OATES CEMETERY

Contributed April 2004
by David Oates

LOCATION: The Oates Cemetery is in S1/2 NE1/4 SE1/4 of Section 28 T3S R13W on a bluff above Mulberry Creek. At one time, the land was part of the Newport Plantation owned by my great great grandfather Samuel Kennard Oates. It is shown on the USGS quadrangle for this area. It is located 2.6 miles north of Barton on the east side of a county road (I think it's a county road). I don't have the road number but I recall a large more or less industrial area where the road turns north off of the US Highway. At any rate, travel north on this county road until you cross under a powerline. The cemetery is .1 mile further up the road, on the right. It is not visible from the road and is about 200' back in the woods. It is on Pickwick Reservoir land owned and managed by TVA.

It is (or was) a beautiful little site before the vandals and grave robbers worked on it. Most of the markers are large concrete grave "covers" and most have been broken and scattered. Samuel K. Oates marker was imposing; a large marble or granite obelisk mounted on a large square granite or marble block which, in turn, was mounted on a stair-stepped marble or granite base. Almost all of the rest of the readable monuments are Oates family markers or markers of those with connections to the Oates family. The one for Dr. Adams is there because he married one of Samuel K. Oates daughters.

There are approx. 20 other locations in the cemetery where graves probably exist and are marked only by a stone. Some are hard to see but are definite grave sites. Speculation is that they were probably slaves but no one knows for sure.

We suspect that my great grandfather Wyatt Oates, a civil war veteran, is also buried in the cemetery but can't find any "proof" such as a stone.
 

S. K. Oates - born Jan 14, 1796 - son of Samuel Oates/Fanney Cannon -
               died June 22, 1854

Fanney Cannon - born June 29, 1762 - mother of S. K. Oates - died April 1, 1841

James Oates - born Sept. 16, 1789 - brother of S. K. Oates - died July 10, 1846

James C. Oates - born April 17, 1839 - son of James Oates - died May 29, 1844

Mariah F. Oates - born February 12, 1821 - daughter of S. K. Oates - died May 8, 1846

Polly J. Oates - born May 8, 1844 - daughter of S. K. Oates - died July 22, 1854

Martha E. Oates - born June 15, 1823 - daughter of S. K. Oates - died Jan 1, 1856

Narcis. Catharine Ragan - born August ?, 1856 - no Oates relationship - died May 8, 1876

Dr. Benjamin Adams - born Jan 6, 1829 - husband of Frances Amelia Oates
               (daughter of S. K. Oates) died Dec. 21, 1873

Mrs. J. L. Cullicn - born May 18, 1818 - no Oates relationship - died Jan 12, 1879

John S. Wallace - born ??? - no Oates relationship - died June ???
               (stone broken and lost)
 

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