Oilfield Cemetery

A SMALL GROUP OF BIG THICKET PIONEERS SETTLED HERE IN THE MID-1800s TO WORK FARMS AND RUN HOGS IN THE ALMOST LIMITLESS FOREST. ONE OF THE EARLIEST ANGLO SETTLERS IN THE AREA, JOHN FLETCHER COTTEN (1819-1907), FIRST TRACKED HIS HOGS THROUGH THE WOODS AND DISCOVERED MEDICINAL SULPHUR SPRINGS IN 1860. AT THE URGING OF HIS FATHER-IN-LAW, WILLIAM HENRY HART, COTTEN FILED LAND CLAIMS ON THE PROPERTY, BUILT A LOG CABIN AND BROUGHT HIS WIFE, ELIZABETH GRANBERRY (HART) COTTEN (1828-1889), AND THEIR EIGHT CHILDREN TO THE AREA. COTTEN AND A PARTNER ATTEMPTED TO DRILL FOR OIL BUT WERE UNSUCCESSFUL DUE TO PRIMITIVE EQUIPMENT. HE FOCUSED ON HIS LAND HOLDINGS, FARMING AND THE POSSIBILITIES OF THE SPRINGS, NAMED SARATOGA AFTER THE NEW YORK HEALTH RESORT. BY 1901, HOWEVER, WILDCATTERS DRILLING FOR OIL BEGAN THE SARATOGA OIL BOOM. BY 1884 A CHURCH AND SCHOOL WERE BUILT ACROSS COTTEN ROAD FROM THE CEMETERY. MANY OF THE FAMILIES MOVED TO A NEARBY NEW SARATOGA TOWNSITE AWAY FROM THE OILFIELDS BUT THEY CONTINUED TO BURY THEIR DEAD “DOWN IN THE OILFIELD.” ORIGINALLY, THE CEMETERY WAS KNOWN AS J.F. COTTEN OR JORDAN CEMETERY BUT, BY THE 1890s WHEN EPSYE BAZOR HART, OWNER OF THE EPSYE HART SURVEY WAS BURIED HERE, IT WAS KNOWN AS SARATOGA CEMETERY.

THE EARLIEST MARKED BURIAL IN THE CEMETERY IS THAT OF COTTEN’S SON, JOSEPH S. COTTEN (1865-1888). BOTH ELIZABETH AND JOHN COTTEN ARE BURIED HERE ALONG WITH MANY OTHER PIONEER SETTLERS, THEIR DESCENDANTS AND OILFIELD EMPLOYEES. WOODMEN OF THE WORLD MONUMENTS AND HEADSTONES OF VETERANS FROM THE CIVIL WAR TO THE KOREAN WAR ARE ALSO PRESENT. CEDAR, PINE, OAK AND SYCAMORE TREES PROVIDE A BACKDROP FOR A VARIETY OF HEADSTONES INCLUDING CONCRETE, GRANITE, LIMESTONE, WOOD, SANDSTONE, MARBLE, FUNERAL COMPANY MARKERS AND ENGRAVED PETRIFIED WOOD THAT MARK THE BURIALS OF MANY RESIDENTS OF SARATOGA AND THE BIG THICKET.