DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker at Oakland Community Cemetery has to say — and friends, there's more layered into this ground than you might expect from a quiet acre of cedar trees in Van Zandt County. Now, the oldest marked grave in Oakland Cemetery belongs to a child named Oscar Lee, who came into this world and left it on the very same November day in 1882. Same day.
Think on that a moment. One November, a family somewhere in this corner of East Texas held a beginning and an ending in the same pair of arms. That is how Oakland's story opens — with a name carved in stone and no time in between.
But before there were many stones at all, there was a schoolhouse. The earliest recorded school building at Oakland went up in 1885, just north of where that cemetery sat. Come Sundays, that same building served as a non-denominational church — which tells you something about how tight resources were and how determined the people were to make do.
And it was during a brush arbor revival held near that place that a preacher's infant child became ill and died. No marker was ever set for that little one. The marker calls this the first unmarked grave in Oakland Cemetery.
A soul present at the beginning, remembered only by the telling. Then the ground itself began to take official shape. In 1887, a man named M.
M. Burks deeded one acre for a cemetery. By 1896, about forty graves had gathered there among the cedar trees.
The community was putting down roots the only way communities ever truly do — by leaving their people in the earth. Now, there's a name that runs through Oakland like a thread through good cloth, and that name is Currey. Early settler Lizzie Currey McMahon deeded two acres of land for a Methodist church in 1894.
The Methodist congregation organized in 1901. A Baptist church followed in 1904. And Lizzie's father, John T.
Currey, owned the cotton gin that anchored the community's economy in the early twentieth century. John T. Currey was no small figure either — he served in the Texas House of Representatives four times.
Four times. Whatever the man put his hand to, he stayed with it. By the early 1900s, Oakland had become a proper little world unto itself: the cemetery, the school, the churches, the cotton gin.
The Oakland School District was formally established in 1905. By 1913, it was teaching forty-two students, from the earliest level all the way up through the seventh grade. That school kept serving until about 1938, when it consolidated with the Grand Saline schools, the way so many small community schools eventually did.
And then there are the families — the ones the marker takes care to name, because names are what keep the silence from winning. Joseph and Sabrina Reid are buried on this site, along with members of their family. Sabrina is believed to have been of American Indian descent.
Then come the Adkins, Boyer, Burks, Carpenter, Chambless, Downs, Fincher, Gillespie, Kennedy, King, Lee, McMahon, Stephens, Skinner, and Wheeler families. In 1954, the Metzger and Morgan families deeded additional acreage to the cemetery, expanding the ground where Oakland keeps its memory. The marker puts it plainly, and I think they got it right: Oakland Cemetery continues to serve as a chronicle of the past.
From Oscar Lee's one November day in 1882, to a preacher's child with no stone, to forty graves among cedar trees, to a school that taught forty-two children, to all those family names standing in the quiet — this is not just a cemetery. It is the whole story of a community, written in the only ink that lasts.
What the marker says
The oldest marked grave in Oakland Cemetery is that of Oscar Lee who was born and died on the same November day in 1882. The earliest recorded school building at Oakland was erected in 1885. It served as a non-denominational church on Sundays and was located just north of the cemetery. During a brush arbor revival, the preacher's infant child became ill and died. This is believed to be the first unmarked grave in Oakland Cemetery. In 1887, M. M. Burks deeded one acre for a cemetery; by 1896 the site held about forty graves among cedar trees. Early settler Lizzie Currey McMahon deeded two acres of land for a Methodist church in 1894. The Methodist congregation was organized in 1901; a Baptist church organized in 1904. In the early 20th century the Oakland community included the cemetery, school and churches, and a cotton gin owned by Lizzie's father John T. Currey. A prominent citizen, Currey served in the Texas House of Representatives four times. The Oakland School District was established in 1905. By 1913 there were 42 students from the earliest level to the 7th grade. The school was consolidated with Grand Saline schools about 1938. Other early settlers buried on this site include Joseph and Sabrina Reid and members of their family. Sabrina is believed to have been of American Indian descent. The Adkins, Boyer, Burks, Carpenter, Chambless, Downs, Fincher, Gillespie, Kennedy, King, Lee, McMahon, Stephens, Skinner and Wheeler families are represented, as well. Additional acreage was deeded to the cemetery in 1954 by the Metzger and Morgan families. The Oakland Cemetery continues to serve as a chronicle of the past. (1999)