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G.A.R. Cemetery - Burial Records
Miami, Ottawa County, Oklahoma
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| G.A.R. Cemetery |
GPS: 36.910958, -94.878252
2801 N Main St
Miami, OK 74354
Date published: September 28, 2017
Total records: 21,251
History
G.A.R. Cemetery consists of 86 acres, with over 20,000 burial plots currently in place. Burials began taking place as early as 1892, about 7 years prior to the G.A.R.'s purchase.
The land on which G.A.R. Cemetery now sits was originally owned by Peter Labedie, a member of the Confederated Peoria, Kaskaskia, Wea and Piankashaw tribes. Labedie obtained the land through a patent in 1890 from the United States Government for 200 acres. He reserved four acres for “A Miami and Peoria Church”.
Labedie died in 1895 with his land being divided up by his heirs.
In 1899, R.M.J. Shriver, commander of the J.B. McPherson Post No. 11.2 of the Grand Old Army of the Republic accouned in the local newspaper that they had purchased 36 acres from Emily Ensworth, a daughter of Peter Labedie, for use as a burial ground for its members. In 1913, the GAR acquired the four acres of land that Labedie had set aside for a church, bringing the total acreage to 40.
In 1910, the GAR had transferred the original 36 acres to the City of Miami. Sometime after 1923, the City acquired the additional 4 acres as well.
It is generally believed that a son of Peter and Amelia Labedie was the first burial in the cemetery. The Ottawa County Historical Society received information that the first grave opened in the cemetery was for the child of Jesse and Laura Dragoo, having died in 1895 at the age of six weeks. In the 1930s a fire destroyed many of the early records of burials. However, the oldest marked grave is that of Atha Josephine Cardin, born in 1872 and died in 1892. Another marker that has survived change and time is that of a one-year child, Irene Isabel Thaxton, who died in 1897. Her father once operated a ferry across the Neosho River.
Cemetery Records
Records published here were acquired from the City of Miami on September 27, 2017. They include dates of burial ranging from 1894 through August 2017.
Surname Index:
