Common Ground: Sisters and Soldiers, Eagles and Soiled Doves

Here are seven sections in local cemeteries where organizations provide burial for members of a group.

“Set ’em up, Joes”: These two rows of tombstones, known at Oakwood Cemetery (1879) as “Bartenders Row,” were “last call” for eighteen local bartenders of early Fort Worth. Burial at Oakwood was one benefit of membership in the Bartenders’ International League of America union.

memorial confederate oakwoodAlso at Oakwood is a section devoted to veterans of the Confederate army. Men from several of the southern states (Texas, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama) survived the Civil War and ended up living and dying in Fort Worth.

The International Typographical Union at Mount Olivet Cemetery (1907).

The Fraternal Order of Eagles at Oakwood Cemetery. Lodges are called “aeries.” The Fraternal Order of Eagles was founded in 1898, when fraternal orders were at the height of their popularity. The order says the Eagles were instrumental in the establishment of Social Security. Indeed, FDR was an Eagle. So was Bob Hope. And JFK. And Ronald Reagan. And Tony Orlando.

cemetery sisters namur oakAt Oakwood, Sisters of St. Mary of Namur, who operated St. Ignatius Academy and Our Lady of Victory.

Bricklayers union at Oakwood Cemetery.

porter graveOakwood also has “Soiled Doves Row,” where madam Mary Porter and three other brothel operators are buried in a 10-by-25-foot multigrave plot.
Fort Worth’s pocket cemeteries: Islands of Eternity (Part 1): Common Ground

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