The Choctaw Nation National Cemetery at Skullyville (located just north of Spiro) is a sacred place, containing the remains and spirits of a number of generations and their descendants who came to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears.
Weather-stained monuments mark the final resting places of people named Hartshorne, Leflore (Lefluer), Foyil, McCurtain, Monroe, Moore and Prater whose family contributions and influence resulted in towns and communities being named for them all over the state of Oklahoma.
You can add the name of "Krebs" to that list as well, and a genealogical trek that started in Germany in 1651 and ended in 1869 in Skullyville (sort of) had some interesting twists and turns along the way.
Only two of the Krebs family with that name are numbered among the hundreds of marked graves in the peaceful cemetery but it's also said that hundreds of pioneers and native Americans may be buried outside the fenced area of the cemetery, so there is no way of knowing for sure how many members of the family may be interred in the holy ground.
But there is no denying the Krebs' place in Choctaw history.
Hans Jorg Krebs was born April 18, 1651 in Baden-Wurttemberg, Deutschland (Germany) to unknown parents. Hans married Anna Maria Langenbaech and the couple had one child, Johann Krebs, who married . Anna Charitas Fritz at the age of 32 on February 4, 1702.
That marriage produced a son, Hugo Ernestus Rene Krebs, who married Marie Joseph Simon in 1741.
After a few generations of "only children", let's just say that Hugo and Marie "got busy with it". Those crazy kids begat fourteen offspring by 1767, meaning that Marie was pregnant about 127 months in a 25-year span. Or 42.3% of the time.
By 1799, there were 93 living, breathing Krebs that had descending from Grandpa Johann. They're accomplishments were varied and there were paupers and princes along the way.
The line that led to Placide Krebs being in the cemetery in Skullyville came through the seventh son of Hugo Ernestus Rene Krebs and Marie Simon, Daniel Hugo Krebs. But before we make that leap, we need to take a close look at Hugo Sr.
Prior to 1772, the Krebs family had settled into the "Germanic community" that had sprung up in and around Pascagoula, Mississippi. The Krebs farm, which consisted of impressive acreage and a "substantial" home had been built on the site of a land concession that had been granted to a French nobleman. It is said that at least nine of he Krebs children received land parcels of "at least" 110 acres at the death of Hugo Sr.
While that level of success was impressive enough and of itself, Hugo Ernestus Rene Krebs also carries another distinction. While many credit the invention of the cotton gin to Eli Whitney, Hugo Krebs may have invented what eventually evolved into Whitney's steam-powered, industrial age changing "gin" several years before Eli cashed in his patent.
Hugo Jr. married Louisa Lefleau, a daughter of French immigrants from Louisiana, and their second son, Placide, ended up coming to Oklahoma from his birthplace in Florida with his wife Rebecca and their children, Cillen R, Rebecca, Edmond Folsom, and Jennie Louise Krebs.
Cileen would eventually come to marry Confederate Colonel Tandy Walker, who served in various capacities to the Choctaw tribe, including a stint as principal chief, after a stellar career in the military and lived out his life at Skullyville. Cillen, who was known as "princess of the Choctaws" and Tandy are buried just a stone's throw from her father.
Edmond Folsom Krebs married the sister of Tandy Walker, trained in Law in Tennnesee and fought for the Rebels while one of cousins, Nathan, was a Union solider. He was a Choctaw interpreter for Judge Isaac Parker's court, a Choctaw judge for Coal County in present-day McAlester and is the namesake of the town of Krebs.
Louise married a man named Massey and moved to Pittsburg County, while Rebecca married into another prominent Skullyville family by the name of Lanier and lived out her life in the community.
She died March 3, 1936 and is buried next to her husband in the Choctaw Nation Cemetery.
It's estimated that over four dozen individuals with ties to the Krebs family take their eternal rest in the quiet stone garden.
