Memorial Day 2006
Despite the 7+ hour round-trip, this year Hubbo and I went to the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles to do a little ancestor acknowledgement on Memorial Day. The trip is just long enough to be almost too much for a day trip, but I can’t get comfortable with the idea of staying overnight in a motel in the town I grew up in. Dunno what that is about.
The two cemeteries we visited are both out in the country in two states. One is about 12 miles south of town. It’s the main cemetery for Ochiltree County, Texas, and was established when the town of Ochiltree was down there. 
Ochiltree Cemetery, Ochiltree County, Texas
Lots of my family are there–both maternal and paternal grandparents, a great aunt and uncle who are the brother and sister of my grandparents, various cousins and other aunts and uncles. It’s a place I’ve gone all my life–I recognize more and more of the names. The gate was built with the help of the WPA, and there are still a few elms from that era hanging on as well. There are usually some calves grazing in the pasture to the north and some traffic checking the wells to the south. What can I say? Life in the panhandle goes on.
The other cemetery is about 15 miles northeast of town–really out in the country. It’s a small country cemetery in Beaver County in the Oklahoma pandhandle that’s been there for years. One of my great-great grandmothers was buried there in 1915, and before her, my grandmother’s younger 4 year old brother in 1911. It looks like it’s in a desolate place but to those of us who know the names from the community, it doesn’t seem quite so lonesome. In some respects, my 
maternal grandparents should have been buried there–they went to school in that community and lived nearby early in their marriage. But they wouldn’t make the decision–there was talk about rattlesnakes and sunburnt grass. So when my grandmother died first, my mom opted to have her buried in the cemetery where my dad’s family are buried, and where Mom and Dad would eventually be buried. It was an ok decision–they spent more time in the town in Texas than they did in the one in Oklahoma and lots of people from Beaver County are buried in Ochiltree Cemetery.
Anyway, out at Blue Mound, I noticed a lone tombstone this time next to a great grandfather, a great-great grandfather, and the above mentioned great uncle who’d died as a child. I don’t know why I’d never noticed it before but it was apparently a Civil War Soldier. It provided only his name, Peter O. Preuett, and the name of his regiment, Co. B, 1st Ark Cav. There were no dates for birth or death.
At first glance, I assumed he’d been a Confederate soldier–he’d served in Arkansas and was buried in Oklahoma. Probably part of the reason I’d never noticed him is that his name was not familiar to me–I focus on all the Andertons, Cromwells, Morrises, Padgetts, Pattisons–names I know. But when I started doing a little research, I discovered he’d actually been a Union soldier. I suppose I should have noticed the shield engraved behind the name and unit, but I was too busy operating in my world of assumptions. This man was born in Tennessee, lived in Arkansas at the time of the war, lived a bit in Texas, came to Oklahoma and died there. He must have died about 1908 or 1909 as best I can determine. He’s in the Choctaw Nation in Indian Territory in 1900, to enroll his wife on the Dawes Rolls according to some accounts. His widow and family are in Grand Valley Township in Beaver County, Oklahoma in 1910. By 1920, they are back in Texas.
I uploaded a photo to FindaGrave, but I think I’ll take a flag for his grave next trip out there.