There is humor too in the old cemetery. Placed prominently in the center
of the headstone, under glass, where it has remained since 1855, is a
photograph of a much bearded man. It is a photograph of W. W. Sloan, who
was born in 1830 and buried in 1885, and his stern face still rebukes
those inclined to take lightly the facts of death and the grave. Mr.
Sloan was a photographer in Jefferson for many years.
On another stone there is this rhyme:
“Remember, friend, as you pass by,
As you are now, so once was I,
As I am now, so you must be,
Prepare for death and eternity.”
The story is told that once, in charcoal, a wag wrote underneath this
inscription:
“Be still, my friend, and rest content,
Until I find out just where you went.”
Over on one side of Oakwood Cemetery is the Jewish Cemetery. This plot
of ground is said to have been purchased by Mr. Jacob Stern and another
citizen, who presented it to the Jewish people of Jefferson for a
burying ground. Many Jews have been brought back to the old home town,
that their bodies may rest beside loved ones who have gone before.
This cemetery is kept as nicely as these “Chosen people” keep their
homes. A low stone wall separates it from Oakwood Cemetery.
Then on the extreme south side of the Oakwood Cemetery is the Catholic
Cemetery; this too, is well kept.
In Oakwood proper which burying ground dates from the time of
Reconstruction, many bodies were removed from the Cemetery, in what is
today known as “Sandtown.” Following the Civil War many Federal soldiers
were buried there. This is one mass of shrubs, graves and trees, with
few markers, and only a guess can tell one where the soldiers in blue,
who died in this part of the world, found their resting place.
One street in the cemetery is known as “The Street of Graves,” and the
legend goes that many unmarked graves are underneath the street. Should
you let your imagination play, you can outline for yourself the dents in
the earth that mean graves, as you drive down the street between the
rows of modern lots.
Frank Schweers and his father, sextons for the Cemetery for two
generations, have buried 9,000 citizens of Jefferson since 1870, when
the older Schweers took charge. There are about 14,000 graves in the
Cemetery, the oldest having for its inscription: “Rev. Benjamin
Foscue—1798-1850” and which is still in a state of good preservation.
And so, through almost one hundred years, the history of old Jefferson
and new Jefferson is written on the stones in the Cemetery, a valuable,
beautiful, romantic history that we should keep intact—that we should
value and preserve. ARE YOU DOING YOUR PART?