Otter Creek Cemetery is one of about two dozen
cemeteries in Tillman
County. It is 2 miles west and 5 1/2 miles north
of Manitou, OK. It was founded in about 1902, the
year of the
first known burials there. In the previous year, Otter
Creek School was
organized 2 miles east of the cemetery. In those days,
families lived
on every corner of every section,
and the area teemed with farms. The
community needed a cemetery.
The “History of Tillman County,” published by the Tillman
County Historical Society (1978), writes, “A Mr. Anderson
homesteaded
the farm on which the cemetery is located.” In time,
the
family of Leroy Lett bought the land. In Sep
1927,
organization of the now-defunct Otter Creek Baptist Church next to the
cemetery began, and “after reading the
Articles of Faith and Church
Covenant, the name Otter Creek was adopted.” Originally
homesteaded by Philip Coffelt,
the land where the old church sits
passed to the ownership of Otis Lancaster and then the Lett
family. The little
country church, once used for funerals of
those in the cemetery, now is storage for lumber and other discarded
materials.
Maintaining the cemetery has tended to be a family
affair. In the 1970s, Alvin Coffelt, grandson of Philip
Coffelt,
ensured the cemetery was mowed. When he passed,
the
cemetery fell into neglect and disrepair until the mid-1980s,
when
Davis family descendants began working on it during their annual family
reunions in nearby Frederick. In 2005,
Allen Scott, son of
Olena Fern (Davis) Scott who is buried there, built the pipe fence
around the cemetery to prevent
damage from cattle and
wildlife. In 2011, Davis family descendants straightened and
bolstered the foundations of the
stones in the
cemetery. They
also took it upon themselves to hire local residents to mow, trim, and
help with overall
cemetery maintenance.
However, keeping the cemetery mowed, trimmed and in good
repair requires more than the work and resources of one
family. The founders of this
website hope it builds awareness
and interest in this small but special burial ground and
inspires the
friends and family of others buried there to take an interest in
helping to maintain Otter Creek Cemetery.
Please contact the Cemetery Manager(s): (cemeterymgr@email
address)
if you can help.