HISTORY OF OAKWOOD CEMETERY - SMITH COUNTY, TX

Submitted to the USGenWeb Archives by the 
East Texas Genealogical Society, P. O. Box 6967, Tyler, TX 75711 
 
Directions & Coordinates added 12 May 2003 by Lawrence E. Oliver

Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm

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CEMETERY RECORDS OF SMITH COUNTY TEXAS, Volume I, Oakwood & Rose
Hill Cemeteries, p. vi.  

This cemetery is located inside the city limits of Tyler, Texas. It 
is northwest of the city center. The cemetery is at the intersection 
of North Palace Avenue and West Oakwood Street. The main gate is on 
North Palace Avenue. 

The map coordinates are:
	 Latitude: N 32:21:12.1 
	Longitude: W 095:18:36.9 

History researched and written by O. Howard Pollan

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HISTORY OF OAKWOOD CEMETERY - SMITH COUNTY, TX - TT-01

Oakwood Cemetery may be older, even, than the City of Tyler, itself. If 
John LOLLAR set aside the five acres for a burying ground when he bought 
his brother Isaac's land grand in 1846, it is older. Anyway, when John 
sold the land to John Madison PATTERSON in 1849, it was stipulated in the 
deed that those five acres were reserved for a cemetery. Many, many markers 
have been lost over the years but the oldest marked grave now is that of 
four-year-old P.M. SCOTT who died in 1852. 

In 1963, James WILKINS and the late Jack T. GREER researched and compiled 
for the Smith County Historical Society a list of one hundred distinguished
citizens and indicated the location of their graves on a map of the cemetery. 
Those graves contain people from royalty to slave! Emir HAMVASY was a Count 
in Hungary when he left his homeland for political reasons and found his way 
to Tyler where he became its first Episcopal rector. Cynthia RABB was a 
former slave and a house servant of the John A. BROWN family. 

Among those buried in Oakwood is a veteran of the War of 1812, the Mexican 
War of 1846, a Texas governor, Richard B. HUBBARD, and veterans of all the 
wars since. 

In 1873, a plank fence was erected around Oakwood and walks and drives were 
laid out. At the same time Garden Valley Road was rerouted around the 
cemetery which it had crossed from southeast to northwest until then. 

In 1903, additional land was acquired and the cemetery was renamed Oakwood 
because it had been known as "Lollar's Cemetery" until that time. If a 
person was really popular, his grave was dug free. Otherwise, it cost 
two dollars. The City, in 1905, hired William A. WOLDERT to locate old 
graves, mark plots with iron pins and map the plots. Then in 1907, the 
ladies of the Mollie Moore Davis Chapter, United Daughters of the 
Confederacy, erected a large monument on high ground east of Center Drive 
in memory of the 231 Confederate soldiers of Smith County who gave their 
lives for their country. 

Oakwood is bounded on the west by North Palace Avenue, on the north by West 
Oakwood Street, on the east by Ellis Street and on the south by the 
Cottonbelt Railroad. In the southwest section, there is a Jewish burial 
ground of the Congregation Beth-El. The oldest marker in this section 
is that of 19-year-old Rachel WOLINSKY who died in 1884. 

After the death of Mrs. William J. GOODMAN in 1915, her husband, a prominent 
pioneer doctor, erected a large Italian sculptured marble angel over the 
Goodman family plot at a cost of more than $2,600. It was reported that 
the man who installed the monument used 300-pound cakes of ice to insure 
that it was placed exactly right. 

In the 1930's through the efforts of Mrs. Henry EAGLE (Volunteer Supervisor), 
WPA labor was used to erect the stone fence around Oakwood and pave the 
drives. The strip adjacent to North Palace Avenue was filled and leveled. 
For many years this section was used as a Negro cemetery. More land was 
added and gates were installed. The burial ground now contains 19.5 acres 
with over 2,000 marked graves. 

In 1978, the Smith County Historical Society erected a coveted Historical 
Marker near the Confederate monument. 

There's not much activity around the old graveyard nowadays. But, the people 
there should be allowed to rest in tranquil peace. After all, they gave Tyler 
its wonderful heritage! 

                                                      Howard O. Pollan