Wilken Jäger, through application #6612 and Homestead Certificate No. 4045, homesteaded 160 acres in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma Territory. The Final Receipt for the patent was issued 8 Oct 1901 and recorded in the Oklahoma County Registrar of Deed’s office 10 Nov 1902 in Oklahoma Vol. 51, p 483. On 12 Nov 1898, William and Lina [Boddien] Jager conveyed a tract of land 18 rods x 29 rods to the Emanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church of Oklahoma County, O.T. for the sum of $1.00. The instrument was signed in the presence of John Boddien and Theo Haberman.

The property was used as a burial place for William [Wilken] and Lena [Lina] Jager and for many other family members and neighbors. A Real Property Display of the Oklahoma County Assessor’s office dated 24 June 1991 shows the property as containing 3.27 acres of land.

The property was conveyed to St. Johns Evangelical Lutheran Church in Shawnee, Oklahoma, 16 Mar 1938 when the Emanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church disbanded. Then, 15 Feb 1967 the Trustees of St. Johns Evangelical Lutheran Church conveyed the property to Amelia “Ella” Fredericka Jager Toney, daughter of Wilken Jager. The property changed hands between family members and Lutheran churches several times in the years 1967 through 1974. It is now privately owned but not by the Jager family.

Special permission from the landowner to bury Ella Jager Toney was granted to Richard Jager upon her death in early 1980s. She was buried next to her husband, Arthur C. Toney who was killed in World War I, and near her parents. Among others buried there are Wilkin’s son, Otto Jager who was killed in World War I, and his brothers-in-law, August and John Boddien. A tree that had grown in the middle of Nina Boddien’s gravesite was removed at the request of Mr. Jager, her grandson.

There is no sign designating this site as a cemetery. In 2005 the Jager Cemetery shows signs of neglect and vandalism. We have been told that many of the original 40 or 50 headstones and markers are missing. There are 12 to 15 headstones and markers there now. Some burials are within the fenced in area and some are outside of the fence. Richard Jager has no knowledge of tombstone transcriptions ever having been recorded.

History information from & © by: Oklahoma Home & Community Education