A gravestone carving from 1862

The odd folks -

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/8826/18mh5.jpg

http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/2283/19as7.jpg

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the black folks -

http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/421/20jw9.jpg

there are many MANY blacks buried here. Some slaves , some not..

only 4 headstones are there..

just 2 of those can be read, but none of them rest above a grave. They are leaning against that tree, or flat on the side lines of the 'colored area'

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ok. i will stop spamming my pictures. Smile

it is just a facinating place to me. And it is larger then 10 acres , my original guess. I can circle both halves and be at almost 2 miles.

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The last "star" photo IS Masonic.

Check for an Odd Fellows Lodge No. 138 that would have been active in Austin prior to 1889, when Mr. Hooke was buried. Since his is the only name and dates you've found, he may have been one of the last in the set. The other stone from 1929 might also have been an Odd Fellow to rate being buried within their precinct.

I really think that except for a few details the puzzle is resolved.

NOW, who was Mary Murphy and how did she come to be buried in Oakwood sixty years after her death? In 1788 there weren't even that many Spanish in Texas, because of the threat from Indian raids. What brought Mrs. Murphy to Texas, and where was she originally buried? This is probably a far more difficult mystery to pick at, but its very interesting to think about.

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The pictures and info are great!

The inverted pentagram is the more typical Masonic star -- I think it's called an Eastern star.

I still can't quite tell from the pics if they could be concrete. The dimensions seem very similar to the concrete gravestone from 1910 (much closer to 1889) that I talked about here:

sozobe wrote:

Still haven't found out much about how long a concrete gravestone could last, but did find this:

Quote:
Small concrete stone 20" high 10" wide, 1 1/2" thick. Small. Footstone:
Henry Harring/Born/July 1., 1909/Died/Jan. 1, 1910/ No flower can drop to soon
... [rest is unreadable]

It's from a tour of a cemetary, written in 1990. While it's just 80 years vs. 138 years, it sounds like a similar sort of legibility (and it did last 80 years...)

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Or, the 1929 headstone could have been someones son..

the same son who was responsible for the headstones, gravesite and curb?

I have a picture of the entire Murphy plot I took this morning as well..

let me find it.

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shewolfnm wrote:

This one seems to indicate (hard to tell for sure) that there are just three letters curving over the top, A (left), T(center), and U(right). There even seems to be a period after the T, here.

That could be a clue. Would it fit with the assylum? (Assylum of Texas.... U____?)

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The Murphys

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/4402/murphydd0.jpg

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sozobe wrote:

shewolfnm wrote:

This one seems to indicate (hard to tell for sure) that there are just three letters curving over the top, A (left), T(center), and U(right). There even seems to be a period after the T, here.

That could be a clue. Would it fit with the assylum? (Assylum of Texas.... U____?)

Quite possible.

Or, it could have been a local Union?

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Er, asylum.

Could be Austin too of course. Austin, Texas, U?

That one also looks stoniest -- the light coming through the right edge seems marble-ish, something slightly translucent. Could be a trick of the light though.

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Austin Texas Union ( of what ever written across the bottom) or the symbols that we can no longer see in the star told you of what union they were a part of?

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sozobe wrote:

Er, asylum.

Could be Austin too of course. Austin, Texas, U?

That one also looks stoniest -- the light coming through the right edge seems marble-ish, something slightly translucent. Could be a trick of the light though.

I dont think so.

It is the only white stone in the group.

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shewolfnm wrote:

see?

The one white stone on the right side of the picture?? that is the close up you were talking about.

it is the least weathered of all, yet Im still not able to read it.
AND- it is the only one of its kind

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I think, professor Martha Norkunas is THE person to be ask: one of her books, In Monuments and Memory, "traces the intersections of personal and public history, space, and memory" (though not in Austin).

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Maybe just that one's stone, the others are concrete?

There does seem to be some variation within the group, the one with the name and date on it for example.

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Walter Hinteler wrote:

I think, professor Martha Norkunas is THE person to be ask: one of her books, In Monuments and Memory, "traces the intersections of personal and public history, space, and memory" (though not in Austin).

that kinda stinks.

I am going to find that book you posted though. It should be in the library..

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sozobe wrote:

Maybe just that one's stone, the others are concrete?

There does seem to be some variation within the group, the one with the name and date on it for example.

Possible.

That was one of the things that threw me for a loop though.
They show weathering horribly.. compared to what is surrounding it..

Let me see if I photographed the ones around them. That might help you understand why these stand out so much..

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http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/6968/21gw7.jpg

Ok.

sorry for the screen stretching.. but..

You can see how they are just these really dark pieces of stone that stick out compared to all the others?

In fact, the smaller ones closer to the bottom of the picture are about a decade older, yet show next to NO weather damage what so ever...

http://img364.imageshack.us/img364/5964/22wx9.jpg

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As badly weathered as the stones are, isn't it likely that the names/dates have been worn away? To have found one of the set dated 1889 infers that the other almost identical stones once also had names and dates below the symbol that has survived in poor condition.

Thank you for the photo of Mary Murphy's farm. You titled it "the Murphys", but it appears to be surrounded by graves of the Blocker family. At least some of whom were Masons, and very probably protestant rather than Catholic as Mrs. Murphy probably was. The Murphy grave site also appears to be slightly out of allignment with the surrounding graves. If it isn't too much trouble can we get some more detailed closeups of the Murphy site?

Oakwood certainly seems to be interesting place, and one that is filled with puzzles. Just passing curiosity, are there any visible carvings on the "black" headstones?

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they are so dark compared to everything else that I would expect them to be much older.

But I dont know if stone quality will help ? But I might be able to find out what it is by asking one of the other workers next time i see them

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A gravestone carving from 1862

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