From Oakland City Journal
3 Dec 1940
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MRS. WHEATLEY
GIVES RECORD
OF GRAVE YARD
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Record of Hargrove Cemetery From
Earliest Beginning Enumerated By
Mrs. Ella C Wheatly, Member OF
Historical Society
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First Cemetery Of This Part Of GibSon County And Members Of Our
Oldest Settler Were Buried Here;
Old Deed Recorded
------The Indiana Historical Society
last year appointed Mrs. Ella C.
Wheatley of this city as the Gibson
county member of the Committee on
Pioneer Cemeteries and Churches.
This group was organized for the
purpose of collecting and preserveing cemetery records and church
membership records of the pioneer
of the state. When completed the
records will be available to the public in the State Library Building in
Indianapolis and will be of great
value to the genealogical department.
The following article which has
been submitted by Mrs. Wheatley,
concerning one of the first cemeteries in this part of Gibson county
will be of interest to our readers.
East of Oakland City is an old
Grave Yard which was one of the
first cemeteries in this part of Gibson county. Among the papers of
Col. W. M. Cockrum is a statement
of obtaining a quit claim deed made
by the Citizens State Bank of Petersburg, Indiana to Gibson county, Indiana which reads as follows: “The
following real estate in Gibson county commencing at a point two rods
east and twenty seven feet north of
the center of the northeast quarter
of section 17, town 2 south range
8 west, running thence 7 rods to a
stone, thence north 4 rods to a stone,
thence east seven rods to a stone,
thence south 4 rods to a stone and
the place of beginning. Said description contains 28 rods and is the
ground on which is located the
pioneer cemetery known as the Hargrove Grave Yard.” The Deed is
signed by James Shawhan, president
and Byron Brenton, cashier, on April
11, 1902.
The old papers of Col Cockrum
further state that he had an arrangement with Mr. R. C. Burba to put
boundary stones at each corner and a
large lime stone block in the cemetery with the names on it of all who
are buried there.
The first person buried in this
cemetery was Lafayette Cockrum
born in 1832. This was the son of
Col. James W. Cockrum. In the father’s old family Bible he has written: “This little boy died on the
South Fork of Patoka in November
1832, and is buried on a ledge east of
the house three hundred yards.”
Other children of Col. James W.
Cockrum buried there are Sallie A.
Cockrum, born 1834, died 1837; Columbus Cockrum, born 1820, died
1843; John B. Cockrum, born 1840,
died 1846; Samuel Cockrum, born
1855, died 1855. Jonathan Cockrum,
brother of Col. James W Cockrum
was buried there in 1854.
Those of the Hargrove family
buried there are: Captain William
Hargrove, born 1775, died 1846;
Sarah Hargrove, born 1776, died
1846; Nancy Hargrove, died 1847;
Willis Hargrove, died in late forties.
Two children of Wesley and Harriett Richey are buried there—Stephen E. Richey, born and died in
1850 and Susan C. Richey, born and
died in 1851. Ardra O’Neal was buried
there about 1844 and Juleous Gibbons (name not clear) was buried
there about 1848.
The names reveal that three of the
first pioneer families in this part of
Gibson county buried their dead in
this cemetery, Captain William Hargrove and his wife, Sarah (Jasper)
Hargrove came to Indiana in 1803
and settled near Princeton. At two
different time he was in the ranging service in Indiana. He raised a
company of rangers and was made
their captain, and with them fought
bravely in the Battle of Tippecanoe.
Captain Hargrove moved to this part
of Gibson county in 1836.
Col. James Washington Cockrum
came with his parent to Indiana
in 1809. In 1818 he married Sarah
Barrett and settled on a farm where
Francisco is now located. Governor
James B. Ray commissioned him
lieutenant colonel of the 4th regiment of Indiana Militia in April
1830. Some time between 1830 and
18?? he moved to the South Fork
farm. In 1836 he built a double log
house on the ground where the residences of U. G. Butcher and Cleve
Willis stand in Oakland City.
The Wesley Richey family lived on
a large farm near what is now Montgomery cemetery.
The three families mentioned were
good friends and became relatives by
intermarriage. James Marion Cockrum, the son of Col. James W. Cockrum married Mary Richey. Captain
Hargrove’s sister. Cynthia married
William Cockrum, the brother of Col.
James W. Cockrum. Tow of Captain Hargrove’s sons married two of
Col. J. W. Cockrum’s daughters.
Clark Hargrove married Caroline
Cockrum and Warrick Hargrove married America Cockrum.
There are numerouc descendants
of the Hargrove, Richey and Cockrum families still in Oakland City.