Oakhill Cemetery Annex
- I wrote the information in the following
paragraph a few years
ago when I read the cemetery and prepared it to upload to the
internet. At the time it ws in a difficult position. The property
owner in front of the cemetery made it difficult to reach it and
though it went through a couple of cleanups it was insufficient
to keep it in a useful area for visitors. It was dangerous . Today
luckily the property has been purchased that is directly in front
of the cemetery and it now will become a section of Oak Hill that
will match the other sections and is being cared for. Only the
damage to the stones and the many empty looking areas will
attest to its condition in the past. I leave the paragraph as I wrote
it for historical purposes, written about 1994. I would love any
further additions to this list and also beg your time to read another
concern of mine that perhaps someone will act on or prove me
wrong. It is at the bottom of this page below the name list.
Thank you,
Suzie Henderson
"All of the names in this list are
located in the old Section of Oak
Hill that was separate. It is located
across the creek east of the old
side of Oak Hill. In old records
it is either "Negro Oak Hill" or
"Whitewright Negro Cemetery"
This part of the cemetery was in
terrible shape and hard to reach.
I went across the creek the first
time. This is a list of the Tombstones
that were located there. I add this
list just for genealogical purposes,their
stone info and dates are in the
main index."
Please if you have
anyone to add to this please Email
me
JIMMIE ANDERSON
2 BABY ANDREWS
BUD ANDREWS
LIZZIE ANDREWS
WILLIAM BLANTON
CHARLEY BOGER
BOB BOYD
LLOYD BRYANT
BABY CHANEY
HORACE CHANEY
RUBY CHANEY
JULIAN CONLEY
WRENTHA CONLEY
CLAUDE DALLAS
MAG DALLAS
CLARENCE FREEMAN
LOUTISHA FREEMAN
MAUD W. GARDNER
DOTTIE MAE GARNETT
BELL GATEWOOD
CLARA GATEWOOD
JIM GATEWOOD
JOHN GATEWOOD
BILL GOFF
JAMES HARRISHARRIS
CHARLES HAMILTON
DEBRA HATCHER
AMAROLIE HENDERSON
HUBERT HENDERSON (IS
POSSIBLY HUBERT HENDERSON WRIGHT)
LEE HENDERSON
CLYDE HOLLEY
LOU JOHNSON
LOTTIE JONES
OLLIE NUNN KIMBLE
TENCE LANIUS
LEUETER
CARO MAXEY
CORA MAXEY
HULET MAXEY
LULA MAXEY
OTTO MAXEY
ANNIE MCKINNEY
BUS MCKINNEY
OSCAR T.MCKINNEY
JOHN W. MOORE
WILLIAM OWENS
ELLA MAY PATTERSON
MICHAEL PATTERSON
SHERRI KATHERINE PATTERSON
WALTER PATTERSON
WALTER PATTERSON JR.
AVIS PAINS
BELZATOR PHELPS
CLAUDE RODDY SR.
DELLA RODDY
FLOYD RODDY
INFANT RODDY
WILLIAM RODDY
ELIZABETH ROWE
FRANKIE ROWE
WILLIE JOE ROWE
BABY SMITH
CHAT SMITH
RANDLE SMITH
BABY SNODGRASS
ROBERT E. SOMMERS
BABY SPENCER
LILLIAN CALDWELL SPENCER
SARAH THOMPSON
MYRTLE VADEN
LULA WATSON
LUCINDA WILLIAMS
ELIZABETH YATES
BRISCOE YAITES
R.MONROE YAITES CALLED MONROE
BABY YOUNG
My note of concern, If Whitewright can fix the problem of access and make it
decent can it go one more step?
Here in the collection and content of my
pages I have become very attached
to the Oak Hill Cemetery. It was the very first cemetery I cataloged
and
I still have much to add to it in the form of notes. Not a year
goes by that
I don't find new information to solve burials gone unmarked. The
part I called
the Annex I called that because it was also a term used in the maps
about some
of the section of the Old Oak Hill. When they added two squares
they called it
New blocks and Annex. Their death certificates even reflected that.
When I was told at the library about the
'other' cemetery I was frankly
confused as to what it was called. Speaking to the older folks both
Black and White
in town was an eyeopener but not one group called it any one name.
I tried to find
if there had been a school or church in that spot or when it came
into being. All
signs pointed to it being built about the same time as the Old Oak
Hill side and
I have no doubts now that that is the case. ( Although I have discovered
information
possible to the earlier -slave days cemetery elsewhere near Whitewright
and will
pursue the exact location later. No markers are found on that site
I have been told.
There will be no records of it I am sure but always hopeful. I appeal
to you for help
if there is any clue you can give.)
news of its being cared for and being accessible is a wonderful development. I can
concentrate on my work in looking for the identification in the graves that are unmarked.
My worry is about a lone little grave now in the weeds of the far south end of the Old
Oak Hill. directly downhill and on the gravel path SE from the Fleming above ground crypt.
The most disturbing grave is the one of a darling (In my sleep I can see her and feel her)
baby. Her name is Dana Shacopa Briscoe b. 28 Nov. 1977-17 Jan 1978
"SPEARS MORT. DALLAS TX" read the ugly bent metal marker in the weeds, next
to a trash pile. I wrote down the information when I was trying very hard to make sure
I had found the edge of the old part. I found more metal markers there but they had been
the result of the trash pile and they came from graves that now had stones.
There is no stone in the cemetery nor marks on a plat showing the Briscoe Baby.
Earlier I had been told that a flood had damaged the older section and had flooded and
cut off half of the black cemetery completely ( I have been across the creek in search of
more info on that part and found nothing indicating graves over there at all but the older
Black and White folks insist that area was also use for burials. It would take a bridge for
visitors to get to it. In 1919 a tornado tore through the old section and the Black cemetery.
Wooden markers are long gone.
After asking by knocking on doors I was told she was the "First Black burial " in Oak
Hill. That it was a grave spot given in charity. I felt sick. It is evident she is forgotten, no
flowers have arrived unless I put them there. No baby deserves this. Please can someone
find a way to have the grave cared for, or better yet moved from the trashy area? I would
do so if I could but I cannot afford it. Surely some way would convince the cemetery board
to have her put in a soft decent place among other babies or a place where vistors can view
this lost child. She also would need a marker.
I have not gone to Oak Hill for a while. My cataloging is continung and new information
creeps into all my lists but this one heartache remains. I had received just blank stares
when approaching the mayor and cemetery board members those years ago.
Can someone please take this on? Is there any group willing to care for the baby even
if only to mark her grave and see that she is kept clean and away from the trash pile?
Somebodys baby lies in many fields in Grayson and Fannin County forgotten by time
and unmarked but this baby is still able to be found. Please don't let her dissappear.
Suzie Henderson
Email additions & photographs
Fannin County Cemetery Home Page
fannin Home page
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