When Cemetery Walks Cross in History

Last week I was in Texas visiting family and took a cemetery walk at the Lonesome Dove Cemetery. One of the stones stated the woman was a survivor of the Ft. Parker Massacre. Reading the Wikipedia page on the event I was surprised to find it was about Cynthia Ann Parker's capture and life spent with the Comanche Indians, marrying a chief, Peta Nocona, and giving birth to Quanah Parker, who would become the last chief of the Comanche Indians.

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Forever lost?
Forever remembered?

Ft. Sill Post Cemetery

Comanche Tribal Chairman

Otipoby Cemetery

GYR Carnival

The interesting, odd & beautiful

In almost every cemetery we can find a tombstone that fits into the interesting, odd and beautiful categories. These are the ones we most likely share on our cemetery blogs.

Interesting

Mt. Calvary Cemetery - Saline County, KS

I have not located information on this grave.

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Odd

Mitchal Runnels Grave

Valley View Cemetery - Finney County, KS

Read this online article from 1970

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Beautiful

Highland Cem. - Comanche Co., OK
Eakins Cem. - Denton Co., TX
Eastside Cem. - Reno Co, KS
Eastside Cem., Reno Co, KS

I am drawn to tombstones that tend to pull my heartstrings.

These are a few that fit the beautiful category.

Apache Cemetery Walk

Geronimo is buried in this cemetery. The cemetery is located on post at Ft. Sill, OK.

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Take a walk - see more photos online.

Apache South Cemetery Walk

This cemetery is located on post at Ft. Sill, OK.

Take a walk - see more photos online.

Apache North Cemetery Walk

This cemetery is located on post at Ft. Sill, OK.

Take a walk - see more photos online.

Tombstone Photo of the Week

Emma Ferguson grave.

Ft. Sill Post Cemetery

Ft. Sill Post Cemetery Panoramic

Today was a sad day for me. My son, Clayton, left for Ft. Campbell, KY. He graduated from AIT last week at Ft. Sill, OK and came home for a week before heading out. He has been attached to the 101 Airborne Division.

Below is a panoramic photo he created at the Ft. Sill Post Cemetery during our visit in November.



I've added his photo in the left column.

Tombstone photo of the week

Highland Cemetery
Kimble Lot

I've seen many tombstones topped with various styles of urns. I have not, however, seen one like this before. Have you?

Tombstone Photo of the Week

This headstone caught my eye at the Highland Cemetery in Lawton, OK. We spent Thanksgiving weekend visiting our son at Ft. Sill and he and my husband were nice guys and let me visit some cemeteries. My guys...what a couple of sweeties.

Francis E. Finigan

son of

F & J Finigan

1903 - 1907

Weep not Mother for me for I am waiting in glory for thee.

Indian Agency Cemetery

I first located this cemetery on a post map. I was saddened upon arriving to find all of the graves covered. According to the information on the sign a preservation project is underway to restore the cemetery.



Also known as Comanche Mission Cemetery
Located on post at Ft. Sill, OK

UPDATE 1/22/2010
A few days after I posted this I was contacted by someone working on the restoration project. Mr. Wahnne Clark has been working with military officials since 2006 to restore the cemetery. A web site is in the works to chronicle the history and events. www.indianagencycemetery.com

Otipoby Comanche Cemetery

Otipoby Comanche Cemetery is located on post at Ft. Sill, OK. It is a small well kept cemetery. I would have liked to spend more time here. Some of its history is provided on the sign pictured above.



Phil & Gladys Narcomey
Honored for their service.



Cemetery committee November 1965.



Agatha Ah-Do-Sy
12/2/1915 - 11/15/1916

Visiting Harriet

Highland Cemetery
Lawton, OK



The side bar of my blog states here you will find interesting cemeteries and headstones from my cemetery walks. When I have the opportunity to visit a cemetery in another city or state I often look for the unusual or victorian monuments, especially when my time there is limited. Sometimes though a simple one will capture my attention. Such was the case of Harriet A. Walker. I was walking across a section to look at another headstone when I glanced down and saw her photo. Sadly it won't be there after many more years so I wanted to photograph it in hopes of preserving it. I do remember another Walker grave to her left but after looking through my photos I must of hurried on and didn't photograph it. I believe it was the resting place of her daughter Alice.



Here is what I found on Harriet after a quick search at Ancestry.com. Notice the conflicting place of birth for her.

1930 Lawton, Comanche Co, OK Federal census:
85 years old, widowed, born in TN, parents born in PA. Living in the household of her daughter, Alice Walker. Alice is 55 and single, born in MO.

1920 Lawton, Comanche Co, OK Federal census:Ages and relationship reversed on this record
Alice is head at age 50, born in MO
Harriet is daughter at age 35, born in MO.

1910 Lawton, Comanche Co, OK Federal census:Harriet is 64, widowed, born in PA. Has 1 child living of 1 child born.
Alice is 34, single.

There is another lisiting for an Alice Walker with the same vital information. She is listed as a boarder and working as a cook in a hotel.

Chief Kicking Bird

Ft. Sill Post Cemetery
The grave of Kiowa Chief Kicking Bird is located behind the grave of Quanah Parker.



Kicking Bird, a Kiowa chief, was the grandson of a Crow Indian who was captured and adopted by the Kiowas, his adoption being due to his great bravery and wisdom in councils. The Indian name of Kicking Bird was Tene-angpote. On Aug. 15, 1865, he signed an agreement with representatives of the United States to accept a reservation near the present city of Wichita, Kan., and he was a party to the treaty which was made at Medicine Lodge on Oct. 21, 1867, fixing the boundaries of the Kiowa-Comanche-Apache reservation in the present State of Oklahoma. Then the government, in 1873, failed to carry out the agreement to release certain Kiowa chiefs then imprisoned in Texas, Kicking Bird lost faith in the United States and was preparing to join an expedition against the Tonkawa tribe and the white buffalo hunters when he found out that his rival chief, Lone Wolf, was about to join the hostile Indians to commit depredations upon the frontier settlements. He gave up his own expedition and induced about two-thirds of the Kiowa tribe to remain at the Fort Sill agency. In the negotiations which followed he was treated as the head chief of the tribe. Kicking Bird was a man of positive character and labored for the welfare of his people. He aided in the establishment of the first school among the Kiowas in 1873. His death occurred suddenly on May 5, 1875, and it was thought by some that he had been poisoned by some of his enemies. His name Kicking Bird was adopted as a pseudonym by Milton W. Reynolds, the Kansas writer.

Blackmar, Frank W. Kansas: a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc. Standard Pub. Co. Chicago : 1912

Unknown Mother

I had an opportunity to visit a few more cemeteries over Thanksgiving. We spent the long weekend with our son at Ft. Sill, OK. All but 1 of the 7 cemeteries we stopped to visit were on post.

Located on post:
Apache [on Beef Creek] - burial location of Geronimo
Apache North
Apache South
Comanche Missionary
Ft. Sill Post Cemetery
Otipoby

Located off post in Lawton:
Highland



This photo was taken at the Ft. Sill Post Cemetery. I walked away sad. With the rich history of this area I can imagine many scenarios as to how this mother and infant are now remembered as unknown.

Cemetery Photograph Update
I updated my list of cemeteries I have taken photographs in and my new count is 165. Visit the link to view this list in PDF format.

There are always so many interesting headstones to blog about and in the days ahead I'll post about some from my recent trip.

Something I found funny during this trip - After our cemetery visits I looked across the room to see my son using his laptop to view the cemetery photos he had taken. Since both his and my husband's eyes glaze over when the subject of genealogy, cemeteries & family history come up, I was tickled he found this piece of history interesting enough to take photos in the cemeteries. His graduation gift from basic combat training was a new digital camera and he used it to take some really nice panoramic photos of the cemetery and landscape. I'll share one later if he remembers to email it to his Mom.