The Josenburger Burials
Not much is known about the Funeral Mortuary owned by the Josenburger family. For many years, however, in Ft.Smith, from their offices on North 9th Street, a series of burials occurred under the direction of the Josenburger Funeral Home.The business was located on North 9th Steer, and operated at the address of 623 North 9th Street. A majority of these deaths occurred during the years 1913 - 1928.
This is not a total list of all of the burials handled by the Josenburger business, but it does provide a glance at the cases that were handled by this establishment. The Josenburger family name is a recognized name within Ft. Smith African American family. Few people realized however, that this extensive family also operated a Funeral business for many years.
The Ft. Smith Burial Permits housed at the Ft. Smith Public Library on South 8th Street in Ft. Smith, is an extensive collection of documents that contains all of the burials where special permission from the city was obtained to bury the desceased person within the city limits. In some cases, permission was needed because the desceased expired outside of the state of Arkansas. In other cases, the cases were those of children, many of whom died of disease. This names are placed here, because of the fact that few persons in the Black Community are even aware that this black business existed a mere 86 years ago.
The names of the persons buried with Burial Permits obtained by the Josenburgers are listed here with a twofold purpose. First this was a black business that thrived for many years in Ft. Smith. Secondly, many of these persons buried in Oak Cemetery, and in the abandoned Nowland Park cemtery, have unmarked graves. Their names are placed here in their memory, and for the genealogical and historical interest of the greater community.
The names appear in the following order.
Last Name, First Name/Age at Death/Date of Death/Burial Place
(Note that in some cases, age was not listed on the Permit)
Akins, Dorsey/9-20-13
Andrews,Bennet/62/1-13-14/Oak Cemetery
Booker, Infant/12-24-13/Oak Cemetery
Cooper, Sarah/7-27-13/
Bailey, Craig/6-5-13/Oak
Davis, Lauren/32/11-18-13/Oak Cemetery
Dondle, Gustava/22//11-1-13/Oak Cemetery
Edwards, Fannie/ 54/1-3-1913/Russelville Ark
Edwards, Oscar/31/5-22-13/Oak Cemetery
Garland, Infant/1-6-13/County Hospital
Granberry, Emanuel 36,/12-22-12/Paris TX
Green, Ed,/36/9-17-13/Oak Cemetery
Hensley, Joseph H./44/1-11-12/Oak Cemetery
Hosten, Obie/23/1-4-13/Oak Cemetery
Hoover, Martha/60/9-9-13/Little Rock
Hunt, Jane 61/2-25-13/Howell Ark
Johnson,(Baby)/7wks/1-18-14/Oak
Johnson, Lucy/48/11-6-12/Oak Cemetery
Jones, Robert/12/11-27-13/Oak Cemetery
Jones, Wash/60/1-11-14/Oak Cemetery
Kane, Flavonia/26/2-17-13/Oak Cemetery
Landfair, John Henry/45/12-17-12/Oak Cemetery
Lewis,George Arthur/31/1-30-13/Oak Cemetery
Logan, Elzia/34/6-23-13/Oak Cemetery
Lucas, Frank/31/5-2-13/Oak Cemetery
Moss, Samuel T./54/4-14-13/Oak Cemetery
Murry, Charles/10/9-15-12/Oak Cemetery
Nelson, Jeff/23/11-28-1912/Oak Cemetery
Pope, Adeline/12-18-13/Ozark, Arkansas
Robinson, Lizzie Valentine/23/12-27-12/Oak Cemetery
Shephard, Aaron/48/1-30-13/Oak Cemetery
Smith, Jesse/30/12-28-12/Argenta Ark
Smith, Powhatan/12days/11-7-12/City
Stewart,Champ/37/10-26-13/Oak Cemetery
Taylor, Joanna/52/12-12-13/National Cemetery Ft. Smith
Thomas, Earl/23/12-5-13/Oak Cemetery
Thompson, Ed/63/7-5-12/County Farm
Vaughn/Chas. /65/2-20-13/Oak Cemetery
Wagner, Richard/68/112-7-12 Nowland Springs
Webb, Helen/17/12-5-12/Oak Cemetery
Whiteside, Mary E./19/6-17-13/Oak Cemetery
Zackery, Isaac/55/10-15-13/Oak Cemetery
Youn, Mary/11-22-26/Nowland Springs*
* The Mary Youn's name is written the way it appears above on the official record, but it probably an error on the document. The real surname is believed to be Young.
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