On September, 12, 2018, Jeff McKito, Public Relations Specialist for North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD) invited Ginger & I, along with Larry Standlee, representing the Fannin County Historical Commission, to visit the Wilks Cemetery site. We were escorted by Fain Butler, Assistant Construction Manager, NTMWD. The detailed mapping of the cemetery had been completed, and the tombstones were scheduled to be removed the next day in preparation for the beginning of the disinterment. This would be our goodbye visit.
The disinterment would involve a number of steps, moving from the use of chainsaws and tractors to painstaking work done with gentle brushes. The first step would be to cut all vegetation at ground level and remove it in a perimeter extending 25 feet from the line of the existing fence in all directions. Then, section by section, the earth within that cleared area would be removed in progressive layers using heavy equipment to scrape off a few inches at a time. During this scraping process, the team would be watching for telltale changes in the color of the earth indicating a grave shaft. Once one or more grave shafts in an area were found, the scraping would stop. All grave shafts identified would be flagged and covered by a plastic tarp, to be addressed one by one. As each grave became the target of work, a sheltering pavilion would be erected over the area, the shaft carefully measured, and the soil slowly removed by shovel. Once coffin wood was struck, the work would shift again - to finer tools and yet more careful processes of slowly working deeper into the grave using archeological recovery methods. As the work progressed, all coffin hardware, coffin wood, artifacts such as buttons, fragments of clothing, jewelry, etc, and skeletal remains would be painstakingly documented, gently removed, and carefully stored. Even burial dirt would be saved to be reinterred.
As we stood in the cemetery, cleared of all small vegetation and peppered with pink flags, the realization that this really was the beginning of the end pressed in on me. The reality of this transition had been sinking in by degrees for weeks, and now the day had finally come.
Graves surveyed and marked in advance of removal of the stones, photo by Ginger Sisco Cook.
Our last view of the Wilks Cemetery intact, photo by Ginger Sisco Cook.
In mid-October, we received the news that, though the scraping was not yet complete at the Wilks Cemetery site, ten unexpected and unmarked graves had already been discovered. This was our first indication that so much of what we thought we knew about the Cemetery was about to be turned on its ear. On October, 23, Jeff invited us back out to the Cemetery to visit the disinterment in progress. Mitch Harrison, Senior Construction Inspector, NTMWD, is our guide for this visit and we pile into his pickup for the drive from the Foremen’s barn to the site. It has been raining incessantly, and there is standing water in the bottom. The fields are wet and we almost get stuck in one place. Then suddenly we are there. The Cemetery is an exposed spot now - not a hidden glade - and I don’t realize just how close we are until we are on top of it.
First glimpse of the disinterment, photo by Ginger Sisco Cook.
A pit encompasses the northeast section of the cemetery. Around its edge are heaps of excavated dirt and heavy equipment. In the pit, there are canopies covering work areas and plastic sheeting covering exposed grave shafts yet to be worked. My first reaction is shock and I find myself near tears, but as I walk up to the edge of the excavation, sadness gives way to scientific wonder.
The initial excavation, photo by Ginger Sisco Cook.
The pit itself is terraced somewhat due to there being grave shafts discovered at differing depths.
Detail of terraces, photo by Wanda Holmes Oliver.
Cody Davis, Project Manager and Principal Investigator, AR Consultants, who is responsible for the cemetery removal and relocation effort, greets us as we approach and leads us into the pit. Under the canopies two graves are being painstakingly emptied by teams with hand tools. Another grave is being reduced by thin shovelfuls of dirt from exposed grave shaft to burial site. The graves being emptied are those of Mary Wilks (d. 1932) and Margaret Wilks (d. 1869). Charles Jefferson Wilks (d. 1896) has already been removed and his grave shaft is now a shallow, rectangular indentation in the ground. Cody tells me that his body was very well preserved, that the clay soil enhances preservation. The bodies of Mary and Margaret are also in exceptionally good shape. Mary was buried with her glasses on her face and they are in perfect condition. The shell buttons from Mary’s dress are visible as scattered points of white against the dark earth.
Recovery team at work, photo by Wanda Holmes Oliver.
Recovery team at work, photo by Wanda Holmes Oliver.
Recovery team at work, photo by Wanda Holmes Oliver.
The empty grave of Charles Jefferson Wilks, photo by Wanda Holmes Oliver.
Outline of grave identified, photo by Wanda Holmes Oliver.
The ten unexpected graves found so far are in two rows. The graves of three children lie between the Cagle family row and the Wilks family row. Seven graves lie in a row to the east of the Cagle family row. Are these additional families? Are they additional members of the Wilks and Cagle families that our research has not revealed? Dr. Catrina Whitley, a bio-archaeologist from Southern Methodist University, is the leader of the team removing the remains. In addition to the disinterment, Dr. Whitley's team will be doing the scientific analysis and DNA work on the remains found here. The value of that work has taken on a whole new significance with the presence of the unmarked graves. With luck she will be able to pinpoint gender, age at time of death, cause of death, when the burial occurred, and family affiliation.
The work is fascinating and the care with which it is being done reassuring. As we walk around and talk to the team members, it is abundantly clear that everyone on the site is engaged in a labor of love and deeply respects the nature of the work they are doing. Despite the cold, wet conditions they have been working in almost from the beginning, everyone is cheerful, friendly, and eager to share their findings. We leave with a tentative plan to be back before Thanksgiving, weather and schedules permitting.
Story by Wanda Holmes Oliver.