It’s been 120 years since Emma Youngblood Montgomery (nee Benge) donated five acres from her Indian allotment for the establishment in 1904 of a cemetery in what was then the thriving community of Long.

Walk among the more than 300 headstones and markers that stand as silent sentinels at the remote, but well-tended, Long Cemetery north of Muldrow, and the gentle sound of leaves rustling in the breeze provide solace for the hallowed grounds.

It’s not unusual to find the phrase “Rest In Peace,” or the abbreviation “R.I.P.,” on some of the older headstones that dot the final resting place of Sequoyah County residents, some interred on the day of their birth and some having served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War.

But for more than 200 others, there is no rest, all but forgotten to the rural countryside and time immemorial. For 89 Oklahomans, often known are their names, some dates recording their time on Earth and, occasionally, their family ties, but only crude, deteriorating markers denote their gravesite. For an additional 115, any marker memorializing their lives has either been lost to eternity or simply never placed as a commemoration.

But volunteers for the Long Cemetery board have dedicated themselves to resolving anonymity that, for some, dates back to the time the cemetery began.

After some two years of research spearheaded by board president Scarlette Prater and board member Michelle White, information was verified and etched into granite markers for 89 graves. Those markers — even if the information was incomplete — were placed at the gravesites last week, restoring identity to those who had been anonymous.

In addition to Prater and White, other board volunteers placing the markers last week were Brian Edwards, Danny Mitchell and Diana Mitchell.

Collecting information Utilizing what was often cursory details, the women relied on hand-drawn maps of the cemetery from the 1970s, cross-referencing the data with census records, obituaries and newspaper clippings to substantiate the information.

“Some of the markers and some of the previous maps from the ’70s had date information that we researched if we didn’t have the information,” White says. “Doing research for the dates of birth and death, making sure that information was accurate is really time consuming.”

White says the first map of Long Cemetery was created by James W. Tyner, Alice Tyner Timmons and Maxine H. Tyner, who authored a 12-volume series of books from 1969 to 1982.

“Tyner did a lot of research in Cherokee Nation, and he named his books ‘Our People and Where They Rest.’ This was one of the cemeteries that they mapped out. At that time in 1970, there were still a lot of unknowns. Supposedly, the first burial was 1902, but who knows? It could of been like a family cemetery before that. We don’t know if there were graves before that,” White says.

“The first map that we could find of the cemetery with the graves was 1970, but we know there were several at that time that were unmarked, they weren’t aware of who was buried there. We’ve done a lot of research and identified some. You can see there are little bricks in some places. They used to be sandstones, and then the bricks replaced the sandstones in 1970. That’s the last time there was any major research done.”

While the map was integral to the board’s research, questions remained about possible additional graves undiscovered.

To help complete their records, the Tyners reportedly interviewed people in the community, and were able to identify people that had not been previously identified.

“In the ’70s, they talked to people in the community to find out who was buried here — they didn’t have any records — so we’ve got ‘Granny Snodgrass, dates unknown.’ And we got Uncle Bob Carter out here, too, dates unknown. But that was on their map back,” White says.

Knowing now what was not known 50 years ago helped the board identify more graves. “But, obviously, there was a lot more than 89 people there,” White observes.

That’s when GPRS, Inc., was called in.

More graves found

GPRS utilizes ground-penetrating radar technology to locate utility lines, gas lines and, in the case of cemeteries, disturbed ground which indicates a gravesite. The company claims that its services have an accuracy rate of 99.8%.

White says when the company surveyed the cemetery, it “was able to identify where the dirt was disturbed and mark the graves. Most of them we had no idea were out there.”

“They can see that it was dug out, and he could tell us how far, how wide, how deep, how long,” she explained about the survey. “Some of them were only two feet deep; just old, handdug graves.

“We suspected there were graves out here that were not marked with a brick or sandstone, because people haven’t used this [north] side of the cemetery for a long time, and we didn’t know why. We just suspected there were graves, and now we’ve confirmed, yes, there are.”

White believes elongated stones were used at one time to mark what are now 115 unmarked graves, but assumes such markers may have “just been moved or destroyed or buried too deep.”

She says original markers were likely sandstone, which “somebody just painted the information on it. Of course, that’s not gonna last.”

Some of the sandstone markers were also replaced with a brick, she believes in the 1980s, but there was no precise map of the early gravesites.

“We didn’t want to go digging anybody up to bury somebody else on top of them. We’re pretty safe on that newer side of the cemetery,” White says.

Prior to receiving the markers, the board purchased flags for the 89 graves “for people we knew were buried there,” but with the survey, “we found so many more we didn’t know about. We’re just gonna have to mark them as unknown when we get more money.”

While funds are replenished to be able to purchase more markers, the board continues its research.

“We’re working with Agent’s funeral home trying to get all records of burials at Long Cemetery before 1940, and see if we come up with any names we don’t know about. If we do, then we’ll have them a stone made.”

The granite markers were purchased from the cemetery board’s fund.

Preserving history

“We’ve been really blessed the last few years with some good donations from people, so we’ve had the opportunity to get this ground survey done, money to replace those [barely visible markers] with something more permanent and sizable. We had McGee Monument out of Morrilton, Ark., make these — they was the best price we could find,” White says.

The board also purchased 16-inch x 16inch cement pads to go under the markers. When the cement pads are placed, the 8-inch x 8-inch markers will then be affixed to the cement pads.

“We’re hoping that people in the community see the work and what we’ve done with their money and can appreciate that and continue to donate,” she says.

Of the 89 markers, only one simply says “Unknown.”

“That’s the only one we thought was unknown, until they did the GPR. Now we have a lot more unknowns, and we don’t know what we’re gonna do about that yet. We could put a whole bunch more unknowns out there, I guess, if we had the money.”

“In the ’70s, they talked to people in the community to find out who was buried here — they didn’t have any records — so we’ve got ‘Granny Snodgrass, dates unknown.’ And we got Uncle Bob Carter out here, too, dates unknown. But that was on their map,” White says.

Although OKcemeteries. net indicates the earliest burial at Long Cemetery was Pernecia Jane Early (White) Long in 1898, White’s records show “the first interment was a baby boy — the Burchfield baby — in 1904.” The marker is engraved with his parents’ name: Mr. and Mrs. Marion Burchfield. OKcemeteries.net also lists 1-day-old Joseph Chasten as being buried on May 12, 1904.

“Through the generosity of the community, we’ve done a lot here, trying to preserve and be respectful,” White says. “Maybe in 2050, somebody can redo this and look for graves and say, ‘We know they did this in 2024, here’s the newspaper article.”