Civil War Veteran Buried In Broken Arrow Is Bringing His Descendants Together 100 Years Later

A Civil War veteran buried in Broken Arrow is bringing together generations of his descendants more than 100 years later.

Calvin Osborne, a native Tulsan now living in Washington D.C., has been reenacting the history of black Civil War soldiers for 28 years.

But today, he got to reenact the life story of someone who holds a special connection to his family.

William Lacy Sr. was a Civil War veteran and escaped slave.

Lacy, and his Creek-Freedman wife Lucinda, were Osborne's Great-Great Grandparents.

"Up until now, I was just talking about history, now I'm talking about my family," Osborne. "And it's a little bit different. The presentation today made me a little bit nervous. I so wanted to do him justice."

The story doesn't end there.

James Hardman is another Great-Great Grandson of Lacy.

Both he and Osborne were born in Tulsa and lived just a few miles away from each other as children.

But they met for the first time this Friday.

"It tugs at your heart," Hardman said. "But it also just makes you understand that the universe is bigger than just who you are."

Osborne says meeting his cousin in person for the first time in Tulsa was a surreal moment. He also says it makes it more special that he's still bringing his family together, even 107 years after Lacy died.

"That was profound," Osborne said. "It was like the right-hand meeting the left hand, to be honest with you."

Both Osborne and Hardman also say they've only known about their heritage for a year.

Osborne says he wants to do reenactments as long as he can so that not only Lacy's story, but his story, is remembered forever.

"I want to make sure that it doesn't die," Osborne said. "Particularly now that I know that one of my ancestors helped to write this story."