HISTORICAL SITES IN OKLAHOMA    Grady County, Oklahoma

Submitted by:  Sandi Carter   SandKatC@aol.com 
====================================================================
     USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing
         free information on the Internet, data may be used by
         non-commercial entities, as long as this message 
         remains on all copied material. These electronic 
         pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit
         or for presentation by other persons or organizations.
         The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb
         Archives to store the file permanently for free access. 
         Persons or organizations desiring to use this material
         for purposes other than stated above must obtain the 
         written consent of the file contributor.
========================================================================
THE CHICKASHA DAILY EXPRESS
Wednesday, August 30, 1972

HISTORICAL SITES IN OKLAHOMA

Mrs. Margaret Moncrief, after her husband’s death, operated a stage landing
on the Anadarko - Pauls Valley line just southeast of the cemetery on the 
little Washita River.  Mrs. Moncrief supported her five sons and six 
daughters by running the small store and post office where mail for the 
entire district was left twice a week.

It was 70 or 80 miles on the stage route between the two places and the 
dispatch riders pastured their horses at her place.  If a tired pony was left 
and the rider failed to pick it up on the return trip, a government man soon 
arrived to claim the U. S. property.

“The widow Moncrief’s place” became a familiar phrase among Oklahoma women 
during the early days.  In 1892, Mrs. Moncrief went to Rush Springs where she 
made her home with her daughter, Mrs. J. A. Slaton, where she resided until 
her death on Jan. 26, 1915.

During her time she saw the Ox Wagon give way to the modern stage coach and 
the stage coach give way to the steam railroad and automobile.  Mrs. Moncrief 
is buried by her maiden name, Margaret Hall, in Moncrief Cemetery.  She 
outlived all of her children.

One of the pioneers of this area, George Beeler, Sr., lived on Line Creek 
where Chickasha stands now.  On Feb. 28, 1888, Mary Beeler, wife of George, 
had a baby boy.  The next day, March 1, both the infant and Mary died.  A 
preacher came from Ft. Anadarko to preach the funeral during a terrible 
blizzard by way of his horse and buggy.  Mr. Beeler later donated a 40 acre 
tract of land, which is now the present town on Ninnekah, established in 1892.

A pioneer school teacher, Bud Gibbs, is buried in the cemetery alongside of 
Birdie Gibbs.  Bud Gibbs had the reputation of always wearing his six-shooter 
to school when he taught.

Infant death was very high in the days of Moncrief Cemetery because the 
pioneers did not really know hot to take care of small children.  Croup, 
whooping cough, diphtheria and many other dreaded diseases struck without a 
moments notice.  Doctors were scarce back then but if someone was fortunate, 
they could receive limited health care at Ft. Sill.  Other than Army doctors, 
the only substitution for a physician was a midwife or other neighbors that 
would give their assistance to a mother in need of infant care.  The Indians 
in that area were experts on child care and often helped pioneer families.

In Moncrief Cemetery there are 19 children under 15 years of age who are 
buried in small graves which dot the area with headstones bearing 
inscriptions of memory to the sons or daughters.  Even though the weather of 
a hundred years has moved tons of top soil from the surrounding farmland, the 
inscriptions are still legible.

The old west was lived in a vivid sense around Moncrief Cemetery.  There was 
constant danger from the marauding Indians because the Apaches and other 
tribes were still making raids on white settlers.  There was an Indian 
campground where artifacts are found today on the immediate south side of the 
cemetery.

Moncrief Cemetery was more or less the community cemetery of “Old Fred”, 
named after Col. Frank Fred of the U. S. Army.  Old Fred, before it was blown 
away by a tornado, was located two miles east of where the State Highway 19 
overpass is today.  Thomas B. Fletcher, who is buried with his family in 
Moncrief Cemetery, lived near Old Fred.  The Moncriefs gave Tom Fletcher the 
stones which outlined the gravesites of their family to build the foundation 
of his house.

Tornadoes ravaged the prairie in the summer and some families were killed, as 
in the case of Jake and Mary Mutz.  Jake and Mary were Indians who lived in 
their cabin near Moncrief Cemetery.  The tornado blew the cabin away 
completely, but left the table with a kerosene lamp still burning.  Searchers 
later found their pianola in a tree one half mile away and found their 
grandson in a tree approximately one half mile away with his limbs broken.  
Only Bessie Lee Mutz, their daughter, and Tap Mutz, Jake’s father, are buried 
in the cemetery.

In studying the deaths in the cemetery, most people died either in the 
extremes of winter or in the extremes of summer.  The average age at death 
was 31 years, although no records show any epidemics in that period.

Presently, the cemetery is located just south of State Highway 19, about 
three miles from the overpass, on the historic Chisholm Trail.  The almost 
forgotten hill is covered with blackjack and postoak trees and was kept up by 
the families of the dead until the Boy Scouts of the Stumbling Bear District 
and a women’s club in Ninnekah took an active part in its upkeep.

The people in this area feel this cemetery is, with good reason, one of the 
most historic places in Oklahoma.

Submitted by Sandi Carter