Oakwood
Cemetery
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| Oakwood
Cemetery | |
Oakwood Cemetery is located in Howell County in Missouri, in the city of Willow Springs, on private property. To reach the cemetery from Business 63 in Willow Springs go north on Pine Street and take an immediate right on Lane Street. Go approximately one quarter of a mile to a bend in the road. The cemetery is on the right side of the road. The location is in section 29, township 27N, range 9W of Howell County.
This is a small abandoned cemetery. Until recently the cemetery was overgrown and largely unviewable. The current owner, Ron White of Willow Springs, has now cleared the ground around the cemetery so that it is at least accessible and visible. Five discernable graves can be found in the cemetery. It appears that at least one additional headstone was present in the past as there is one stone base with no corresponding headstone. It is also possible that additional unmarked graves are located there although I am not aware of any historical record indicating further burials.
An August 1999 survey of the cemetery by A. Claude Ferguson and Gerald Groves reported the same five headstones so it appears that nothing has been lost since that time.
On May 15, 1890, William E. and Kitty Drew filed a plat for Oakwood Cemetery. It was to contain 52 burial lots, each 12 by 444 feet. Interestingly, there is no supporting evidence that the Drews ever actually owned the property for which they filed the plat. The property was sold by the county sheriff in 1892 to satisfy debts of a group of land owners not including the Drews. An 1895 sale of the land surrounding the cemetery excepted the Oakwood Cemetery plat, but later sales made no mention of the cemetery.
Many thanks are due to A. Claude Ferguson for sharing his research into the history of Oakwood Cemetery, and to Ron White for clearing the ground surrounding the cemetery to make it accessible.