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Farming For A Better Future, page 227
(Above) Excerpt of 1920 Census Record Showing Ernest Alexander Owning a Farm
(National Archives and Records Administration via Ancestry.com)
Fitzgerald owned farms in 1900. There were no African American-owned farms in 1910. By 1920, Daniel Prueitt, Eliza Moore, Anna Gibson, and Ernest Alexander owned farms in close proximity to each other. Prueitt owned his farm through to 1940, as did Spencer Griffin.
Oakville School*
Although Oakville did not have a large population of African Americans in the early 20th century, it did have a school. Oakville School was located where Oakville Baptist Church is now, on County Road 203, north of County Road 187 and the Jesse Owens Memorial Park and Museum. The school was one of about 20 rural schools for African American children in the early 20th century. It is included in the school census records for 1930 and appears on the 1935 USGS topographic map just below Oakville. By 1960, like most rural African American schools, Oakville School is gone, and Oakville Church is in its place.
(Left) School Census Card for the Griffin Family with Children at Oakville School, 1936 (Lawrence County Archives, Moulton, Alabama) (Below) Excerpt of 1940 Census Record Showing Spencer Griffin Owning a Farm (National Archives and Records Administration via Ancestry.com)
McDaniel Cemetery
According to the Historical Atlas of Alabama, there is a cemetery of African American graves, possibly slave graves, called McDaniel Cemetery somewhere in the vicinity of Oakville. There are two McDaniel cemeteries in Oakville, McDaniel Cemetery and what has become known as McDaniel Cemetery #2. While they are both located near Oakville Baptist Church, it appears that McDaniel Cemetery #2, located east of Oakville Baptist Church along County Road 208, is the older cemetery. While there are two markers, the cemetery might have more unmarked graves. It is also located in proximity to McDaniel Creek. A historical map from the 1830s shows that “J. McDaniel” owned a plantation in this area. This cemetery may be associated with the plantation slaves and freedmen.
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