MANGUM STAR NEWS - August 1, 2002
In a ditch alongside of State Highway 34, one mile north of Dukein Jackson County, are 211 pairs of simple flat stones that mark the
final resting places of 21 people whose identity has long been
forgotten in the passing of time.
The graves are located at the extreme edge of the northwest quarter of a section of land that Jackson County bought in 1910 to be
used as a "poor farm" in the years before welfare was taken over by
the state and federal governments.
The road from Duke to Mangum ran along the east side of this
land. At one low spot near the creek, the road curved to the west
leaving a small plot of land unused. When the people died, leaving
no one who would or could afford to bury them elsewhere, they
were buried there in this unused piece of ground.
One by one the number of graves increased until the
time the land
was sold on August 10, 1939.
Today, the final resting places of these people are about melted
away in the elements alongside the highway. Only the limestone
rocks, which are the foot and the head, mark the graves. No identification of
any kind was ever placed on the graves. When SH 34 was built, the graves were
located in the highway right-of-way, but they were left undisturbed in the
ditch.
Submitted by: Gary Hollars
Source: The Sunday Oklahoman November 12, 1972
Copyright © 2003
by Karen Wise. All rights reserved
In the 1930's my grandparents, William T. and Lula
Pruett ran the "County Farm" in Choctaw County, OK. It was located near
Goodland Indian Orphanage, and my mother attended school there.
WELCOME
TO A CENSUS GUIDE TO OKLAHOMA 'S POOR FARMS, ORPHANAGES AND INSTITUTIONS