Oakdale cemetery

Cemetery lot in Oakdale.

In 1896, Rev. Owen L.W. Smith purchased from the Town of Wilson, in the person of Mayor John F. Bruton, lot 7, F Street, Section North of Oakdale Cemetery (col’d). Oakdale was the mysterious cemetery of Cemetery Street, south of the business district.

This document raises so many questions:

  • Oakdale was a city-owned property. When was it developed? Where are records?
  • Where is “the official plat of said cemetery”?
  • O.L.W. Smith’s family, including members who died shortly after this plot was purchased, are now buried in the Masonic cemetery. Were they, and the countless other burials at Oakdale, exhumed?
  • Why and when did the cemetery close?

Deed Book 46, page 348, Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.

[UPDATE, 18 May 2018 — See here for answers.]

The first colored cemetery.

Modern conventional wisdom holds that Rountree cemetery was the first organized resting place for Wilson’s African-American dead. As I noted here though, Oakdale (also called Oaklawn) cemetery, located south of the stemmeries in Little Richmond predated Rountree.

The cemetery was established by town commissioners about 1895, and Wootten & Stevens undertakers were burying bodies there — at “colored cemetery” or Oakdale cemetery — regularly in the late 1890s.

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Wilson Advance, 4 July 1895.

Lying hard by Stantonsburg Street, the southern route into town, the colored cemetery was a well-known landmark in turn-of-the-century Wilson.

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Wilson Times, 15 July 1910.

However, the site was not propitious and, less than 15 years after it was laid out, poor drainage conditions were leading to complaints.

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Wilson Times, 12 December 1911.

 The cemetery remained listed in the 1912 Wilson City directory:screen-shot-2017-02-17-at-6-24-57-pm

Though the record is not clear, it seems that burials ceased at Oaklawn by the mid-1920s. This 1923 plat of land sold for development by D.C. Suggs shows the gap the graveyard created in proposed grid of lots.

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At least some, and presumably all, the graves at Oaklawn were disinterred and moved a few miles east to Rountree or Rest Haven cemetery.

——

  • Blount Moore — In the 1912 Wilson city directory, Blount Moore was listed as keeper of Oaklawn cemetery, residing at 401 Wiggins Street. Bryant Moore, a laborer, was listed at the same address.

Wootten & Stevens, pt. 6.

In 1977, the late Hugh B. Johnston abstracted a newly discovered volume of the records of Wootten and Stevens, the earliest undertaking firm in Wilson County. The result, Funeral Register of Wootten and Stevens, Undertakers of Wilson, North Carolina, November 18, 1896-June 27, 1899 is an unpublished manuscript held at Wilson County Public Library. This post is the sixth in a series abstracting the abstract for entries naming African-Americans.

  • Newkirk, Fenner. Wilson. Colored. Died 18 July 1897, age 28 years, of brain fever. Attended by Dr. T.B. Person. Cost $6. Billed to Bettie Newkirk. Buried at Oak Dale Cemetery. (Page 103)
  • Nutall(?), _____. Wilson. Colored. Died __ July 1898. Length 5’9″. Cost $15. “Corpse was taken to Henderson, N. C., for burial.” (Page 291)
  • Parker, Harriet Jones. Wilson. Colored. Died 26 May 1898. Attended by Dr. N.B. Herring. Cost $10. Billed to Doane Herring. Burial at Oak Dale cemetery. (Page 260)
  • Parker, Nancy. Near Wilson. Colored. Died 19 March 1897, age 16 years, of measles and pneumonia. Length 5’9″. Attended by Dr. C.E. Moore. Buried at General Barnes cemetery. Cost $2.50. (Page 48)
  • Parker, Stanley. Wilson. Colored. Died 2 August 1898, age 65, of old age. Length 6′. Cost $2.25. Attended by Dr. T.B. Person. Funeral at home. Buried at Oak Dale cemetery. Billed to County Commissioners. (Page 294)
  • Parker, Susan. Wilson. Colored. Died 20 March 1897, age 20 years, of measles and pneumonia. Length 5’9″. Attended by Dr. C.E. Moore. Buried at General Barnes cemetery. Cost $2.50. Billed to Jack L. Ethridge. (Page 49)
  • Pender, _____. Near Wilson. Colored. Stillborn 2 April 1898 to Mr. and Mrs. Grey Pender. Attended by Dr. C.E. Moore. Cost $1.25. Billed to J.B. Farmer. (Page 223)
  • Pender, Jerry. Near Wilson. Colored. Died 27 November 1898, age 80 years, of old age. Length 6′. Cost $10. Attended by Dr. J.E. Brothers. Billed to Joshua B. Farmer by Grey Pender. Burial in Joshua B. Farmer cemetery. (Page 383)
  • Pleasants, George. Near Wilson. Colored. Died 24 May 1898, age 52 years. Length 6’2″. Cost $10. Billed to Sallie and Cora Farmer. Attended by Dr. T.B. Person. Buried at Simon Barnes cemetery. (Page 257)
  • Pitt, Antony. Gardners township. Colored. Died 26 March 1898 of “the effects of a blow.” Certified by County Coroner. Cost $2. Billed to County Commissioners. “Supposed to have been murdered.” (Page 221)

Wootten & Stevens, pt. 5.

In 1977, the late Hugh B. Johnston abstracted a newly discovered volume of the records of Wootten and Stevens, the earliest undertaking firm in Wilson County. The result, Funeral Register of Wootten and Stevens, Undertakers of Wilson, North Carolina, November 18, 1896-June 27, 1899 is an unpublished manuscript held at Wilson County Public Library. This post is the fifth in a series abstracting the abstract for entries naming African-Americans.

  • Hardy, Thomas. Wilson. Colored. Died 6 February 1897, age 55. Attended by Dr. T.B. Person. Length 6′. Cost $10. Billed to C.G. Wells. Buried in Joshua Barnes cemetery. (Page 32)
  • High, ______. Taylor’s township. Colored. Died 18 March 1899. Child of John High. Length 2’6″. Buried in Hilliard Ellis cemetery. Cost $3. (Page 438)
  • Hill, Edgar. Wilson. Colored. Died 20 October 1897, age 16 years, of consumption. Son of Henrietta Hill and brother of Richard Norwood‘s wife. Cost $23. Funeral at home. Burial at Oak Dale cemetery. Attended by Dr. B.T, Person. (Page 151)
  • Hines, Mamy. Wilson. Colored. Died 10 March 1899, age 1 year 1 month. Length 2’6″. Buried at W.H. Farmer cemetery. Attended by Dr. Albert Anderson. Cost $1.50. (Page 434)
  • Jackson, Rosa. Wilson. Colored. Died 5 July 1898, age 10 months, of cholera infantum. Child of Jos. S. Jackson. Attended by Dr. N.B. Herring. Length 2’6″. Funeral at home. Buried colored Oakdale cemetery. Cost $10. (Page 285)
  • Jeffreys, Mattie. Wilson. Colored. Died 24 July 1898, aged 7 years, of brain fever. Attended by Dr. Jones. Length 4′. Cost $7. Billed to W.T. Clark. “This girl was taken in to raise by Mr. Clark’s mother when very small and the whole family thought a great deal of her. She is the only colored person ever put in Maplewood.” (Page 289)
  • Jenkins, Annie Monite. Wilson. Colored. Died 20 May 1899, aged 24 years, of consumption. Daughter of Monite Jenkins. Attended by Dr. N.B. Herring. Length 5’6″. Buried Oak Dale cemetery. Cost $2.25. Billed to Wilson County. (Page 471)
  • Jones, Estelle. Wilson. Colored. Died 20 December 1896, age 9 months of fever. Length 2’9″. Buried at colored cemetery. Cost $5.50. (Page 10)
  • Jones, Gillie. Wilson. Colored. Died 31 October 1897, age 51 years, of bowel consumption. Wife of Alex Jones. Funeral at home. Buried at Oakdale cemetery. Cost $25. (Page 156)
  • Jones, Kesiah. Old Fields township. Colored. Died 21 August 1898, aged 38, of consumption. Wife of Thomas A. Jones. Length 5’9″. Cost $15. Buried in Jones Hill cemetery. (Page 305)
  • Jones, Nettie Vick. Wilson. Colored. Died __ August 1897. Daughter of Daniel Vick. Cost $25. “Murdered by her husband Wilson Jones.” (Page 124)

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Raleigh Gazette, 11 September 1897.

  • Jordan, Ned. Wilson. Colored. Died 2 February 1898, age 65 years. Father of Charlotte Aycock. Length 6′. Cost $15. Buried in colored cemetery. (Page 202)
  • Knight, _____. Wilson. Colored. Died 18 December 1897, of consumption. Length 6″. Cost $2.50. Billed to F.W. Barnes. (Page 184)
  • Lindsey, Frank. Wilson. Colored. Died 31 December 1898, age 27, of dropsy. Attended by Dr. Paschal. Length 6′. Funeral at home. Buried at Oakdale cemetery. Billed to William Lindsey. (Page 399)
  • Mabry, James. Wilson. Colored. Died 15 June 1897, of consumption. Buried in colored cemetery. Cost $10. Bill to L.A. Moore. (Page 84)
  • Matthews, Tom. Wilson. Colored. Died 28 May 1899, age 37 years. Length 5’9″. Attended by Dr. C.E. Moore. Buried in colored cemetery. Cost $4. Billed to Town of Wilson. “Killed by Policeman George Mumford in the discharge of his duty. Coroner’s Inquest gave the above verdict.” (Page 476)
  • Messick, James. Wilson. Colored. Died __ September 1898. Length 6′. Cost $7.50. County Commissioners paid $2. (Page 338)
  • Mobley, ____. Wilson. Colored. Died 16 March 1899, of consumption. Father of Jane Mobley. Length 5’9″. Cost $10. Attended by Dr. Albert Anderson. Billed to John T. Williams. (Page 437)
  • Mobley, Isaac. Wilson. Colored. Died 4 March 1899, age 21 years, of consumption. Buried in Oakdale cemetery. Cost $11. Billed to F.A. Woodard.(Page 430)
  • Moore, ____. Wilson. Colored. Died 17 January 1898, age 1 day. Grandchild of Pennie Moore. Length 2’4″. Cost $3. (Page 197)
  • Moore, ____. Wilson. Colored. Died 23 July 1898. Wife of Andrew Moore. Length 5’6″. Cost $10. Attended by Dr. Albert Anderson. Buried in colored cemetery.
  • Moore, ____. Wilson. Colored. Died 25 August 1898. Child of Henry Moore. Length 2’9″. Funeral in Methodist church. Buried in colored cemetery. Cost $15. (Page 313)
  • Moore, ____. Wilson. Colored. Died 17 September 1898, age 5 days. Length 2′. Cost $3. Billed to Pennie Moore. (Page 197)
  • Moore, Lelia. Wilson. Colored. Died 6 February 1897, age 3 months, of a severe cold. Length 2′. Buried in Oak Dale cemetery. Cost $3.50. Billed to Bryant Moore.