BRICK CHURCH CEMETERY, GILES COUNTY TENNESSEE

This photo shows the location of the two ladies that claim to be the wife of William W. Barlar who supposedly died as an Oil baron in Oklahoma after he left the second wife Blanch V. Gordon Barlar. I believed the first wife Willie Jones died and W.W. remarried to Blanch.

Blanch V. Barlar wife of W.W. Barlar.

BARLAR, Blanch V. (Gordon), wife of W. (William) W. Barlar, 19 Jun 1864 - 29 May 1910. 2nd wife of W. W. Barlar who married Willie Jones first. She is also interred in this graveyard. 
There are interesting stories with the usual drama circulating around Barlar family history circles about W. W. Barlar. He left Blanch V. and went to Oklahoma before the death of Blanch V. Barlar and somehow struck oil and became wealthy. He had married another lady there. According to the records it was Mrs. Lela Wallace. All accounts have it that W.W. Barlar left Blanch and went to OK before she died. There is a record of a W.W. Barlar marrying in Oklahoma to a Mrs. Lela Wallace after the 1910 or during 1914, but there is also a divorce record in 1913 from the same lady. All occurring after the death of Blanch. When William W. died in 1922 a battle developed between the heirs for a share of his wealth. That was between the heirs of the two wives here and Lela Wallace Barlar or her heirs in OK. I have not seen court records on that but understand understand the heirs in Oklahoma won. Maybe there was a will or if not. 
W.W. was generous with his offspring here according to Gypsy, a Barlar granddaughter living today, (2008) but born 1917. Variations related to family legend have the heirs in OK as the Indian Nation and the wife as a Squaw. Some say she was the third wife and some say the fourth. One thing is clear to me is that W.W. married Blanch as a consequence of the death of Willie Jones his first wife. Other stories say Arthur Chapman a son-in-law went to OK and recovered the body of WW and buried him here in this church yard, beside his wives here. If so I saw no evidence of a memorial and he is in an unmarked grave. That is not the way a wealthy person is usually put away. Besides there is a record of William W. Barlar interred in the Wilburton Cemetery, Wilburton City, Latimer County OK. That is a large memorial though I have not seen it. Also on the gravestone of William W. Barlar is the information "husband of Lela (Wallace) Barlar." So another wife claimed ownership thru the grave record. [WA July 2008]
Photo by Wayne Austin, 16 Jun 2008.