Newsarticle on Muncrief Cemetery - Grady County, Oklahoma

Submitted by:  Sandi Carter   SandKatC@aol.com 
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 CHICKASHA STAR
 Thursday, May 14, 1992
 
 HISTORY UNFOLDS AS MUNCRIEF CEMETERY IS RESURRECTED
 
 By:  Donna Stewart
 
 Goals set by the Ninnekah Historical Society some eleven months ago to
 restore the Muncrief Cemetery have been reached, and in due time for the
 Ninnekah Centennial celebration, according to Bill Evans, project director.
 
 Starting from scratch with a common looking hill, densely wooded and
 overgrown with poison oak, green briars, and brush, the society has
 resurrected a part of our heritage that has a lot of historical meaning to
 the state of Oklahoma.
 
 Walking back through time, the first person to be laid to rest in this now
 scenic and peaceful setting is ten year old Robert Muncrief, who died in
 1862.  Robert was the son of William Muncrief who donated the land for the
 cemetery site.
 
 William Muncrief, himself being part Choctaw Indian, married a Choctaw Indian
 maiden and was an Indian scout for the U. S. Army at Fort Sill.  He scouted
 for the men who conducted the Indian raids such as the one on Geronimo.
 William died in 1872 almost exactly ten years after his young son, and [is]
 buried there in the cemetery that he founded.
 
 After his death, Mrs. Muncrief operated a stage station in the area on the
 Anadarko/Pauls Valley line.  She supported her five sons and six daughters by
 running the state station, store and post office.
 
 Also of interest is the Beeler family plot.  On one side of a large monument
 is information on the death of the newborn Beeler baby on February 23, 1888,
 while the other states the death of the mother Mary Beeler, who died just six
 days later on March l.
 
 Research in the Julie Beeler family book showed that the infant died a few
 hours after birth.  Presuming the mother to be of a sickly nature, the child
 was buried temporarily at home until the mother also died six days later on
 March 1.  At that time, they were both buried in the Muncrief Cemetery and it
 is reasonable to assume that mother and child were buried together, possibly
 in each others arms in the same casket.  Mr. Beeler’s second wife lost two
 infant sons in 1895 and 1901 and they are buried in the family plot as well.
 Mr. George R. Beeler was the founder of the town of Ninnekah.
 
 Nearby is a large rectangle shaped plot with five markers saying “unknown.”
 According to Albert Lawson, a long-time resident of Alex, five cattle
 rustlers were caught near the Little Washita river and were killed in a
 shoot-out.  Mr. Lawson’s grandfather, Thomas Fletcher, helped with the burial
 of the five cattle rustlers.  Later on in life, Mr. Fletcher was also buried
 at Muncrief.
 
 More recently, is the grave of Bud Gibbs who died in 1944.  History tells us
 that Mr. Gibbs was on a cattle drive when he stopped off here and became the
 first teacher for the town of “Fred.”  The story has it that he always wore
 his “six guns” to school.
 
 The last burial to take place in the Muncrief Cemetery was Sarah F. Earl in
 1950.  By this time the area was so overgrown that it was inaccessible except
 by foot.  Therefore, the casket was carried by men from the bottom of the
 hill to the top.
 
 Of the sixty-seven dated monuments found, 43 percent died before the age of
 fifteen, and the infant mortality rate was extremely high.
 
 Muncrief Cemetery is a sand hill, approximately five acres in size, located
 one-half mile east of the east end of Old Fred Road, northeast of Ninnekah.
 One-third of the five acre area has been cleared, and has proven to be where
 most of the burials have taken place.
 
 In 1937, two separate individuals from the WPA came and made records of the
 monuments, with exception of the sandstone markers.  Fifty-five monuments
 were found at the time.  However, with the extensive work that’s been done in
 the last eleven months, approximately 150 graves have now been located,
 including eight ornate fenced family plots.
 
 Poorer families used sandstones for markers which were likely carried from
 the Little Washita River.  Because Muncrief Cemetery is located on a sand
 hill, time and weather has allowed some of the grave markers to be totally or
 partially covered by topsoil.  The sandstones (which are not native to the
 area) were recently located by probing a pitchfork into the ground.  Several
 sandstone markers were located with initials carved into them, and one had a
 date as well.
 
 The only flowers located in the entire area during the eleven [month]
 renovation were located on the grave of Katie May Lawson, mother of Albert
 Lawson, Alex.  Mr. Lawson some time cut a tunnel through the briars and brush
 to be able to place artificial flowers on his mother’s grave.  Mr. Lawson had
 his mother, baby brother, and grandfather buried in Muncrief Cemetery, and
 states that “never in all the years that I have been coming up here have I
 seen the cemetery look this good.”  Mr. Lawson has been visiting the cemetery
 for approximately sixty years.
 
 Many improvements have been made to the area in addition to the eleven months
 of digging, chopping, mowing and pruning by volunteers.  Gravel for the
 cemetery road, and trash barrels have been donated by Joe Brown Concrete, whil
 e Chickasha Monument Co. uprighted those monuments that were knocked over.
 
 Bill Evans of the Ninnekah Historical Society repaired the four broker
 monuments and made wooden “unknown” grave markers from redwood or cedar so
 that all the graves are now marked.  Wal-Mart donated silk flowers, and the
 Ninnekah FHA girls are making arrangements to place on each grave, making
 this the first time in the last 50 to 100 years that all the graves will have
 flowers on them.  The youth group of the Ninnekah Baptist Church, along with
 two retired gentlemen, helped sprig Bermuda grass, and Ninnekah 4-H students
 donated the work on several of the benches.
 
 Plans have been made for a dedication and ribbon cutting ceremony to be held
 Sunday, May 24 at 2 p.m. during the Ninnekah Centennial Celebration.  The
 Muncrief family is hosting a family reunion during the centennial
 celebration, and will be taking part in the dedication and ribbon cutting.  A
 guided tour give[n] by those who undertook the project, will follow.  The
 possibility of hav[ing] burial plots for sale in the near future is currently
 being considered.
 
 With the Muncrief Cemetery clean-up project in its final stages and the
 Ninnekah Historical Society so near its goals, steps are being taken to
 assure that the area won’t regress to its former state.  The most immediate
 need concerning the project is for a good riding lawnmower.  Those overseeing
 the project have used their own lawnmowers during the past year.  However,
 going through two chain saws and several set[s] of pruning shears in the
 eleven months have showed that the “wear and tear” is great and the society
 needs to obtain its own equipment before the efforts of the last year are
 lost.
 
 The Ninnekah Historical Society is accepting donations for a lawnmower, so
 that the Muncrief Cemetery upkeep can continue and “our” part of Oklahoma’s
 heritage won’t be lost.  Donations can be mailed to Ninnekah Historical
 Society, Inc., P.O. Box 5, Ninnekah, OK 73067.
 
 Submitted by Sandi Carter