Walkley Cemetery

Cemetery Condition "Abandoned" (see update below)
Send E Mail to Jim Carpenter using address on Home Page

Located approximately 31/2 miles south of Claremore on private property in deep woods. The Cemetery has been cataloged and names can be viewed on the Rogers County Site. I took these pictures on Labor Day, September 1, 1958. Fifty four years ago in 2012.

Update: In 2007 I was back at the Walkley Cemetery and found it had been cleaned up and the headstones put upright and it looked entirely different. It is no longer abandoned in the deep woods but is well kept and cared for by its new owner. I would like to get new pictures sometime in the future but doubt that will happen considering my age and physical condition. Please remember that you need the owners permission to visit any cemetery that is on private property, as this one is. Some people say this cemetery was known as "Old Ponlas" at one time. . . . Jim

The pictures below were all taken in 1958 and have no resemblance to how it looks now.

See details below the pictures for more information about those buried in this cemetery.

Click the pictures for a larger view

This is the only stone I photographed at a close enough distance to read the information. This is James Chambers, born June 11, 1831 and died Dec. 16, 1897.

Same stone as above but wider view. In 1958, this was one of the few stones still standing. Many were laying on the ground and many were broken.

Difficult to see in the photo but in the background is two or more rusty iron fences enclosing headstones.

Just another View.

Located very near the Walkley Cemetery is this well, with flat rock stones for the curb. I have been told that a stagecoach stop was located here and possibly a small settlement nearby. The well probably was used to water the horses that pulled the coaches as well as supplying the passengers and employees of the establishment.

This is a portion of the well curb showing grooves worn into the rock by ropes that were used to pull the buckets of water up. A strand of barbed wire held the rocks in place. About 20 years after this picture was taken, I was back in the area and the rocks were gone. I was told that someone pushed them into the well.

Some additional information about those buried in Walkley Cemetery. Accuracy is not assured....

James Chambers - James Chambers was born June 11, 1831 in Tennessee and died December 16, 1897 in Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory. He married Catherine Hendricks. She was born in Georgia and died sometime after 1909. They had 12 children, Alcy; Betsy; George; David; Robert; James Jr.; Nancy; William; John; Mary F.; Henry; and Maxwell

James Chambers, Jr. was born July 10, 1860 and died July 14, 1885 in Cherokee Nation, IT.

William Walkley was born March 14, 1835 in Rockness Hillnailsworth, Gloucester, England and died Oct. 7, 1884 in Cherokee Nation, IT. He married Letitia Jane Chambers in Dec., 1866. She was a daughter of Joseph Chambers and Nancy Starr. She was born July 17, 1848 in Tahlequah, Cherokee Nation and died Feb. 3, 1870. Both William and Letitia are buried at Walkley Cem. near Claremore, OK. They had one child, George William, born Feb. 21, 1868 at Claremore, IT and died Sept. 30, 1954 in Tulsa, OK. He married Margaret Ophelia Spencer, Jan. 19, 1888. She was born Oct. 14, 1888 in Cane Hill, AR. and died Sept. 12, 1944.

David T. Carter - David Tecumpseh Carter was born March 13, 1850 and died Sept. 27, 1881. He married Emma Williams Chambers, daughter of Joseph Chambers and Nancy Starr. Emma was born April 13, 1852 and died March 13, 1877. They had, at least, two children: Teesey Chambers Carter, born 1874 and died 1876 and Minnie Carter, born Sept. 16, 1876 and died Dec. 20, 1898. She married Stephen Riley Lewis, March 23, 1898, born Dec. 27, 1873 in Hill Co. TX. He died Feb. 5, 1950 in Tulsa, OK. David, Emma and Teesey are all buried at Walkley Cemetery near Claremore, OK. Burial place of Minnie is unknown at this time.

Carsey Chambers, daughter of William Edward Chambers and Unknown, was born May 14, 1888 and died Feb. 7, 1890. She is buried at Walkley Cem. near Claremore, OK.

Ruth wife of Robert Hendrix - Ruth Ann Starr, daughter of James Starr and Lettie Chambers, was born June 17, 1848 in Tahlequah, IT and died Feb. 23, 1885. She married John H. Price, born April 24, 1843 and died abt. 1872. Ruth Ann and John Price had the following Children: James Starr Price, born Feb. 16, 1866, and Charles Clayborn Price, born Mar. 30, 1870. Ruth Ann, later, married Robert H. Hendrix, born Aug. 11, 1842 in Tahlequah, IT and died May 6, 1899. Ruth and Robert Hendrix had the following Children: Maxwell Hendrix, born Feb. 4, 1875, died Feb. 6, 1899; Sarah Anna Hendrix, born Oct. 1, 1878 and died 1886; Carselowry[?] Hendrix, born Mar. 25, 1881; and Teesey Hendrix, born Jan. 10, 1885 and died in 1956.

Lettie B. McCoy - Lettie Boyd Chambers was a sister of James W. Chambers, Sr. She was born May 18, 1821 in Cherokee Nation East, TN and died Dec. 11, 1886. She Married James S. Starr, born Feb. 12, 1818 in Cherokee Nation East TN, and died Jan. 2, 1851. She also married Daniel McCoy. Lettie and James Starr had the following children: Thomas Starr; Nancy Jane Starr; George Starr; and Ruth Ann Starr. Lettie and Ruth Ann are both buried at Walkley Cem near Claremore, OK.

Infant girl Chambers died Mar. 3, 1870

Alcie, Ailcy, Alcy Chambers died Dec. 22, 1860, aged 3 year

Annie, wife of B. F. Rogers died June 5, 1874, aged 19 years

Mary E. Phillips 1868 - 1884

As is usually the case there are probably several unmarked graves and some unreadable ones.

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	This is the only stone I photographed at a close enough distance to read the information. This is James Chambers, born June 11, 1831 and died Dec. 16, 1897.
	Same stone as above but wider view. In 1958, this was one of the few stones still standing. Many were laying on the ground and many were broken.
	Difficult to see in the photo but in the background is two or more rusty iron fences enclosing headstones.
	Just another View.
	Located very near the Walkley Cemetery is this well, with flat rock stones for the curb. I have been told that a stagecoach stop was located here and possibly a small settlement nearby. The well probably was used to water the horses that pulled the coaches as well as supplying the passengers and employees of the establishment.
	This is a portion of the well curb showing grooves worn into the rock by ropes that were used to pull the buckets of water up. A strand of barbed wire held the rocks in place. About 20 years after this picture was taken, I was back in the area and the rocks were gone. I was told that someone pushed them into the well.