STONES IN THE OLD CEMETERY

An individual recently contacted me about the cemetery and sent photos of stones still in the area. There is a large memorial stone in place (as noted previously) but there are three stones on the ground. One has an inscription visible.

Michael Wegner 8 Feb 1861 to 17 Oct 1930, His name, along with his two sons, are listed on the memorial marker and other records validate the information and identity.

Other records indicate this man listed in an index of Catholic Cemeteries. That source showed him (with those dates)  two children in the Catholic Cemetery in Wilburton, Latimer, OK. The others listed were an Edward A. 1903-1922 and a Joseph M. 1910-1927.

That may have been the plan to be buried there. His stone in the Bethany grave appears to indicate he was there at St. Joseph's in their Senior Adult Care Center at the time of his death. Many families had been forced to turn their children over to the care of the nuns when wives died and they themselves took ill or lost their jobs. That no doubt explains the children.

He appears to also be the man found on the 1920 Census in OKC. On that record (S.D.5, E.D. 161, Sheet 14A) was a Michael Wagner, born in Germany with children (all born in Minnesota): Francis, dau, 19; Edward 17; John 14; William 11; Joseph 9; Lee, 7.  In 1905, a man of that same name is in Norton, Winona, Minn. (That record showed a John, Lizzie and a Michael).

Are the three stones Wegman and his two sons?  The marker and other historic evidence support that conclusion.

So many people of the time saw their families decimated by illness compounded by widespread great poverty, homelessness, and joblessness of the late teens through the 1930's.

Anyone with information about this family, or these stones, please email me and I will post updated information.