Map of Oak Woods Cemetery

Map of the Neighborhood surrounding Oak Woods

Oak Woods Cemetery, "Just the Arti-FACTS: Graveyards"
Chicago Historical Society. Great photos, information, also see the Chicago City Cemetery page.

Graveyards of Chicago: Oak Woods Cemetery

Find-a-Grave, Oak Woods Cemetery, Illinois

Virtual Tour of Oak Woods Cemetery

Tour Black Chicago: Oak Woods Cemetery

The Political Graveyard

The Past and the Promise: Camp Douglas

Back in 1996, when I first began to suspect that my ancestor might be buried at Oak Woods I wrote them asking for anyone buried at the cemetery by the name of Hiram Godwin. I was sent a "plat card" -- a list of people buried together, with the owner listed at the top with some care instructions at the bottom and a diagram of how the graves were thought to be laid out. Throughout the card, however, everybody was Goodwin, not Godwin and the names were all a little off, nicknames, wrong ititials, etc. The card seemed to be riddled with typos and had no information other than the names, with a number beside them. I decided I couldn't tell anything from this card and let the matter drop as I went on to other research.

This year I picked up that line again and decided to write to Oak Woods again on the off chance that I might get some more information. I was in luck. They sent me the same "plat card" as well as a letter saying that it appeared that the family had been moved to Oak Woods in 1866. That matched the information that I had, that my ancestor had been first buried in Lincoln Park and was later moved to "Oak Lawn." Now, since that information was nowhere on the plat card, and since the card was typed, meaning it was created while typewriters were in general use, I knew that there must be handwritten records pertaining to my ancestors somewhere at Oak Woods.

In July 1998 my family and I took a vacation to visit some cousins in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin and then Chicago, where we made a trip Oak Woods to see what we could find. I brought along the location number of the family plot and the names of my ancestors. We arrived at the cemetery, which is surrounded by a high wall and barbed wire, and parked in front of the office near the gate. We waited at the office desk for quite a while as all of the employees avoided eye contact with us and tried to pretend we weren't there. Finally, a woman approached us and another woman waiting at the desk. I told the woman to go first because our errand might take a while. As I was waiting my mother and cousins starting looking around the office, bored. Finally, some one asked what they could do. I showed them the information I had and said that I was looking for the original, handwritten records for these folks. She looked at me like was I was crazy and grumblingly took the information. She brought back a copy of the plat card, which I told her I already had and I explained that I was looking for the original handwritten records which had to be around somewhere. She continued to act like I was nut and shuffled off again. While I was waiting I glanced over at the historical display cabinet my mother and cousins were looking at and spotted what was clearly a record book, opened to the first page. I knelt down, realizing this was probably what I was looking for... and lo and behold, on the very first page of the book in the display case was the name of my great-great-great-grandfather! He was the 39th burial in Oak Woods. According to the staff, as of 1998, there are about 188,000 persons buried at Oak Woods Cemetery.

Excitedly, we asked if we could see the book. They opened the case and let us look at the book, which was labeled Interment Book and was covered in blue cloth. It was very thick and was the first volume. What a treasure trove of information. Each line has number which corresponds to the numbers next to the names on the plat card. Then it lists the name of the deceased, the place of his or her birth, their late residence, the date of decease, the date of interment, cause of death, kin, notes and the exact location in the plot. It was noted that all of my ancestors were "removed from City Cemetery" or "moved from Old Cemetery" on April 21, 1866. Some of the ancestors we knew of were in different books, which the women in the office then got out for us. The "handwritten records" we were looking for were clearly all the interment books, which were hidden in the back somewhere. In the second letter I recieved from Oak Woods, it had said that a "complete search was $5.00 a name." I would guess that a complete search would mean going through the books and copying down the information rather than just sending the plat card. After we found all the names, dates and places we had hoped for, we headed out to the gravesite.

Now, on the diagram on the plat card, a monument was listed and several of the bodies were described as "location unknown" so I was expecting maybe a group marker and little else. What a surprise! The monument was rather large and was surrounded by the individual markers of everyone I was looking for including some who had been listed "location unknown." The monument even listed the names of twins who were described in the interment books as Stillborn Twins of H.M. and M.B. Godwin, although interestingly the date of birth/death was a month later on the monument than the one in the books. We found a great deal of genealogical information from the markers and found at least one family grave that wasn't in the books, while another family, the Groots, who were listed on the card, were nowhere to be found in the area.

Anyway, the moral of the story is that genealogical information at Oak Woods is to be found in the interment books, which are organized by number, and on the grave stones, and they may or may not match each other. Don't rely on the plat cards because they may be incomplete.

FAQ

Q. I have a dead ancestor buried in Oak Woods but I've heard it's located in a "bad neighborhood." What do you think? Is it safe?
A. For the record, I really hate this question and I get it frequently. I think it's unfair, judgmental, crude and seated in white suburban paranoia. I don't believe there is such a thing as a bad neighborhood. There is a large concrete wall around the cemetery, so you probably wouldn't get gunned down in a drive-by while actually visiting the graves. In the immortal words of Lloyd Dobler, "YOU. MUST. CHILL!!"

Return to the Jennifer Godwin Family History Site.