Twin Mounds Cemetery and Community

Twin Mounds Cemetery and Community. . , In this cemetery are 3,300 grave sites, only 500 of which are marked with as much as a sandstone. Through careful searching, we have obtained information on people buried in several of the graves (See enameled grave markers). Around 1890 or 1891, before the Dawes Commission and Statehood, this five acres was donated by "Uncle Dump" Berryhill, a part Creek Indian and Holiness preacher, for use as a cemetery. This was done in 1890 because a man died and there were no local cemeteries, and in the absence of a mortician, burial could not wait. This first grave was marked by a mass of stones piled on top to keep cattle off. Some of these stones still remain (This grave is marked). Many of the graves are infants due to the lack of vaccinations and doctors. Since this was the only cemetery, many early day pioneers were buried here. For example, the mother of Slew Thompson, Thompson Ranch and Oil of Beggs, is buried here. Glenpool and Kiefer never established cemeteries and used this site longer. During the depression there were no charges for burials here and few had money for permanent markers. Discovery of oil in 1905 on the Ida Glenn allotment on the northeast corner of 141st Street and Highway 75 (Okmulgee Beeline) set off an oil boom that lasted for several years. This land was allotted to Martha Boling she signed an oil lease on her entire quarter section that included the five acre cemetery plot. When drillers started to move in, "Uncle Dump" camped out for a few days with a 30-30 rifle across his knees and would not allow the drillers to move into the cemetery (His campsite is marked with an enameled sign)., The town of Twin Mounds, originally called Posey, after Alex Posey, a Creek Indian poet, was on the high ground between the two mounds, approximately 3/4 mile northeast of here. Then it was moved to catch the railroad, about five miles southwest of here, and called Mounds. This actually took two moves. The first location on the railway was not far enough from Kiefer for the train to stop. The second move, an additional mile south, placed Mounds in the current location of five miles south of Kiefer. , Three Twin Mounds schools were located here. The first, located just north and slightly west of here along the small creek, had no bathrooms. The girls went down the creek, and the boys went up the creek. The second was located 1/2 mile north, on the southwest corner of 161st Street and the county line. We have a picture postcard of this one. The third school was located just east of the south mound. The new Highway 75 (Okmulgee Beeline) runs over this spot. , The Gilcrease family allotments were mainly in the section immediately south of this one. The county line road (West of cemetery) had Gilcrease allotments on both sides of the road. The father had an allotment on the southeast corner of the section directly south of this one. He built a cotton gin here which he later moved to Leonard, Oklahoma. The gin was located between the Pentecostal Holiness Church and 181st Street, at the northwest corner of Highway 75 181st Street. Thomas Gilcrease's founder of the Gilcrease Museum, allotment was north of the cemetery about 1/2 mile around the south end of the north mound. , Missing, broken, and damaged stones have been vandalized. We call for the curse of God to fall upon anyone who desecrates this cemetery.