Oakwood (see Part 1) is not our oldest cemetery. It is not our largest cemetery. But if you had to select just one Fort Worth cemetery from which you could invite guests to a dinner party, you’d select Oakwood. They’re all buried on that hillside across the river: founding fathers (John Peter Smith, Khleber Miller Van Zandt, James Jones Jarvis), cattle barons (John Bunyan Slaughter, Fountain Goodlet Oxsheer Sr., Burk Burnett and W. T. Waggoner, Winfield Scott), mayors (William Bryce and William Paxton Burts), gamblers and gunslingers (Luke Short and Jim Courtright), undertakers and educators (George Gause and R. L. Paschal), a governor (Charles Culberson), a songwriter (Euday Bowman), the namesakes of an Air Force base and a town (Major Horace Carswell Jr. and Byron Rhome), an early African-American business and political leader (“Gooseneck Bill” McDonald), Confederate soldiers (and one Union soldier), victims of crime (Hamil Scott) and of catastrophe (Al Hayne).
Robert Lee Paschal became principal of Fort Worth High School in 1906. In 1910 its building at Jennings and Daggett streets burned. The relocated Fort Worth High School eventually evolved into Paschal High School. (Photo from 1910 Panther yearbook.)
The cattle barons, such as Burk Burnett, erected some of the grandest mausoleums in Oakwood to serve as eternity’s bunkhouse.
The obelisk behind the Hagar Tucker historical marker is the grave of African-American banker and political leader William Madison “Gooseneck Bill” McDonald (1866-1950).
Aptly, the man who donated land for the cemetery is buried there.
Oakwood also has sections for babies, orphans, paupers, bricklayers, bartenders, lodge brothers, madams, and nuns.
Styx and Stones (Part 3): Where Art Meets Eternity
Posts About Cemeteries
