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Ewell (nickname "Uel") Dragoo
is the son of Jacob Dragoo and
his wife Isabella Jones, of
Monongalia Co. Virginia, and later,
of Buchanan, Berrien Co. Michigan.
----------------------------------
Note: PLEASE, do NOT transfer this
memorial to other web sites.
Thanks, Nancy (Letcher) Heib.
----------------------------------
Ewell was the third of eight children
(four girls and four boys).
He was the eldest son. (Some
descendants say he and his sister
Susanna might have been twins).
----------------------------------
Ewell was born near Barrackville,
(South of Morgantown,
and West of Fairmont),
in Monongalia County Virginia.
(Note: This area "later" became
part of Marion Co. "West" Virginia).
-----------------------------------
Ewell was first married on
Nov. 20, 1833, to
Jane Barnhouse, the daughter of
Henry Barnhouse...
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Ewell (nickname "Uel") Dragoo
is the son of Jacob Dragoo and
his wife Isabella Jones, of
Monongalia Co. Virginia, and later,
of Buchanan, Berrien Co. Michigan.
----------------------------------
Note: PLEASE, do NOT transfer this
memorial to other web sites.
Thanks, Nancy (Letcher) Heib.
----------------------------------
Ewell was the third of eight children
(four girls and four boys).
He was the eldest son. (Some
descendants say he and his sister
Susanna might have been twins).
----------------------------------
Ewell was born near Barrackville,
(South of Morgantown,
and West of Fairmont),
in Monongalia County Virginia.
(Note: This area "later" became
part of Marion Co. "West" Virginia).
-----------------------------------
Ewell was first married on
Nov. 20, 1833, to
Jane Barnhouse, the daughter of
Henry Barnhouse and his first wife
Anna Maria Baker, in
Monongalia County Virginia.
This was a "bound marriage", which
was common at that time. $150.oo
was paid by the bondsmen Uel Dragoo,
Jacob Dragoo and Henry Barnhouse.
------------------------------------
Ewell and Jane had eight children,
four boys and four girls.
(They are listed on the memorial
for his wife Jane Dragoo).
------------------------------------
As adults, six of their eight
children moved from Buchanan,
Berrien County, Michigan, up to
Dayton Township, in Newaygo County
Michigan, near Dayton and Fremont.
Sons Emery and Liberty Dragoo
stayed in Berrien County Michigan.
Their son Liberty served in the
Civil War, and he and his wife Celestia
are buried in the Oak Ridge Cemetery,
in Buchanan, Michigan.
Emery J. Dragoo is buried in the
Ruggles Cemetery, in Berrien Co. MI.
--------------------------------------
Ewell's parents Jacob and Isabella
Dragoo and all of Ewell's siblings
except Susanna, moved from Monongalia
County Virginia to the settlement
of "McCoy's Creek", in the
"Territory of Michigan" in 1834.
Ewell came in 1835, with his wife Jane
and son John Irving Dragoo, and bought
a claim of 80 acres adjoining his father.
---------------------------------------
"McCoy's Creek" later became known
as Buchanan, Berrien County Michigan.
-----------------------------------
His parents Jacob and Isabella Dragoo
both died in 1838, only four years
after they arrived in (Buchanan), MI,
probably from the malaria epidemic.
-------------------------------------
About six sections of the South-East
corner of Buchanan Township were
included in the Indian reservation
when the Dragoo family and the other
early settlers arrived. A Pottawatomie
Indian Chief named Chief Moccasin,
presided over the Indian village.
-------------------------------------
A book titled "Berrien County, A
Nineteenth Century Story", by
A. E. Chancey, states on page 48:
"Buchanan and Buchanan Township.
Settlement in Buchanan did not take
place as early as at other locations
along the St. Joseph River, because
the last treaty was not concluded with
the Pottawatomis [Indians] until 1833.
The site on which Buchanan is located
was located within this territory".
--------------------------------
Michigan was admitted to the Union in 1837.
Ewell Dragoo's parents both died in 1838.
------------
At about this time, the lands
that Ewell and his siblings
were living on, were chosen by
the county commissioners for
"seminary lands", also known as
"University lands" (to help establish
the University of Michigan), and a
high price was put on them. Fourteen
sections of land were chosen from
different parts of the township,
without regard to the settlers.
They could not pay the high price,
and had to give them up. Ewell and
his siblings then returned to
Monongalia County Virginia.
-------------------------------------
Note: In the "King's Handbook of The
United States", text by M. F. Sweetser,
printed in 1891, it states on page 412:
"The University of Michigan dates it's
orgin from 1817, when Chief-Justice
Woodward drew up "An act to establish
the University of Michigania". The
institution had already been provided
for by a Congressional land-grant, but
it did not begin work until 1841. It
is the culmination of the public-school
system, and offers it's privileges
without charge for tuition, to young
men or women".
-------------------------------------
Note: The "History of Berrien and
Van Buren Counties, Michigan", states
the following on page 229:
--------
Those who were so unfortunate as to
be on the seminary lands were driven
away from their improvements by the
high price put upon the land by the
county commissioners.
------------------------------------
Note: Even the doctor in Buchanan at
the time, Dr. Charles Wallin [whose
children walked through the woods to a
log school with, and were close friends
with the Dragoo and Cathcart children],
had to give up his land because he had
apparently purchased it from someone
who did not own a deed to the
property (a squatter).
Ewell and his family had apparently also
purchased their land from a "squatter".
--------------------------------------
"The History of Buchanan", written by
the editor of "The Berrien
County Record" newspaper, Walter C.
Hawes (these were installments he
wrote for the newspaper from
1951 to 1954), states:
----
The land claims of some of the settlers
are not of record, since they were
disallowed when the Michigan Legislature
gave their lands to the University of
Michigan when it was revived at Ann
Arbor [MI] in 1837. The act which
so endowed the University stated
specifically that no recognition
should be given to "squatter's claims".
An expensive battle in co-operation
with many other disallowed claimants
over the State, came to a futile end.
---
Note: These installments were later
made into a book titled:
"The Story of Buchanan, a History",
compiled and edited by Leo J. Goodsell,
and published by the Berrien County
Historical Association, in 2004.
------------------------------------
A few years later, Ewell and all of
his siblings once again returned to
Buchanan, Berrien Co. MI (except for
his sister Susanna who is presumed to be
the only sibling who did not move to MI,
as all of her children were born in VA).
Ewell and Jane and their children
returned to Buchanan, Berrien County
Michigan in 1845 (per
article on his son Tucker), this
time, also with infant son Liberty
(and possibly with, or following, Jane's
brother Samuel Barnhouse and his family).
Note: There is a record of the children
of Samuel Barnhouse attending the Mead
school North of Buchanan, in 1844.
Note: Their son Liberty was born in
Monongalia Co. VA on Nov. 20, 1844
(per his Civil War records).
-----------------------------------
When Ewell returned to Buchanan,
Michigan about 1845, he bought
47 acres on Moccasin Flat,
along-side the St. Joseph River,
North of Buchanan, in Sections 13
and 14 of Buchanan Township
(near the Islands), and near
his brother John Fleming Dragoo.
Note: This would include all of
the area around the street now
known as Moccasin Street, and the
area near the intersection of Miller
Road and Red Bud Trail, extending
Eastward to the St. Joseph River.
(Click on name of cemetery below,
to see map).
--------------------------------------
The Indian village near Buchanan, was
known as "Moccasin Village" and was
located on the West bank of the St.
Joseph River, at the foot of Moccasin Bluff,
about a mile North of Buchanan.
The highest point in Buchanan Twp. was
Moccasin Bluff, located about one mile
North of the village of Buchanan, Michigan,
on the St. Joseph river.
When the first settlers arrived in
1833 and 1834 [Jacob Dragoo came in
1834 and Ewell in 1835], the village
of one of the leading Pottawatomie
Indian chiefs, named Cog Moccasin, was
located on the flat below the bluff.
Note: The "Indian Boundary Line"
ran through Ewell's property.
--------------------------
An article published in the
"Berrien County Record" newspaper,
in Buchanan, MI on Sept. 8 and 9,
1880, states the following:
Indian remains and relics including
a tomahawk, were found while grading
lands on the Dragoo Flats, for the
St. Joseph Valley Railroad.
--------------------------
Buchanan (Twp.) became an organized
township in 1837. Mr. Wallin was
chosen as supervisor at the April
3rd organizational meeting. Charles
Cowles was elected commissioner,
with 15 votes cast.
------------------------------
"A Twentieth Century History of
Berrien County Michigan", by
Judge Orville W. Coolidge (1906),
has an article on Ewell Dragoo and
his friend Samuel W. Redden [Jr.].
It states on page 491:
------
Samuel W. Redden, in 1853, attracted
by the discovery of gold in California,
he crossed the plains to the Pacific
coast with ox teams in company with
Julius Cathcart [Michael Dragoo's
brother-in-law], Charles Graves,
Judge [Edward] Ballenger [Ballengee],
John Ballenger [Ballengee],
Jason Ingersol,
Euree [should be "Ewell"] Dragoo,
and Dr. [Michael] Dragoo.
They started on the 20th of March
and were upon the way until
the 7th of September, when they
arrived at Diamond Springs, [CA],
about one and a half miles from
Placerville, California. Mr. Redden
began the search for the precious
metal and remained on the Pacific
coast until Oct. 1859, when he
returned by way of the water route
and the Isthmus of Panama.
[Note: Ewell returned before 1857,
as that was when his daughter Isabell
was born, according to the census].
------------------------------------
Note: Judge Edward Ballengee did
not settle back in Buchanan
"permanently", until 1866.
Edward Ballengee was the one who
surveyed and laid out the lots for
the "original" village cemetery
in McCoy's Creek (about 1844),
known as the McCoy Cemetery,
now the site of Kathryn Park.
[The McCoy Cemetery is now also referred
to as "The Old Burying Ground"].
The first burial there was a
child of David Sanford (presumably
Myron Sanford). Edward's
daughter (Mrs. Nichols), and her
infant child were the second and
third persons to be buried there.
Edward Ballengee came from Virginia to
Buchanan, MI in 1833 and served as the
Buchanan Township Supervisor in 1844,
and a Justice of the Peace.
--------------------------------
Note: The population of Buchanan at
the time of it's formal incorporation
as a village in 1858, was 860.
-------------------------------
Ewell was a farmer.
The 1860 Buchanan Twp. Plat Map
shows Ewell owning a farm in
Sections 13 & 14, N. of Buchanan, MI.,
along the West side of the St. Joseph
River (near the Islands), and near
he and Jane's other family members.
(The "Indian Boundery Line" ran
through Ewell's property).
The family has a blurred copy of a
Indian permit which shows that Ewell
had some agreement with the Indians.
------------------------------------
In the 1871 Directory, "Uel" Dragoo
was still a land owner in S.-W.
Section 14 of Buchanan Township.
---
Deed records show that at various
times, Uel owned land in sections
3, 4, 9, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 35,
and 36, in Buchanan Township.
-----------------------------------
After his wife Jane died in 1868,
Ewell married Mrs. Cornelia Graham
(maiden name "Lewis"),
on June 23, 1872 in Buchanan, MI.
Uel was 59 and Cornelia was age 43.
Cornelia was the former wife of
Sidney Graham (born about 1818 in N.Y.
Sidney was a painter by profession.
-------------------------------------
Note: Ewell's first wife Jane Barnhouse,
had a brother named Samuel Barnhouse,
who was married for the second time,
to Mrs. Phoebe (Lewis) Graham,
on June 24, 1866, in Buchanan, Berrien
County Michigan
(possibly Cornelia's sister?).
-------------------------------------
Sidney Graham and Cornelia Lewis
had three known children:
1. Ella/Ellen Josephine Graham,
born 1851 in N.Y. State.
(She married (1.) Charles Searles,
and (2.) John Simmons).
2. Ida A. Graham, born 1855 in Michigan.
d. 1904.
Ida married Albert Tourjie.
(Note: Ewell Dragoo, and two of
his step-sons, Albert Tourjie,
and John Simmons are all listed as
purchasing the burial lot for Ida
and Albert Tourjie (Section 17, Lot 20).
3. Francis Graham, born 1859 in Michigan.
---
Sidney Graham must have died between
1860 and 1870 (perhaps in the Civil War?).
(There is a record of a Sidney Graham
who served in the 28th Regiment of the
Michigan Infantry, Company D and F).
--------------------------------------
Ewell and Cornelia's marriage
announcement was published in
the "Berrien County Record"
newspaper, in Buchanan, Michigan, on
July 11, 1872. It follows:
"June 23d. 1872, at the bride's
residence, by F. H. Berrick, Mr.
UEL DRAGOO and Mrs. CORNELIA GRAHAM,
both of Buchanan".
-------------------
In the 1860 census, Sidney and Cornelia
Graham were living in Niles township,
Berrien County Michigan, with two children:
(1.) Ella Josephine Graham.
b. Oct. 24, 1851, Livingston Co. New York.
m. # 1.Charles Searles.
Child: Frank Searles (b. abt. 1870 in MI).
m. # 2. John Simmons, on Sept. 11, 1873,
in Buchanan, Berrien County Michigan.
(He was born in Monroeville, Ohio).
d. April, 19, 1919, in South Euclid,
Cuyahoga County Ohio,
(age 67 years, 5 months, and 26 days).
Buried: Euclid Cemetery, in Euclid,
Cuyahoga County Ohio (N.-E. of Cleveland).
---
(2.) Francis Graham.
b. "about" 1859.
---------------------------
The 1870 MI census shows Cornelia Graham,
age 39, and daughter Ida Graham, age 15,
born 1855 in N. Y., and Cornelia's daughter
Ella Searles, age 19, born 1851 in N.Y.,
and Charles Searles, age 20, born
in N.Y. and Cornelia's grandson
Frank Searles, age 5 months, born
in MI, living in the household of
Harriet Lewis, age 66, born in N.Y.
(possibly Cornelia's mother?).
(There is a death record for a
Harriette Lewis, who died on
Sept. 15, 1870, in Oronoko township,
Berrien County Michigan).
------------------------
Note: Ida Graham was married on
October 9 (or Nov. 8), 1881,
in Berrien County Michigan,
to Albert ("Burt") Tourje/Tourjie.
Buried: Ida and Albert are buried in
the Oak Ridge Cemetery, Buchanan, MI.
-------------------------
The 1880 census of Buchanan, Berrien
County Michigan, shows Uel Dragoo,
age 66, and Cornelia, 54, born about
1826 in Vermont, with Uel's step-
daughter Ida Graham, age 22, born
about 1858 [1855], in MI, and a grandson
Frank Searles, age 10, born about
1870, in MI.
-------------------------------------
Cornelia was born "about" 1829-1831 in
Vermont, and she died March 19, 1886,
at her home on the S.-W. side of
Buchanan, MI (near Bakertown).
---
Two obituaries for Cornelia
have been located. One was
published in the "Buchanan Record"
newspaper, in Buchanan, MI on
March 25, 1886, page 3, column 1.
It reads as follows:
"DIED. - Mrs. Uel Dragoo died, at
her home in Bakertown, Friday,
aged 57 years".
(Note: Bakertown is on the S.-W.
side of Buchanan, Michigan).
---
The other obituary was published
in the "Niles Weekly Mirror"
newspaper, in Niles, MI on Wed.
April 7, 1886, page 5, column 1.
It reads as follows:
"Mrs. Cornelia Dragoo died on the
18th of March, at Buchanan, aged
57 years. She formerly resided
in this city".
-----------------------------------
Ewell died in Stevensville, in
Lincoln Township, Berrien County
Michigan on Sept. 29, 1887.
(Ewell's son Emery was living in
Stevensville at the time, perhaps
Ewell was living with him).
-----------------------------------
Ewell's death certificate spells his
name incorrectly as "Ewel", and states
that he died of "old age" at the
age of 74 years. It also lists his
parents incorrectly as Jacob and
Elizabeth Dragoo, when it "should"
say Jacob and Isabella Dragoo.
(Elizabeth Dragoo was his grandmother,
who was scalped and killed by Indians).
--------------------------------------
The "Buchanan Record" newspaper,
in Buchanan, Michigan
on Thursday, Oct. 6, 1887,
Page 3, Column 1, states:
----
"Uel Dragoo died in Stevensville
last week, aged 74 years".
---------------------------------
Note: This memorial has been
researched and written,
by Nancy (Letcher) Heib.
_____________________________________
Note: See, "A Twentieth Century
History of Berrien County Michigan",
by Judge Orville W. Coolidge, 1906,
page 214, and information on Uel and
his friend Samuel W. Redden on pages
490 and 491.
------------------------------------
Also, see: "History Of Berrien and
Van Buren Counties Michigan", by
D. W. Ensign & Co., 1880. Page 177.
-----------------------------------
There is a creek, where his son
Tucker S. Dragoo had his farm,
in Dayton township,
Newaygo County Michigan for 47 years,
named "Dragoo Creek".
------------------------------------
Note: Google, "Michigan County Histories",
then...type in "Dragoo".
---------------------------------
Note: For more information on the
seminary lands that Ewell and his
siblings had to give up, also known
as "University lands", see:
"Michigan, A History of the Wolverine
State", by Willis F. Dunbar,
pages 396 and 397.
Donated by Nancy Heib, to the
Allen County Public Library in
Fort Wayne, Indiana.
(http://www.acpl.lib.in.us)
-----------------------------------
Note: This cemetery was "incorrectly"
thought to be the "McCoy Cemetery"
when it was recorded by David Savage
and his wife Diane in 1980.
It is really named the
"Virginian's Burying Ground",
named from the fact that a number
of the early Virginian settlers
were buried there
(the families of Jacob and Isabella
Dragoo, and their daughter-in-law's
brother Samuel Barnhouse).
------------
This cemetery is also known as
the Dragoo Cemetery.
-------------------------------
It is "now" thought that the "McCoy
Cemetery" was the very first "public"
cemetery in the settlement of McCoy's
Creek, located on the corner of
Fourth and Moccasin Streets, which
was later made into a children's
playground named Kathryn Park.
-----------------------------------
This is a Dragoo "family" cemetery.
There were known burials in this Dragoo
family cemetery for 53 years (spanning
four generations of the Dragoo family),
from 1837 to 1890.
---------------------------------
Ewell's headstone could not be found
in this old pioneer cemetery, when it
was recorded many years later, so we
have no "documented proof" that he
is buried here,
but many descendants say he is buried
here with his first wife Jane.
(Ewell's burial site has been searched
for in "other" Berrien County MI
cemeteries, but could not be found).
The property owners have stated
that someone (possibly a descendant),
had came to the door wanting to know
if they could have some of the old
headstones. Perhaps Ewell's headstone
was one of them.
----------------------------------
Ewell's parents Jacob and Isabella
Dragoo are also buried here,
as well as three of Ewell's siblings
and other relatives. Ewell's eldest
sibling Christena (Dragoo) Hines was
the first known person to be buried
here in 1837. Ewell's parents Isabella
and Jacob Dragoo, were the second
and third known burials, in 1838.
----------------------------------
This cemetery was originally located
on a farm. This farm property was later
annexed to the city of Buchanan, MI as
part of the "Treat and Howe addition",
and the property was then divided into
"city" lots.
This cemetery is "now" located in
the backyard of a PRIVATE residence
at 936 Chippewa Street (between
Remus Drive and Walnut Street),
on the North-West side of town.
Note: Please, ALWAYS ask permission
from the property owners, before
entering upon this PRIVATE property.
------------------------------------
Note: About 1996, I found
the headstones in this cemetery
stacked into piles, that had been
placed under bushes around
the edge of the backyard.
Several years later, most of the
headstones for the 28 people known
to be buried here, could no longer
be found, except for a couple of
broken headstones around the base
of a tree, and covered with a large
pile of brush and poison ivy.
---------------
UPDATE:
In the spring and summer of 2012,
a few members of
"Friends of Oak Ridge Cemetery"
in Buchanan, Michigan
(with permission from the "new" land
owners), cleared this area of brush
and poison ivy, found a
number of the old headstones
(and dug up a few more).
They cleaned the old headstones,
fixed the broken ones, and
"reconstructed" this cemetery.
To them we owe a tremendous debt
of gratitude, for preserving
a piece of Buchanan's history!
-----------------------------
Cemetery photo (taken in 2012),
courtesy of Spencer Miller.
-----------------------------
Note: See the memorials for one line
of Ewell's family, on this web site:
-------------
Father, Jacob Dragoo.
Mother, Isabella (Jones) Dragoo.
Wife, Jane (Barnhouse) Dragoo.
Son, Liberty U. Dragoo.
Granddaughter,
Cleta "Cleo" (Dragoo) Upham.
Great, Granddaughter,
Cecile (Upham) Bliss.
Great, Great, Granddaughter,
Thelma Celestia (Bliss) Letcher.
(ALL of Buchanan, Michigan).
----
Note: Ewell (Uel) Dragoo and his
first wife Jane (Barnhouse) Dragoo,
are my Gt., Gt., Great, Grandparents.
Nancy (Letcher) Heib.
-------------------------------------
Note:
For additional information on this
cemetery and this Dragoo family, see:
"The Virginian's Burying Ground,
Buchanan, Berrien County Michigan
and The Family of Jacob and
Isabella Dragoo", compiled
by Nancy (Letcher) Heib,
located in the Local History Room,
of the Buchanan District Library,
Buchanan, Michigan.
Also located in the "Library of
Michigan", in Lansing, Michigan.
(www.michigan.gov/libraryofmichigan)
and in the
Allen County Public Library
in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
(www.acpl.lib.in.us)
-----------------------------------
Note: It is very likely that there were
additional persons buried in this
cemetery, for whom no headstones were
found years later. (Click on the
name of the cemetery below).
--------------------------------
Note: For a list of the 28 people
(with bios), who are known to have
been buried in this Dragoo
family pioneer cemetery in
Buchanan, Berrien County Michigan,
click on the name of the cemetery
below. Then...click on:
"View all interments".
-------------------------------
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