Orr, William & Slaves Buried at Cosby Bethel Cemetery
Entry/Object ID
9999.BHF.317
Scope and Content
Orr, William (Cosby Bethel Cemetery)
William Orr was born 1864 and died July 22, 1884. He was 19 and the son of T.M. Orr.
Shelly Arnold Scott died January 17, 2001. She is buried at Bethel Cemetery at Cosby, MO. There is a grave that sits alone apart from the others. It is the grave of a 19 year old black slave who died many years ago. He was buried apart from the others because in those days he simply couldn't have been buried with the white folk. Shelly Arnold chose to be buried next to him. There is a picture of the two graves together. There are two pictures of Shelly Scott's grave. The names of her children are on the back-Cory, Abraham, and Jessica.
There is a copy of a News-Press online story. Shelly Scott always stood next to the people that society shunned. She was known to befriend people who were challenged or misunderstood. Shelly began to visit Bethel Cemetery in 1992 after one of her favorite aunts died. William Orr's lone grave always intrigued her. She wanted to know why it stood alone. According to the story he was a slave of the Tate family. Mr. Tate gave William's mother a huge chunk of his land after he set her free. Mr. Tate saw to it that William had a tombstone like everyone else, but he had to bury his body more than 100 feet from other burial sites. His grave also faces east; all the other face west.
Collection
Black Archives
Lexicon
LOC Thesaurus for Graphic Materials
Slavery
Search Terms
Black Graves, Bethel Cemetery, Cosby , MO, Black History, Black Burials
