. They had only one child that I am aware of, Francis, in 1841 who appears only on the 1850 U.S. Census then vanishes.

Mary’s mother, Eliza, married Michael Edward Davis sometime after 1822. I’m not sure what became of Francis DeCarteret. Eliza and Michael Davis must have divorced at some point because he remarried to someone else in 1853 in Texas.

John Howell was a landowner who operated a successful grocery business in Shreveport for several years, retiring in the 1870s. He was also president of the board of trustees for Shreveport University, established in 1867.

“We Shall Meet Again”

John Howell died on June 24, 1882 at age 75. His obituary was very short, noting he was one of Shreveport’s oldest residents and one of its wealthiest. His marker is the tallest of the four and made of white bronze. I hope you don’t mind if I indulge my examination of it because what it shares gives you an idea of what Mary Jane, his widow, wanted people to remember about him. I think she certainly wanted his piety to be the focus.

The great thing about white bronze markers is that you could get quite detailed with what you put on the plates. The possibilities were endless.

Then there’s this Bible verse, Psalm 37:23, further highlighting Howell’s faith.

“A Friend to the Friendless”

Mary Jane’s mother, Eliza, died on Aug. 10, 1886 at age 83. She had lived next door to her daughter and son-in-law during the 1870s and with them in the 1880s. Her marker, also of white bronze, is on the far right of the four. While it is smaller than John Howell’s, it also conveys religious themes.

But on the side, we get a glimpse of one of my favorite motifs, the hand of God’s emerging from a cloud and pointing upward. We’re also informed that Eliza was “A Friend To The Friendless” and that she is now facing “A Happier Lot Than Ours”.

Mary Jane married local physician Dr. Samuel Kirkwhite Furman on May 19, 1887. Mary Jane would be Dr. Furman’s fourth wife since the previous three had all passed away. Dr. Furman was the grandson of the Rev. Richard Furman, who founded Furman University in Greenville, S.C.

I found an article about their wedding, which was held at Mary Jane’s Shreveport home. Apparently, the couple had known each other long ago and “had not met for 17 years” before they crossed paths again. The article indicates they would reside in Kentucky, where Dr. Furman was living.

Dr. Furman died on June 13, 1896 in Shreveport after a “long and painful illness” at age 77. His marker is made of stone, not white bronze.

Mary Jane died four years later on Feb. 2, 1900 at age 77. Her marker is probably the least ornate of the four but has some nice draping on the left side. Her obituary reveals what I had already suspected. Mary Jane was a faithful member of Shreveport’s Baptist church and had done a great deal of work to help the community.

The Levy Brothers

As I noted last week, Oakland Cemetery has a Jewish section. It isn’t set apart but blends seemlessly with the other graves. There are 24 Levy memorials for Oakland on Find a Grave. One of them belongs to Capt. Simon Levy, Jr., a native of Niedersbach, Alsace in France born in 1839. He came to America sometime before the 1860s because Simon served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. I don’t know if he actually attained the rank of captain but he was regarded as “Captain Levy” in the community. Such honorary titles (especially “colonel”) were common back in the day.

Simon’s brother, Samuel, was five years older than him. He arrived in Shreveport in 1853 before Simon, and he eventually became mayor. But I’ll get to him shortly.

Simon married Harriette Bodenheimer in 1866 and they settled in Shreveport. They would have three children together. Simon did well. He served as co-founder and president of the Commercial National Bank. He helped found the Shreveport and Gulf divisions of the Kansas City Railroad. In Shreveport, he was proprietor of a liquor distributorship. He was active in civic affairs, holding the rank of president of the Columbia Club and serving as a city trustee.

Simon’s success got my attention because he was of the Jewish faith, something not always welcomed in large cities in those days. But I learned that Shreveport had an established community of 50 to 60 Jewish families by the time the Civil War began. Many owned successful businesses and were active in community affairs like the Levys were. Shreveport would have four Jewish mayors in its history.

“The Grim Reaper Crept In…”

Harriette Levy died suddenly in 1878, only 27 at the time. Simon was left to raise his little ones on his own and did not remarry. He died on March 27, 1898 at age 59. His lengthy obituary, which spoke of him in glowing terms, described how after an illness of several weeks “the grim reaper crept in during the dark hours of night and claimed his own”.

Mayor Samuel Levy

Samuel Levy arrived in Shreveport some years before his brother. He, too, fought in the Confederate Army. His main profession was that of butcher. He and his wife, Louisa, had seven children together.

Like his brother, Samuel had a way with people and belonged to many fraternal organizations. He belonged to the Masons, the Odd Fellows, the A.O.U.W. (Ancient Order of United Workmen), I.O.B.B. (Independent Order of B’nai B’rith), K.S.B. (Kesher Shel Barzel), and the I.O.F.S. (Independent Order of the Free Sons of Judah). It’s a wonder Louisa ever saw him, he was so busy.

In the early 1870s, Samuel was serving Shreveport as the administrator of finance. I’m going to share this bit of history about how he became mayor from the Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities:

When the “carpetbagger” Louisiana governor William Pitt Kellogg appointed Dr. Joseph Taylor to the position of Mayor. Levy was allowed to continue in his same position under the new leadership. Taylor and his self appointed leaders of other city departments commenced to operate a notoriously corrupt administration that siphoned funds from city services and left the city in dire financial straits. Local resentment simmered, and reached a breaking point in the summer of 1873.

In August, a controversy erupted over the arrest of a local citizen on dubious charges. Following a violent courtroom debacle in which a friend of the accused threw a large Bible at the mayor’s head, citizens openly demanded Taylor’s resignation, which he tendered on August 8. Governor Kellogg decided to appoint Samuel Levy as the Mayor Pro Tempore until the time of the next election.

The yellow fever epidemic of 1873 descended on the city in the fall of that year. Shreveport would lose 25 percent of its population as over 800 people died from the disease while others left, never to be seen again. Since the Taylor administration had drained Shreveport’s funds, Samuel Levy took the extraordinary step of paying municipal bills out of his own pocket. He held onto his post through December, when elections brought a new mayor to power.

Samuel died on March 4, 1883 at age 47. His obituary was not as long as his younger brother’s but it was effusive with praise for his generosity and kindness to the poor. I’m sure many Shreveport residents remembered his efforts to help the city survive during the 1873 epidemic.

Stay with me for more stories from Shreveport’s Oakland Cemetery in Part III.

Oakland Cemetery is my first Louisiana cemetery hop, which excited me. I’d never traveled through the Pelican State before.

Located in what is called the original city of Shreveport, Oakland Cemetery is made up of about 10 acres with a sandstone fence around it. Find a Grave.com has about 2,530 memorials recorded for Oakland. According to the city’s web site, it was founded in 1847. The original name was City Cemetery, then it became Oakland around 1905.

The cemetery contains Jewish, Masonic, and Odd Fellows sections. Also, a mound containing approximately 800 victims of a yellow fever epidemic in 1873 is there. That’s not uncommon in large Southern cemeteries. About 85 percent of burials pre-date 1900 and very few burials have taken place in the last 70 years.

Oakland has had its fair share of vandalism in recent years, with several monuments knocked over. Some of the plot fences were in rough shape and the landscaping was rather scruffy. But that’s a common thing I see in big, older burial grounds. There is an Oakland Cemetery Preservation Society but I’m not sure how active they are. The last posted newsletter is from spring 2019, which was about the time we were there. I do know they’ve been doing what they can with that funds they have.

I do sympathize with this kind of thing. Cemetery restoration is very expensive, and most people are not prone to spend their own money to pay for the repair of markers for people not related to them. Still, it made me sad to see it.

Between Two Husbands

One reason I had to visit Oakland was because they had at least two Abrams cast iron grave covers and as you know, I’m fairly obsessed with them. I didn’t know when I photographed them that there was a bit of a saga concerning this family plot. The events that transpired would sound a little scandalous now, but back in the day, it wasn’t that unusual.

One of three brothers, Carl Wilhelm Soleder (or Solleder, I have seen it spelled both ways) was a native of Germany. His father died when he was a baby. Carl arrived in America around 1848. He married fellow German immigrant Anna Marie Kurrus in around 1854, not long after she had arrived. The couple were both in their early 30s. They did not have any children that I am aware of.

Carl entered into business with Italian immigrant John B. Mereto, opening a grocery stand in Shreveport. In 1856, they moved into a two-story brick building on Texas Street. They advertised in the local newspaper frequently.

Carl died on Oct. 17, 1857 at age 32. On May 5, 1858, Anna married Carl’s business partner, John Mereto. It was around the same time that they sold the grocery business to W. M. Gurney. A daughter, Rose, was born on Dec. 11, 1858. Son Andrew arrived in 1865 and daughter Carrie in 1867.

It might seem rather shocking now for a wife to marry her dead husband’s business partner so quickly. But I’ve seen it happen before. When I wrote about the Jacobs family back in 2016, wife Lillian was married to an Omaha undertaker. She married one of his business partners not too long after he died. While it may seem suspicious, it was more likely a practical solution to a tricky problem. The widowed wife is left without anyone to take care of the business and the partner is already likely legally tied to the family. In this case, it also appears that Anna was pregnant with Rose when she married John.

The 1860 U.S. Census lists John as a farmer, so I’m not sure if he got out of the grocery business altogether. Daughter Carrie’s census records indicate she was born in Italy, so the family may have gone there in the 1860s to escape the Civil War and live with John’s relatives.

John Mereto died on June 10, 1873 at age 55. I don’t know what his cause of death was. It is my belief that Anna purchased the two cast iron grave covers at the same time. Abrams’ patent, which you can see in the corner, was established in both November 1873 and May 1874.

Most Abrams cast iron grave covers are placed on top of some kind of solid rectangular foundation, be in granite or some other stone. The deceased is buried several feet beneath it. In the case of John Mereto’s, it looks like his cover follows this pattern, with the foundation a rough poured concrete. In the case of Carl Soleder, by contrast, his foundation is a rectangular stone border with an empty center. It’s possible he had no marker until these two were bought after John Mereto died.

Carl’s grave cover is missing the finial on top, but John’s shell finial is still intact. Amazingly, both still have their metal identifying information plates still intact. It’s fairly rare to find these attached. There’s another Abrams cast iron grave cover at Oakland that has suffered that fate.

Rose, the eldest daughter, married Frenchman Henry Martin Rougagnac in 1881. They moved to Houston, Texas where Henry opened a saloon. They had a son, John. Rose died at age 38 in 1897. She is buried with Henry in Glenwood Cemetery in Houston.

Anna died on Oct. 30, 1888 at age 65. She was buried between her husbands. By this time, the short era in the 1870s in which one could purchase an Abrams cast iron grave cover had closed, so the family purchased this upright stone for her.

Andrew Mereto, the middle child, never married. He was close to his sister Carrie, and either lived next door to her or with her, often. Carrie’s first husband, Bernard Duffau, died in 1902. He is buried elsewhere in Oakland. Her second husband, John Matovich, died in 1941. Carrie died in 1911 and is buried to the right of her father, John. Andrew died in 1929 and is buried to the right of Carl Soleder.

“Called Suddenly From Earth”

The death of a child is always painful. But when the cause of death is something that is today easily treatable, it is doubly hard to take.

Born in 1879, James Franklin Elliott was the son of Robert Sidney Elliott and Mattie Gardner Elliott. His obituary explains how he “stuck a piece of glass in his foot”. A few days later on Sept. 13, 1885, he died due to lockjaw, what we now call tetanus. Today, the tetanus vaccine and boosters can prevent such a tragedy.

Robert and Mattie Elliott must have been in agony. Their daughter, Pearl, born in 1885 a few months after James died, passed away in 1908 at the age of 22. She is buried in Oakwood but her grave is unmarked.

James Elliott’s marker is made of white bronze, a zinc blend. It looks like whatever ornament topped it has broken off.

“I Have Finished”

To end this post, let’s take a look at the lovely monument for a young lady who died young. Born in Texas in 1882, Marie Epps Ross was the daughter of John Ross and Celestia “Lessie” Ross. We don’t know Marie’s exact day of birth. Since Lessie died the same year that Marie was born, it’s possible she died giving birth to her.

Marie died on March 24, 1898 after a “lingering illness” at the age of 16. Her marker says that her last words were “I Have Finished”. She is buried beside her aunt, Keziah Epps Wharton, who died in 1910.

Marie’s father, John Ross, never remarried. He served in the Spanish American War. He died in 1931 at age 80 and is buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Shreveport.

Join me next time for Part II of my visit to Oakland Cemetery.

Today I’m going to do something I rarely do and focus on just one monument instead of covering a cemetery. I think in this case, it’s the right thing to do.

Somewhere along the line, I had seen photos of the monument to Otis Henry. When I realized we’d be in Texarkana, Otis’ monument immediately went on the list. It’s located in Rose Hill Cemetery in Texarkana, Texas. Mind you, there’s also a Texarkana, Ark. The border between Texas and Arkansas runs vertically down the middle of Texarkana.

I normally would have lingered at Rose Hill Cemetery to photograph the rest of it, but we simply didn’t have time. Established in 1874, the cemetery has about 4,250 memorials recorded on Find a Grave.

We drove in the front entrance that morning and headed for the back where I knew Otis’ monument was located. It’s pretty hard to miss.

Mother and Son

I get a little choked up when I think about Susan Tate, Otis’ mother, because I’m a mother of a son, too. I know that special bond between a mother and her boy. Sean and I have that. I have no doubt that Susan and Otis had it, too. So that’s where I’ll start. With Susan.

Born in Upshur County, Texas in 1859, Susan Tate was the daughter of Thomas Tate and Martha Barnes Tate. Thomas was a farmer. Susan was one of several children the couple had. I noticed that Thomas was from Georgia and Martha was from Alabama, so they grew up in my neck of the woods (so to speak).

In 1885, at age 25, Susan married Jack Henry in Longview, Texas. By the 1890s, the couple was living in Denison, Texas near the Oklahoma border. Their only son, Otis, was born there on June 22, 1894. Jack was working as a brakeman for the railroad, according to the 1900 U.S. Census. By this time, they were living in Johnson County, which is south of Fort Worth.

There is no trace of him after that 1900 census record so I’m fairly sure he died. Susan raised Otis in Denison. She married Stewart Wilder in March 1910 in Arkansas. He also worked for the railroad. I noted that the 1910 U.S. Census reported the fact that Susan had given birth to five children before that time but only one had survived. That would be Otis, making him quite precious indeed. But he was not living with them at that time.

Off to France

Otis’ World War I draft card gives us some clues as to what came next. I noticed he listed his home address as 1002 S. Leila in Texarkana. It was a bit of a jolt to discover that Rose Hill Cemetery is located at 104 S. Leila. He apparently had lived very close to his final resting place.

At that time, however, Otis was working as a “soda dispenser” (often called soda jerks back in the day) at a drugstore in Shreveport, La. But in 1917, he was putting on an Army uniform along with thousands of other young men. He served in the 359th Infantry, 90th Division, Company H.

After completing individual and collective training, the regiment served in France during World War I, including duty in the Villers-en-Haye, Battle of Saint-Mihiel, duty in the Puvenelle Sector of Lorraine, and the Meuse–Argonne offensive. It must have seemed like a totally different world to Otis.

A Mother’s Grief

We don’t know exactly how events transpired, but Corp. Otis Henry died on Oct. 6, 1918. His monument says he was “gassed one kilometer southeast of Vincey (Lorraine)”. Otis would be noted as the first man from Bowie County, Texas to be killed in World War I. His death came only a few weeks later when Germany signed an armistice agreement with the allies on Nov. 11, 1918. Otis was only 24 at the time.

I could not locate an obituary for Otis but I’m sure his death made headlines in Texarkana. I’m also sure Susan was devastated. By 1920, she and Stewart were living in Texarkana. Otis’ remains were returned to her in 1921.

Susan made it her goal to provide a monument that expressed her love for her son and recognized his sacrifice on the battlefield. But she and Stewart were of modest means. It would take a lot of scrimping and saving until 1931 until it would be erected. The Henry plot is surrounded by an handsome iron fence.

I learned that according to the Smithsonian Institute, the monument was designed by Morris U. Allen, Sr. and built by his company, Allen Monuments (located in Texarkana). However, according to Ancestry.com, the statue of the doughboy at the top was probably fabricated by McNeel Marble of Marietta, Ga. It seems appropriate that it came from there considering his father was from Georgia. This is one of five known stone designs similar to American sculptor Ernest Moore Viquesney’s “Spirit of the American Doughboy” but which lack the full battle gear.

In one hand, Otis is holding aloft a grenade while in the other, he is holding a rifle that rests on a tree stump. As you know from my past posts, a tree trunk symbolizes signifies a life cut short. On the ground below, we see the statue of “suited Otis” as he likely appeared before he left Texas. I think there’s some kind of symbol on his belt buckle, but I cannot make out what it is now.

Two angels flank the “suited Otis” on the ground below. One is looking down with her arms folded across her waist, holding onto the end of an inverted torch by her side. The other hand holds a flower wreath that contains roses, which can mean valor rewarded. The inverted torch usually signifies death or a life snuffed out.

On the other side is a larger angel. She is in a typical pose of mourning and her tunic is covered with stars, representing the five wounds of Christ. One of her hands, unfortunately, has broken off.

Stewart died of a heart ailment in January 1937 at age 69. He has a memorial on Find a Grave and is listed as being buried at Rose Hill Cemetery. He may be in the Henry family plot, but I noticed he does not have a stone there. As it was 1937 and the depths of the Great Depression, perhaps Susan couldn’t afford a marker for him. She died on April 9, 1941 at age 81. She and Otis share a small marker at the foot of his monument. Finally, she and her boy were together again.

As I told you, this one hit me hard. I thought of Susan, mourning for her Otis. How the memories of him as a baby in her arms, the shouts of laughter as he chased a butterfly, the day he got his first job must have haunted her. The agony of knowing he had been killed in France. At times, they must have washed over her like a flood. Perhaps planning, saving, then seeing his monument erected gave her some degree of comfort.

I have seen quite a few doughboy statues in cemeteries, but they are almost always located in the Midwest or in other parts of the country. We just don’t have that many in the South. I don’t know why but we don’t. So this one was special to me for that reason as well.

It was time to head on for Shreverport, La. next. But as I got into Sarah’s car, I thought of one of the last pictures I took of the larger angel. Inscribed twice below the folds of the gown were the words “Remember, Remember”.

I will remember Otis and Susan. I hope by telling their story here that you will, too.

The Oklahoma portion of our trip was now over as we started heading east for our return to Georgia. I knew there was one place I wanted to try to get to. Not for historic reasons, really. More for nostalgia. The grave of actor Dan Blocker, best known for his role as Hoss Cartwright on the hist TV show Bonanza, is located in Dekalb, Texas. That seemed like a worthy reason to stop.

Located about an hour and a half east of Hugo, Okla. in the upper corner of northeast Texas, Dekalb’s population is close to 1,500. The last time Dekalb made major headlines was on Dec 31, 1985 when another TV star (and musician) Ricky Nelson died in a plane crash close to Dekalb. He was on his way to Dallas for a New Year’s Eve performance. All seven passengers were killed in the accident when the plane caught fire. The pilot and co-pilot were able to escape and survived.

Dan Blocker is buried in Woodmen Cemetery, as in Woodmen of the World. You’ve read blog posts about them here before. I was looking forward to seeing the many WOW markers they might have.

But first, we stopped at a nearby Mexican restaurant for something to eat. I promise this plays a part in our cemetery visit, so stay with me. We ended up dining at a place called Maggie’s Mexican Grill. I’ve been eating Mexican food most of my life, but the food I had there was incredibly spicy and a bit salty. To me, it was good. The service was also top notch so I had no complaints at the time.

Woodmen Cemetery isn’t far from Maggie’s. With close to 3,500 recorded memorials on Find a Grave, it is a decent sized burial ground. The earliest recorded death date is 1896 and its for an unmarked grave. So most of the graves are from after 1900s. It is an active cemetery so burials are still taking place there today. I don’t know if it is associated with a specific WOW camp or chapter.

I zeroed in on Dan’s grave first. I didn’t watch a ton of Bonanza, but many people did back in the day. It ran from 1959 to 1973, so it had quite a run. It was also the first western that was broadcast in color.

On Bonanza, the character of Hoss was the middle son of Ben Cartwright and his second wife, Inger. Each of the Cartwright sons had a different mother, apparently. Poor Ben was widowed three times! Eric “Hoss” Cartwright was the lovable gentle giant of the show, his nickname coming from his large size. It was implied that Hoss wasn’t as quick on the uptake as his brothers. But in real life, Dan Blocker was anything but intellectually slow.

A Memorable Birth

Bobby Dan Davis Blocker was born on Dec. 10, 1928 in Dekalb, Texas to Ora (or Orren) Shackleford “Shack” Blocker and Mary Arizona Davis Blocker. Dan was reportedly weight 14 lbs. at birth, foreshadowing the size he would eventually become. That is one big baby! Shack was a farmer and the family struggled to stay afloat during the Great Depression.

When he was six, Dan and his family moved to O’Donnell in West Texas where Shack operated a grocery store. At age 12, Dan entered the Texas Military Institute in San Antonio, Texas. It’s now known as TMI Episcopal. That’s why he’s wearing a military-type uniform in the photo below. In 1946, he enrolled in Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas. He played football there and later at Sul Ross State University, where he completed his degree Some sites say it was in drama, others say English or speech.

Teacher and Family Man

After serving in the Korean War as an infantry sergeant, Dan returned to Sul Ross and obtained a master’s degree in drama in 1952. That same year, he married classmate Dolphia Lee Parker. Dan worked as a teacher in Sonora, Tex., and Carlsbad, N.M., before moving to California in 1956 to work on his Ph.D. at the University of California at Los Angeles. He also worked as a substitute teacher at Glendale, and began his career as a professional actor in Los Angeles.

Dan and Dolphia had four children together: Dirk, David, Debra Lee, and Danna Lynn. Dirk would go on to become an actor like his father, while David became a Hollywood producer. Dan was definitely a family man and preferred being at home with his wife and kids than attending Hollywood galas.

Meet Hoss Cartwright

Dan played a few minor roles in 1957 and 1958 on shows like Gunsmoke and Wagon Train. But lightning struck in 1959 when he was cast as Hoss on Bonanza. As a bit of trivia, I learned that Hoss’ trademark hat happened as a joke. He wore it to the audition as a gag, but when the casting team and other actors saw him wear it, they knew it was perfect for Hoss. So he wore it throughout the series.

One thing I didn’t know was that Dan Blocker started the Bonanza Steakhouse chain. The first Bonanza (called Bonanza Sirloin Pit) opened in Westport, Conn. in 1963. Sam Wyly and his brother Charles Wyly bought the small Bonanza restaurant chain three years later. The company grew to approximately 600 restaurants by 1989, when the Wylys sold it to Metromedia. The company bought the Ponderosa chain of steakhouses in the 1980s and the two merged. The chain went bankrupt in 2008, but there are supposedly a few Bonanzas still hanging on out there.

By 1970, Bonanza had made the top five in Nielsen ratings nine years in a row — a record that wouldn’t be broken for years to come. Dan became a wealthy man as a result and was also a savvy businessman. But from all accounts, Dan liked to live simply and was not a showy with his wealth.

A Sudden Death

In May 1972, Dan went into the hospital for routine gallbladder surgery. He suffered an unexpected pulmonary embolism and died on May 13, 1972 at age 43. It was a complete shock for his family and his many fans.

Bonanza writers took the unusual step of referencing a major character’s death in the show’s storyline that fall. It is thought to be the first time in TV history that a show actually addressed the death of a character. Specifics were not revealed in the series, but some years later, in a subsequent series, Bonanza: The Next Generation, one character stated that “Hoss drowned trying to save another’s life”. Bonanza ended after that 13th season.

Dan is buried with his parents and his sister, Ora, who died in childhood. I don’t know if he or his father were members of Woodmen of the World.

I have no idea what became of Dan’s widow, Dolphia. She worked to keep her family’s life private when Dan was alive. She may have remarried. She may still be alive today.

WOW Markers

I found this WOW marker for T.H. Russell and it’s one of the more unique ones I’ve seen. On the top is a stone “log” with the WOW seal on the front. On the base, you can see the crossed axe and mallet. That’s not a motif I see as often.

I had a hard time finding any information about T.H. Russel. His epitaph indicates he was married. On Find a Grave, it has him connected to John W. Russell and Debbie Weaver Russell, who had an estimated 10 children together. But I cannot find T.H. listed on their census records.

Killed in Action

This one for John Hartwell Moore made me stop. A native of Dekalb, John was killed in action on July 18, 1918 while serving his country in World War I. He was only 25.

Second Lieut. Moore was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his heroism:

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, takes pride in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross (Posthumously) to Second Lieutenant (Infantry) John H. Moore, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with Company D, 3d Machine-Gun Battalion, 1st Division, A.E.F., near Cutry, France, on 18 July 1918. While courageously leading his section in the face of intense fire, Second Lieutenant Moore was knocked down by a shell explosion, but continued his leadership as soon as he regained consciousness and personally reconnoitered the area in advance to find a less dangerous route. He succeeded and thereby made it possible for his men to go forward, but he himself was killed in the undertaking.

I do find it interesting that John’s family chose a WOW marker instead of a military one. I could find no obituary for him online that describes his funeral at Woodmen Cemetery, but his fellow WOW members may have served as pallbearers.

A True Woodman of the World

But I found a true Woodman of the World when I photographed the grave of William Wiley “Willie” Loven. When I looked up his memorial on Find a Grave, I saw that one of his relatives had posted a photo of Willie with his fellow WOW members. They are all dressed in their Woodmen uniforms and are holding axes! This is indeed a rare find and I was thrilled to see it.

Willie was a native of Dekalb, born in 1884. He married Callie Hogland in 1907 when he was 23. They had two children together, Willie and Ovies. He was a farmer. He died at age 35 on Jan. 7, 1919. I could not find an obituary for him, so I don’t know what caused his death. But Spanish Flu would have been a likely cause. Callie, who died in 1964, is buried beside him.

Heart Trouble

I had noticed soon after I’d photographed Dan Blocker’s grave that I was experiencing a tightness in my chest, something I’d never felt before. It got worse as I walked around the cemetery. Sarah had set up a camp chair near her car and was reading. I went over to her and told her, “Something is wrong.” She thought at the time I mean something was wrong with Dan’s grave but that wasn’t the problem. It flashed through my mind that I might be having a heart attack. While I love cemeteries, I really didn’t want to die in one.

Thankfully, Sarah is a level-headed person and she calmly asked me a few questions. I could breathe fine, and I could talk. But I needed to get off my feet and out of the cemetery. The pain was not sharp but it wasn’t pleasant. We started heading toward Texarkana, where our hotel was. I felt better sitting down.

She offered to take me to the hospital but I began to suspect it was heartburn. I’d only had heartburn once or twice when I was pregnant with my son, and that was very minor. I thought perhaps my incredibly spicy meal might have been the culprit, not any coronary issue.

We checked into our hotel and Sarah drove off to get me some Tums. When she returned, I gratefully munched on a few. Within about 15 minutes, the discomfort was totally gone. WHEW! While I had Maggie’s Mexican Grill to thank for my scare but I don’t hold it against them. I realized I just can’t handle a combo of super spicy/salty food. That isn’t there fault. Lesson learned!

I do wish I’d been able to linger a bit longer at Woodmen Cemetery but that wasn’t meant to be. We had a stop to make in the morning before we continued west.

It’s time to wrap up my visit to Showmen’s Rest in Mount Olivet Cemetery. There are still plenty of tales to tell from this enchanting place.

The Great Huberto

Herbert “Herbie” Weber (1914-1991) and his wife, Chatita Elodia “Chata” Escalante, were known as Los Latinos, a dancing act. But Herbie was better known for his high wire walking over the years, and headlined as the Great Huberto that practiced his “slide for life”. This involved Herbie walking up an incline wire to the top of the circus tent and then sliding backwards to the bottom.

Herbie’s resume is quite impressive because it crosses over entertainment genres, not just the circus world. He appeared on Broadway in Orson Welles’ adaptation of Jules Verne’s “Around the World in 80 Days” and “The Big Circus”. He also performed in the movie “Until the Clouds Roll By” with Judy Garland. He appeared on TV’s Ed Sullivan Show as well. In addition, he served as actor/dancer Donald O’Connor’s stunt double for several years.

Herbie was a creature of habit when it came to his own act, I’m told. He would walk, run, jump, and dance across the wire wearing baskets on his feet. To excite the crowd, Herbie would attempt a jump and dramatically fall from the wire. Audiences would gasp, then the ringmaster and Chata would run to his side and beg him not to try it again. Herbie would insist and complete the jump on the second try, bringing the audience to their feet cheering.

Herbie performed with many circuses over the years, including Ringling Brothers, Clyde Beatty-Cole Brothers, and A.B. Barnes. Herbie also produced his own show, Circus Flamante, for several years. Chata died in 1985 and Herbie remarried to Maricela Sanchez Hernandez in 1988.

Herbie died on Dec. 8, 1991 in Texas. He was 77. As far as I know, Maricela is still alive.

Queen of the Bareback Riders

The grave of Zefta Loyal includes a picture of her wearing her circus finery. She was one in a long line of Loyals that worked in the circus world over the decades. The Loyal-Repensky Troupe is regarded as one of the best equestrian acts in circus history. They have a memorial “wheel” at the Circus Ring of Fame in Sarasota, Fla.

Zefta was born in Italy on Sept. 23, 1916. She performed with her family in Europe before they came over to America in the 1930s, occasionally returning to tour the Continent. She was a tiny woman but performed her bareback riding with skill and style alongside her family members.

The Loyal-Repensky family came to America for the Ringling show and subsequently performed in many American circuses. The Repensky name came from Jules Loyal’s mother’s maiden name, and was used for its impressiveness. There were never any performing Repenskys — only Loyals. Jules was Zefta’s father. The Loyal family’s Ringling act was marked by an unusual seven-man pyramid based on five horses, with four Roman post riders and three top-mounters.

Zefta married twice and had two children. She died on April 26, 1996 in Longview, Texas at age 79.

Popcorn the Clown

You can’t have a circus without a clown and there’s at least one buried at Showmen’s Rest. That would be Thomas Edward Sink, better known as “Popcorn” on the front of his grave marker. He entertained circus goers for over 30 years. While his initial dream was to be a magician, he ended up becoming a clown. He said he just had a knack for it.

Popcorn entertained people, young and old, throughout the Midwest for more than 30 years. You can listen to an interview he did with the American Works podcast series before he died. He said he stole his name from someone he knew that wasn’t a clown.

Popcorn settled in Hugo after he retired. He died on June 30, 2012 at age 72.

Mister Circus

The inscription on the base of Ted Bowman’s grave is reflective of his life as a man of the circus.

“There’s nothing left but empty popcorn sacks and wagon tracks— the circus is gone.”

Ted didn’t fly on the trapeze or train elephants. He was in management. But he loved the circus.

According to Find a Grave, Ted Bowman started his circus career with the Terrell Jacobs Wild Animal Circus in 1949. He also worked for Royal American Shows, Fairyland Circus, Gil Gray Circus, and the Al G. Kelly – Miller Bros. Circus. Ted usually held treasurer and management level positions. He was general manager of the Carson & Barnes Circus for 17 years.

Ted was also a circus historian who specialized in collecting circus routes. He verified complete and partial routes for thousands of circuses using route cards, route books, diaries, and newspapers. He was known by many as Mister Circus because of that.

Ted died on July 30, 1999 at age 72 in Hugo, Okla.

Wheel of Death

Thank to Kathleen Maca, I learned that Samuel Perez was a member of the famous Perez Family from Mexico City, who perform with the Kelly Miller Circus.

He was a talented trapeze and acrobatic performer whose act included jumping rope on top of a spinning wheel known as the “Wheel of Death”, shown on the back of his marker.

The term “wheel of death” is bound to get anybody who is on the fence about attending a circus to purchase a ticket. According to Wikipedia:

The “wheel” is actually a large space frame beam with hooped tracks at either end, within which the performers can stand. As the performers run around on either the inside or outside of the hoops, the whole apparatus rotates. Performers also perform balancing skills with the wheel in a stationary position.

Samuel died on Feb. 21, 2001 at age 31 from an illness.

The Showman

The last marker I’d like to share is for a man whose love for the circus started from an early age. His marker includes a quote that I’m sure reverberates with many circus folk.

“We actually live the life that most people only dream of.”

James “Jim” Zajicek was born on Oct. 31, 1961, in Chicago Heights, Ill.

Jim joined the Franzen Bros. circus in the summer of 1979 and returned immediately following his high school graduation. There he perfected his juggling skills, performed Rolla-Bolla. Although he had a fear of heights, Jim learned to walk the high wire.

He later joined the Culpepper-Merriweather Show, where he trained and performed with an elephant and was featured on National Geographic magazine in March 1987. He moved on to Hawthorn Farms, where he cared for, trained, and performed with four elephants.

He started operating his Big Circus Side Show and was curator of this unusual show for almost 10 years. Jim’s career took him to all 48 continental states as well as Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico.

Jim died at age 52 on July 3, 2014. I believe he died of cancer.

It was hard to say goodbye to this special cemetery. So many wonderful stones to walk among. But it was time to leave Oklahoma and start heading east to get back to Georgia. But there were still many stops to make before we got there.

Are you ready for more stories from Showmen’s Rest? I hope so because I’ve got plenty of them.

It’s been fun to look at these pictures again. When I took them, I was not inclined to linger because we had a schedule to keep and another cemetery to visit in Dekalb, Texas before we made it to Texarkana that evening. I knew I could look at them later. I just didn’t reckon on it being four years later.

Hippo Trainer

One marker I’d forgotten about is for John “Dutch” Narfski. Unlike many of the stones I saw that featured elephants, Dutch’s small marker was different. His features a hippo!

Dutch Narfski was born in Poland in 1888, far from the American circus ring. I found a 1948 Daily Oklahoman newspaper article that filled in some of the blanks about his life. Dutch got into the circus world when he left Poland for Mexico in 1902 (which would have made him about 14) with the Hagenback Animal Show, headquartered in Hamburg, Germany at the time.

The article detailed the different diets of the animals Dutch cared for and his theories on training. He said, “There’s no such thing as a trained wild animal. You can train them, but you can never be certain that they stay tamed. That’s why they are caged.” He was said to have the scars to prove that experience.

Dutch worked for various circuses and shows over the years, and spent time with trainer Leo Blondin at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo. By 1948, he’d made his home with the Al G. Kelly and Miller Bros. Circus. The article noted that “lions, tigers, leopards, and the hippo” were his favorites. The Miller circus had just added the hippo that I believe is on Dutch’s grave marker, who was called Miss Oklahoma.

Dutch retired shortly before he died. He passed away on Jan. 29, 1966 in Hugo at the age of 77.

Heart of Showmen’s Rest

Last week, I mentioned that John Carroll was truly instrumental in making Showmen’s Rest at Mount Olivet Cemetery possible because of his love for the circus and the people whom he worked with for many years. I thought I’d missed photographing his marker but it turns out I was wrong. Here it is.

From what I’ve read, it was John who worked to make sure any circus person who needed a final resting place would have one at Showmen’s Rest. You can see an indication of that on some of the markers.

Swain and Snooks

Missouri native Kennedy Swain is reported to have been a child of show business. He performed in vaudeville and the stage, and he was a comedian in Plunkett’s Variety Show.

The World War II U.S. Air Force veteran worked as a sideshow manager for the Al G. Kelly and Miller Brothers Circus He was also an announcer for the Carson and Barnes Circus. In later years, he worked for the Daily Brothers Circus of Gonzalez, Texas.

Kennedy died of cancer in Texas on Aug. 16, 1974. His stone was paid for by John Carroll’s Fund.

Kennedy’s wife Zenda “Snooks” Plunkett Swain was a member of the Plunkett family, and a drummer in the circus band. Their son, Bill, followed them into the business as well. He became part owner of the Daily Brothers Circus.

Zenda died on May 28, 1990. She is buried beside Kennedy.

The Elephant Men

Born in 1940 in Zincville, Okla., Donnie Charles Carr worked for Carson and Barnes Circus from his teens. He worked with various animals but he became known as the “Elephant Man”. His large marker is a testament to that work.

Then there’s Terry Fenne, who has a bench to mark his grave that invites guest to “Have A Seat On Me”. Not only does if feature Terry with one of his elephants, it is embossed with the emblems of the circuses he worked for. Beneath the bench is a little elephant statue. He was known as the “Mud Show Elephant Man”.

Kathleen Maca, a fellow taphophile, wrote some detailed posts about Showmen’s Rest. Her site included the following information about Terry. I encourage you to visit her site because it’s a great resource.

Fenne literally ran away from his home in Madison, Wisc. to join the circus at age 14. He worked for six different circuses including: Fisher Brothers Circus, Circus Genoa, Clyde Beatty-Cole Brothers Circus, Roberts Brothers Circus, Kelly-Miller Circus and Carson & Barnes Circus.

Known as the “Mud Show Elephant Man”, he trained elephants and drove the elephant truck across the country for many years. The last few years of his life, he operated an umbrella hot dog pushcart in downtown Paris, Texas, and became a fixture of the town.

Terry died at age 56 on June 14, 2006.

Theodore “Ted” Svertesky loved elephants from boyhood. Born in Connecticut in 1954, he ran away to join the circus at age 14 but was returned to his parents. Yet Ted would not be deterred. He returned to the circus at age 17 and never left.

Ted knew he had a prime opportunity to learn from the best and did all he could to do just that, looking to Buckles Woodcock and Fred Logan for their wisdom. His career soared and by 1994, Ted was presenting the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus elephant act in the show.

On Jan. 13, 1994, the Ringling show opened in Tampa, Fla. before heading to St Peterburg, then leaving for Orlando. At 9:08 a.m, due to a broken wheel, 16 cars of their train derailed of which five cars turned on their side. Two people were killed that day, Ceslee Conkling, a 28-year-old circus clown, and 39-year-old Ted Svertesky.

Lastly, let’s visit the grave of Kenneth Ray “Turtle” Benson. Ken wasn’t one for the spotlight. He was thorough and some said, not exactly a fast mover around the big top until showtime. Thus, he earned the nickname of Turtle. Born in Chippewa County, Minn in 1945, he had no interest in being a star. For Ken, it was all about the elephants.

The poem on his marker was written by a friend, John Herriott. You can read the entire poem in the photo below. I especially liked these lines:

He didn’t have a fancy wardrobe

And never pretended to be a Knave.

In fact, he always looked like he needed a shave.

But a Showman he is for season after season

Because it was the way of life he loved

That had to be the reason.

Kenny died on Nov. 16, 2001 at age 56. Kathleen Maca’s site says he spent his last years with Roberts Bros. Circus.

Still hungry for some circus stories? Don’t worry, I’ve got more coming in Part III.

I’ve been eagerly awaiting the day when I would write about Showmen’s Rest, which is part of Mount Olivet Cemetery in Hugo, Okla. It was my goal to wait until I got to this point in the 2019 road trip to do so. There’s so much history to this special place that I want to give it the time and attention it deserves.

For those following along on a map, Hugo is about 3.5 hours southeast of Lawton.

First, I want to point out that there are other cemeteries where circus folk are buried. There’s a Showmen’s Rest within Forest Park, Ill.’s Woodlawn Cemetery. I visited that one in 2015 when we were in Chicago for the 200th anniversary of the S.S. Eastland disaster. One of Chris’ cousins is buried at Woodlawn. There’s also a Showmen’s Rest in Tampa, Fla.

The Showmen’s League of America was formed in 1913 with Buffalo Bill Cody as its first president. The organization purchased the land at Woodlawn in part because of a 1918 circus train wreck that killed an estimated 60 people. Other circus performers have been buried there over the years since then.

Circus City, USA

Hugo became known as Circus City, USA around the 1930s. Many circuses chose to settle in Hugo during the off season and later, many circus folk chose to retire there because they felt at home. Many circus people still live there today. Carson and Barnes Circus is still performing today and winters in Hugo.

Several people have written about how Hugo’s Showmen’s Rest got started. The best explanation I could find came from a Library of Congress blog’s 2018 article by Stephen Winick called “Everybody Works: Documenting Circus Life in Hugo, Oklahoma”.

Since 1960, showmen and women from around the country, not just Hugo, are memorialized at Showmen’s Rest at the Mount Olivet Cemetery. While Hugo circus legend D.R. Miller was responsible for purchasing a large section of plots for the purposes of developing Showmen’s Rest, a man by the name of John Carroll who worked for Carson and Barnes Circus his entire adult life, is also to thank for it. A drifter, he joined the circus as a teenager and remained with the Hugo-based show until his death in 1960. According to D.R. Miller’s daughter, Barbara Miller Byrd, Carroll left a sum of money to Miller, and Miller then developed the idea of Showmen’s Rest.

Dores R. Miller (mentioned above as D.R.) and Kelly Miller were the sons of Obert Miller (1886-1969), who started the family circus in 1937. The brothers’ mother, Jennie Williams Miller, died in 1929. Obert had been a vaudeville and circus performer before that. D.R. and Kelly were his partners in running Al G. Miller and Miller Brothers Circus. D.R. actually performed as a tight rope walker in his younger days.

Eventually, Kelly sold his share of the business to D.R. in 1958, just two years before he died in 1960 at age 46. At the top of his marker are two pouncing tigers with the words “Dun Rovin” between them.

Obert Miller died in 1969 at age 83. His marker has the entrance of a theater on it with drama masks.

D.R. Miller lived to the age of 83, dying in 1999. On the front, his grave looks much like his brother Kelly’s.

On the back, you can see elephants and a circus tent. D.R. and Jack B. Moore formed a partnership in 1953. Moore had operated the Tex Carson Circus. D.R. leased from Moore tents, equipment and an elephant named Mabel to the show, which later became the Carson and Barnes Circus. You can see the words “Carson and Barnes” on the back of one of the elephants on the marker.

On the Flying Trapeze

One of my favorite markers is for Grace McFarland, who spent much of her career flying high on the trapeze. She worked with several circuses over the course of her career.

Grace Lillian Sykes was born July 25, 1915 in Canada. She was a trapeze artist, aerialist, and bareback rider traveling with Ringling Brothers, Clyde Beatty, James M. Cole, Shine Circus and Tom Mix. She was also the producer of her own show, which was M&M International Circus. Grace’s first husband was Davey McIntosh. After he died, she married Walter “Mac” McFarland.

Grace spent the last 30 years of her life in Hugo, Okla. and died there on Oct. 28, 2016 at age 101.

“To Each His Own”

Another one of my favorite markers is for Frances Stokes Loter Padilla. Her marker includes a picture of her handling snakes, one of her many talents. As a girl, she learned fancy rope spinning and practiced doing a contortion routine while balancing a glass of water on her head. WOW!

After marrying Dick Loter, Frances had seven children who learned to work the shows at young ages. Five of them dropped out of the business, reappearing in tents once in a while to sell novelties and concessions. They worked primarily for the Tex Carson Circus.

Frances died in 2003 at age 78.

Chimp Trainer

Bonnie “Jean” Warner’s stone features a photo of her with a chimpanzee. A native of Terra Haunte, Ind., she worked with a number of circuses over the years, including James M. Cole and the Kelly and Miller Circuses. I found a number of pictures of her on Ancestry with her chimps, but she also like to ride a unicycle with the clowns.

I don’t know what year Jean decided to retire, but her last years were spent in Myrtle Beach, S.C. with her husband, Norman. They owned a locksmith shop there. She died on Nov. 6, 1998. Her marker indicates she was born in 1923, making her 75. But her obituary has her birth year as 1933.

One Dog and One Pony

One of the tallest markers at Showmen’s Rest is for John “Big John” Strong, founder and owner of the Big John Circus. John started it in Hollywood, Calif. 1948 with his wife, Ruth. “He always wanted to have a circus,” she said. “It was, I think, in his blood.”

“It started with one dog and one pony,” Ruth’s son John Jr. said. Ruth trained the animals, and the young couple took their show on the road. At their winter quarters, elephants grazed under oak trees and Ruth continued to train about 50 animals.

“It was love and discipline in equal measure,” said daughter Linda, who began riding elephants when she was four.

Ruth knew she wanted to raise her children in the circus. “It was a healthy life,” she said. “Traveling was good for them and meeting different people was very good for them.

John’s marker says a lot about him. At 6′ 5″, he loved stepping into to the circus ring, donning tails and a top hat that made him appear even taller. But he also loved people, Linda said.

“He knew so many people all over the country and he never forgot anybody’s name,” she said. “That’s kind of how he became known as ‘The man with more friends than Santa Claus,’ which he had printed on the sides of his trucks. It became his motto.”

John died on Jan. 6, 1992 at age 71.

There are more stories to share from Showmen’s Rest in Part II.

Pecan Cemetery would be my next to last cemetery stop in Lawton. I did visit one more but it was a very brief one and I didn’t take enough photos to make it “blog worthy”, so to speak.

The gates of Pecan Cemetery let you know at once that it was established in 1906 when the land was still called Oklahoma Territory. Statehood would come a year later.

According to Find a Grave, Pecan Cemetery has a little over 500 memorials recorded. It’s not a very big cemetery but it appears to be well cared for by the locals. The gates look fairly new. That’s the extend of my knowledge about it.

Mother and Son

Seeing a grave marker for a mother and son is not unheard of, I’ve seen several. But I’m always curious to know what the story is behind one.

Born in 1876 in Wisconsin, Emma married German immigrant Frank Penskofer around 1896. I have seen her maiden name listed as both Tank and Faulk/Fauk. By 1910, the couple was farming in Painter, Okla. with their seven children. The township wasn’t far from Lawton.

On July 14, 1910, Frank and Emma’s oldest son, Warren, died at the age of 13. Try as I might, I could not find out what his cause of death was. I couldn’t find an obit for him.

In 1912, at age, 36, Emma gave birth to her eighth child, also named Emma, on Jan. 21, 1912. Emma (the mother) died two weeks later on Feb. 6, 1912. Her obituary said it was from blood poisoning but today it would be called postpartum sepsis. It still happens today. According to the CDC, sepsis is the second leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths.

According to her obituary, Emma’s funeral was conducted by Rev. E. C. Deyo, who founded the Deyo Mission Chapel I talked about a few weeks ago.

Frank remarried in 1913 to Annie McDonald, who passed away in 1915. He waited several years to remarry to twice-widowed Allie Amanda Thurman Smith Lockhart in 1931. Frank was about 20 years older than Allie. He died in 1954 and Allie die in 1976. They are buried together at Pecan Cemetery.

“Dropped Dead”

In researching the grave of Sarah Ward, I encountered a phrase that I continue to find in obituaries from this era: “dropped dead”. I have yet to discern why newspapers used these words when they could have simply said “died”. Maybe they thought more people would buy the newspaper to find out why with a headline like that.

Born in Tennessee, Sarah Elizabeth McKrackin married Missouri native James Ward in 1888. Contrary to what her initial obituary said, the couple had nine children together. I’ll let you read how the newspaper described her last hours. She was 57 when she died on Nov. 19, 1925.

At the time of Sarah’s death, her children were grown and many had moved away. Her husband, James, moved to Roswell, N.M. to be near his daughter Beulah. He died there in 1946. His obituary states that many of his children moved there to be near him. He is buried in Roswell at South Park Cemetery.

Homemade Stones

Pecan Cemetery has some interesting homemade markers. I’m always intrigued by the anonymous individuals who take this kind of task on, adding their unique style. It can’t be easy.

The marker for Josephine “Josie” Wilson Crook features a large star and even has a footstone behind it with her initials “JMC”.

Josie married Richard Crook about 1913 in Oklahoma. They were the parents of three children, Marvin, Leroy, and Francis. She was only 42 when she died on March 4, 1929. Her youngest child, Francis, was only 10. I’m not sure where her husband is buried but her parents are buried in Pecan Cemetery in unmarked graves.

I could find no information at all about poor William A. Carter, who only lived one day. He died on April 18, 1918. His marker says he is the “son of Mrs. Ollie Hough” but there are no other Houghs in the cemetery. The other Carter buried there does not appear to be related to him.

If you were looking only at the stone of Vilas Mitchell, you would find out nothing beyond his name. Fortunately, his Find a Grave memorial included an obituary from the Lawton Constitution that said he died 12 miles south of Lawton on Nov. 15, 1919 at the age of 16. I learned he was the son of Frank and Nora Mitchell, and was one of their several children. I think he’s the only one of the Mitchell family buried at Pecan Cemetery.

There are two Harris markers at Pecan Cemetery. One simply says “Harris” and the other “Bobbie Ray Harris”. Again, I am thankful to the Lawton Constitution for reporting that Bobbie Ray was the six-week-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Dan Harris. He died on June 28, 1932. It’s my guess that the other Harris grave marker is for a sibling.

A Double Murder

Up to this point, my research about those buried at Pecan Cemetery had been pretty tame. Then I looked up Howard Owen Reynolds and that abruptly changed.

Born in 1897, Howard and his family moved from Illinois to Lawton when he was about six. He was one of several siblings. Howard served in the 79th Infantry, 15th Division during World War I. In 1925, he married Augusta Littlepage. He was 28, she was 18.

It may have already begun but after that, his life began to unravel. According to a family tree on Ancestry.com, someone had written that by 1928, “His profession when not committing crimes and engaging in adultery was barbering.” The 1928 Lawton business directory confirms he was a barber. The 1930 U.S. Census has him residing in the Comanche County Jail. Howard and Augusta divorced that year and she went to live with her parents. They had no children that I know of. Perhaps it was for the best considering what happened later.

Howard was keeping company with Faye Hennessee, the estranged wife of 58-year-old Jim “Peck” Hennessee in March 1934. She was Jim’s third wife and they had five children together, two others dying in infancy. Her situation must have been dire because she was living in a tent on the edge of town with the children. Howard was out on bail, awaiting action on a burglary charge.

Sometime on April 12, 1934, Howard and Jim Hennessee got into a physical fight at the tent where Faye and the children lived. Later that day, Jim returned with a gun and found Howard sitting in a car with Faye and Howard’s brother, Hughey. Howard and Faye jumped out of the car and ran, and Jim shot at them. Hughey remained in the car but was also injured. Howard and Faye lay dead in the road. Hughey survived and went on to later testify against Jim. Fortunately, none of the Hennessee children were injured.

At first, Jim denied he’d had anything to do with the murders. Hughey said otherwise. Eventually, Jim confessed but claimed he had shot at Howard in self defense and had not realized he was also firing his gun toward his estranged wife. Jim was charged with murder.

Jim was first tried for Faye’s murder and the jury lowered the charge to voluntary manslaughter, with a sentence of 10 years. He was due to stand trial for Howard’s death after that. I do know he appealed the sentence for Faye’s murder but it was upheld.

I believe Jim was sentenced to an additional 10 years for Howard’s murder because the next news article I found reported that after serving 13 months of his 20-year sentence, Jim was paroled in May 1937 due to illness. He had served his time at McAlester Penitentiary, now known as Oklahoma State Penitentiary. That made me very curious as to where Jim Hennessee landed after his parole.

According to Ancestry, Jim was an inmate at the Central State Hospital Annex in Alderson, Okla. in 1940. That’s not far from the McAlester Penitentiary but about three hours east of Lawton. In 1953, it became Griffin Memorial Hospital, a 120-bed acute psychiatric hospital that’s still in operation today. I did learn that Central was where the criminally insane were housed so I’m guessing Jim Hennessee was found mentally ill.

Jim Hennessee died on March 10, 1945 and is buried in an unmarked grave in the Central State Hospital Annex Cemetery in McAlester. Faye Hennessee, his estranged wife and victim, is buried at Pecan Cemetery with two of her adult children.

Having read all this, I felt for the families destroyed and the lives lost, regardless of their actions. This took place during the Great Depression, in the throes of the Dustbowl days when life was especially hard in the Sooner State. When living in a tent wasn’t out of the ordinary and trying to survive on the edges of society was the norm for many.

On the Road to Hugo

I went to pick up Sarah after that. The next day, we headed east to begin our trek back to Georgia. Our next stop was Showman’s Rest at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Hugo, Okla. You won’t want to miss that.