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Indian Pioneer Papers - Index

Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma
Date: Oct 29, 1937
Name of burial ground: White Church and Lockridge Cemetery, (Broken Arrow District)
Founded: sixty or more years
Present owners:
No. of graves: 200
No. of marked graves: 100
Condition of stones:
Condition of premises:
Location: South Utica Ave., Tulsa, OK, one block south of 31st Street
Field Worker: Wm. T. Holland

(Burial Ground Form Works Progress Administration Indian-Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma)
Vol. 88, p. 289-92
Interview with Mildred McIntosh Childers, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
Also Walter Perryman, 417 First National Bank Building, Tulsa
Mrs. Lilah D. Lindsey, 516 North Frisco, Tulsa
Mrs. Arthur Perryman, 253 East 46th Place, Tulsa, Oklahoma

WHITE CHURCH AND LOCKRIDGE CEMETERY
(Broken Arrow District)

The legal description of the old White Church is the northeast corner of SE of NE of Section 5, Township 17 N Range 14 E on the David HODGE allotment.  Adjoining the church lot on the north is a five acre plat, the Lockridge (Loughridge) Cemetery.  The description of this is the SE of NE of NE of Section 5, Township 17 North, Range 14 East on the Nancy CHISHOLM allotment.

The fact is not clearly established as to the age of the church and the cemetery.  Mrs. McIntosh CHILDERS says that the church was built according to local report in the 70's.  Her husband's father, old Daniel Childers, built it in order that Dr. LOUGHRIDGE, who was in charge of Coweta Mission, might have a place to preach to the Indians in this community.  Mrs. Childers says that the lumber was brought overland from Coffeyville.  It was called White Church because it was painted white.  Painted buildings were quite unusual in those days.  The five acres adjoining the church lot on the north became a cemetery which was named for Dr. Loughridge.

The church is in a fair state of preservation due to repairs.  It is about twenty feet wide and forty feet long.  A small room has been added on the south.  The native rock foundation is still firm and solid.  The old belfry with its rusty bell seems substantial.  Mrs. Childers says that the bell is still used; its tone as good as ever, but she doubts the safety of its hanging in the belfry, it is so heavy.

The church was used as a school house during week days in the early "80's.  Reverend Thomas PERRYMAN (son of Lewis) lived in that vicinity at that time and preached at the White Church.  Ida, Tom and Arthur, children of Reverend T. Perryman, went to school at White Church during the early "80's  Arthur recalls his attendance there and while Walter, who is younger, did not go to school there, he remembers when Lilah D. LINDSEY taught there.  Mrs. Lindsey says she taught there between 1880 and 1885.  The church was just primarily a community church but was looked after by the Presbyterian board.  Mrs. Arthur Perryman says that the Presbyterian Board still considers it under their control as a community church.  Mrs. Childers says that it is used at present by a Holiness group.

The Loughridge cemetery adjoins it on the south (on the north).  It covers about five acres, is fenced with heavy wire net.  It is still used for burial purposes by the old families who have burial lots there.  Years ago it had quite an imposing entrance on the east, a wire arch of fancy design with large copper letter, spelling LOCKRIDGE, named for Dr. Loughridge.  Only the letter K is left today.  The cemetery is shoulder high in heavy wire grass and matted with an undergrowth of burrs.  There are more than 100 tombstones and markers but there is no record of the number of graves though the indications are of more than 200.

The oldest grave found was that of old Daniel Childers buried in 1885.  Mrs. Arthur Perryman said that Reverend T. Perryman had a sister who was buried there in the late '90's and a daughter, who died when she was three years old, was buried there about 1883.  This child's body has since been disinterred and placed with her father, the Reverend Thomas Perryman, at Oaklawn Cemetery, 11th and Peoria, Tulsa.  The marker was brought from the Lockridge Cemetery and shows the date of burial.

All indications therefore, place the age of this old cemetery at sixty or more years.

There is an interesting plot set aside for the Robert FRY family.  He was one of the leading citizens of the old Creek Nation.  The marker shows the burial spot of his father Mulletoke, who died in 1888, of his mother, Millie, who died in 1927, aged 98 years.  A very imposing monument marks the grave of his first wife and there are markers showing burial spots of his younger children.  Robert Fry, who died in 1936, is buried at Memorial Park, Tulsa.  His widow (second marriage) lives at 724 S. College, Tulsa.

Also see Unnamed Cemetery, Tulsa Co., OK - list of burials

Submitted to OKGenWeb by Sharron Ashton <Ashtonbooks@aol.com> 04-1999.