5 WoW markers in a row -- Oak Cemetery, Fort Smith AR - Woodmen of the World Grave Markers/Monuments on Waymarking.com

When Blasterz saw this careful arrangement of 5 WoW tombstones in arrow, we knew there HAD to be a connection . . .

From left to right:

"ROBERT C. ABNEY
Born Jan 24, 1897
Died Aug 24, 1920"

"ANDREW JACKSON BURK
Born Nov. 11 1863
Died Dec 18, 1909"

"MARION C. HILL
Born Dec 8, 1874
Died Oct 13, 1909

Another link is broken
In our household band
But a chain is forming
In a better land."

"J. B. BLACKSHEAR
Born Aug 19, 1881
Died Jan 4, 1914"

"MINNIE L.
Wife of J. B. Blackshear
Nov 11, 1882
May 1 1914"

And now the specifics of their lives, to the extent we were able to find any, from the paid site Ancestry.com:

ROBERT ABNEY

Robert Abney is buried in Block 69, Lot 2, Row 2, space 5 at Oak Cemetery.

We found Robert Abney in the 1920 census, working as a bridge carpenter, and married to Laylage (maiden name Center). They married on 5 May 1918 in Ft Smith. They have a 5 mo. old daughter Mary V. They are renting space in a home at 1413 S 9th St from Lucy Rankin, a widow who owns the house.

In 1917 Robert Abney registered for the WWI draft (birth date 24 Jan 1898), but was not called up.

We were not able to find an obituary or cause of death, only his entry in the AR Death Index.

ANDREW JACKSON BURK

Andrew J. Burk is buried in Block 69, Lot 2, Row 2, space 6 at Oak Cemetery.

We found Andrew Jackson Burk (age 36) in the 1900 census living with his wife Mary F. (age 31) in Huntington, AR. He was born in AR, and his parents were both born in TN. He is an attorney, and owns their home free of a mortgage. They have been married for 9 years and have no children born and no children living.

That was all we could find out about him.

MARION C HILL

Marion C. Hill is buried in Block 69, Lot 2, Row 2, space 7 at Oak Cemetery.

He married Ora B. Chastain in Sebastian Co. AR on 20 Aug 1906.

We found Ora in the 1900 US Census living with her parents and siblings in nearby Marion AR. Her father was a coal miner, and she was at school. Ora was born in Mar 1888 in Indian Territory, but her youngest sister (b. 1899) was born in AR. Her father was born in MO and her mother in KS, so they were could have been "Sooner" participants in the 1889 Oklahoma Land Run. A relative and a Swedish boarder lived with the family.

In 1906 she married Marion C. Hill. We cannot find another marriage record.

That's all we can find out about them.

J. B. BLACKSHEAR & MINNIE L. BLACKSHEAR

Married couple J. B. and Minnie Blackshear are buried in Block 69, Lot 2, Row 2, spaces 8 and 9 at Oak Cemetery. John Blackshear and Minnie Nelson married in Ft Smith AR on 25 Jan 1903.

We found John B. Blackshear and wife Minnie in the 1910 census. They lived in a rented home at 411 S 12th St in Fort Smith, where he worked as a machinist in the Frisco Railroad shops. They had been married for 7 years, and Minnie was the mother of 2 children, of whom 2 were living. Their son Burrell (age 5) and Flossie (age 2) lived with them.

We also found John Blackshear in the 1900 census living with his parents (W. P. and Allie Blackshire) and siblings (Laura, Ora, and Edna) in Conway Co. AR. W. P. rented a farm and was a farmer, with his son John working the farm with him. The girls were at school. W. P. was born in Nov 1857 in GA, and his parents were from GA. Allie was born in Sep 1857 in AL, and her parents were from AL. W. P. and Allie had been married for 27 years, and had 6 children, of whom 4 were alive.

John died in 1914, and Minnie died in 1920. we were not able to find out anything more about them, or what happened to their young children.

So wrapping up what we know:

These folks are buried together in the same linear plot.
Minnie and J. B. Blackshear were husband and wife.
Andrew Jackson Burk is the oldest, and Robert Abney is the youngest.
Apparently, the only connection they had to one another is that they are all members of the WoW.

But how did they wind up lined up so beautifully and so close together?

We called the Sebastian County Clerk looking for Oak Cemetery plot deeds. She had one deed for this area of the cemetery: A deed for the purchase of several lots by the Woodmen of the World Maple Leaf Camp.

So that's the solution to the question of how all these WoW graves line up here: These folks all died without cemetery plots of their own, and were buried in plots pre-purchased by their local WoW Camp.

Blasterz are used to seeing WoW tombstones in family plots. We had never seen folks buried in plots purchased BY the WoW Camp for their members.

By looking at their respective occupation information from the censuses, it makes sense that their local Maple Leaf Camp would buy the plots. With the exception of Mr. Burk (the lawyer who owned his home), these folks were renters or farmers, so would not have had much to spend on a cemetery plot of their own. Ft Smith was still a wild and wooly border town when these folks were passing away, and most had come to Ft Smith from somewhere else, so there was no family cemetery to be buried in.

Was the inscription legible?: Yes Location of Marker/Monument: Cemetery

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