THE LEGACY OF OAK HILL CEMETERY

 

The living owe it to those who no longer

 can speak to tell their story for them.Czeslaw Milosz

These words sum up what has become my attitude towards the place where my paternal ancestors are buried .  Oak Hill Cemetery is a  forest style resting place that was  set aside in the 1850s in anticipation of the  dead who would lose their lives in the  oncoming Civil War to end Slavery.

My family' s connection with this  sacred grove is long and intimate. Job Jenckes is the earliest of my ancestors in the Jenckes  plot. The Jenckes family  donated some of the land which was mainly  augmented by several acres donated by Edward Harris. These men were all staunch Abolitionists, and they  could foresee the coming battle that must  be waged to gain  the emancipation of the slaves.  I have been brought there since early childhood by my Aunt Grace Jenckes.  Our family has a large plot and monument  set just before the hill begins to ascend.

Although my Aunt  explained to me that these were my family members and later in my own life time my grandfather Oscar Jenckes was buried there in 1956 and my father, Norman Jenckes,  was buried there in 1970. I did not really know the illustrious  history of the men who  developed the industry of Woonsocket and  published a news paper THE WOONSOCKET PATRIOT .

Maybe Grace did not know their history  and their distinction. I have learned more of that through the great work and scholarship of the woman who presently cares for the cemetery and is completing a book about the illustrious inhabitants of that  hidden place  near downtown Woonsocket.

As more of their stories emerge, I am convinced of the truth of  Milosz' words--they do want their stories to be told. I hope to be able to describe  these  illustrious lives in the future.