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April 10, 2016

Forgotten Cemeteries, Part Four - Greenville Cemetery


The Greenville Cemetery has been referred to in the past as Sunny Side Cemetery, Hoover Cemetery, and more recently, the McIntosh Plantation Cemetery.


Catahoula Parish Cemeteries Book

Catahoula Parish Cemeteries Book





















This cemetery is located on the McIntosh Plantation which is about five miles outside Sicily Island on LA Hwy 15/US Hwy 425 south near Clayton, Concordia Parish, Louisiana. 

Greenville Cemetery Map

The Find-A-Grave website has the Greenville Cemetery listed but the individual burial memorials are entered under McIntosh Plantation Cemetery with an address of Clayton, Concordia Parish, Louisiana.

The cemetery can be seen from Highway 15 and is located among a small stand of trees sitting in the middle of a field.  When fellow researcher, Jon Garner, led my daughter and I to this location we were hoping to find and document the grave stones of Jon's ancestors.  

We discovered one stone that was facedown in the underbrush.  Jon was able to turn the grave stone over so that we could document the person buried in this location.

The markings on the stone were hard to read but old cemetery records show the marker to be that of Rev. G. B Mathews (1865-1934). Further research on Ancestry shows this to be George B. Matthews who was married to Cassie Rabb.  The 1930 U.S. census record shows them living in Ward 1 of Catahoula Parish.

Rev. George. B. Matthews
1865-1934

We were disappointed to find no other grave markers in our search of the remaining area.   As we were heading back to our vehicles, two young men from the McIntosh family drove up to see who we were and to ask if we needed some type of assistance.  I'm sure these young men wondered what we were doing trekking around on their property.  After introductions were made and explanations given for our visit, the young men pointed out a grave stone we had completely overlooked.

Greenville Cemetery

Fallen trees and underbrush had to be pushed aside for a closer view of the marker.  It can be seen in the center of the above photograph.  This marker had several Daniels family names listed on all four sides.

Daniels Family

Henry P. Daniels appears to be the oldest person buried in this cemetery.  He was married to Sarah Jane Hoover in 1847.   Sarah's name appeared on the marker as well.  However, I failed to photograph a full view of this side of the grave stone so you cannot see her date of birth (1829) and death (1914).

Henry P. Daniels
1820-1887

Other members of the Henry P. Daniels family were also noted on the stone.

Sons:

Jabish Daniels (1849-1862)
Walter Daniels (1856-1909)
Laurence or Lawrence Daniels (1858-1860)

Jabish, Laurence and Walter Daniels

Daughters:

Mary "Mollie" Daniels (1853-1897); married Daniel Beckton in 1881

Mary "Mollie" Daniels Beckton
1853-1897

Louise Daniels (1851-1881); married Henry E. Hoover in 1880

Louise Daniels Hoover
1851-1881

Other children born to the marriage of Henry P. Daniels and Sarah Jane Hoover:
Ellen (1848-1912); married Jacob M. Gilbert in 1866; both buried in Oakley Cemetery in Gilbert, Franklin Parish, Louisiana 
William A. (1861-d. aft. 1930); burial location unknown at this time
Henrietta A. (b. abt 1864); burial location unknown at this time

After documenting the Daniels grave stone, we then discovered a double grave stone about ten feet from where the Daniels family marker was located.  

Orville C Bruce and J. H. Bruce

John Henry Bruce (1852-1899); married Matilda "Mittie" Glover in 1878
Orville C. Bruce (abt 1865-d. 1885); brother of John Henry Bruce

Another stone was discovered underneath a fallen tree.  One of the McIntosh young men offered to assist us by using his tractor with a front-end loader to lift the fallen tree.  What we discovered was a small stone with no markings on either side.  The stone was too large to be a foot stone so we believe it was at one time a headstone.  Unfortunately there had never been any markings or the markings had worn off over time.  

Unknown

Others appearing in the cemetery lists above and are believed to be buried in the old Greenville Cemetery:

John D. Hoover (d. 1851, 2 yrs/8mos/9 days old); possible son of Henry E. Hoover and Eliza Lovelace Daniels

May Eliza Davis Bowman (1862-1959); married Charles Orvey Bowman in 1882; mother of Daisey, William Homer and Charles O. Bowman

Bee Watson (b. 1935?); He is shown in the Greenville list above as being born on March 26, 1935 but this could be an error in transcription.   His FindAGrave memorial shows his DOB as 1845 and DOD as 1925. Another interesting note is that his memorial shows a tombstone inscription of 'La Pvt Wirt Adams Regt CSA' which signifies he was a soldier in the Civil War.

An application for headstone was found on Ancestry.com that shows he served during WWI.  The handwritten notes in red at the top of the record show an Enlistment date of April 6, 1918 and an Honorable Discharge date of July 26, 1919.  DOD is shown as March 26, 1935.  The application was completed on September 24, 1935.


Since we were unable to locate his headstone, Bee Watson remains a mystery.  Any help with solving this mystery would be appreciated.  If any of you have information, please leave a comment in the comment section below or email me at the address listed in the 'About Me' tab at the top of this page.


Forgotten Cemeteries, Part One - Peniston Cemetery

Forgotten Cemeteries, Part Two - Peck Cemetery

Forgotten Cemeteries, Part Three - Norris Cemetery


A special thanks to my daughter, my friend and fellow 'graver', Jon Garner and to Mr. McIntosh for his assistance.


5 comments:

  1. I am so glad those men showed up when they did so that you could find those other headstones. (And seeing the pictures of you standing out in all that brush I can't help but wonder if there were snakes out there!)

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    1. Hi Michelle,
      The young men who assisted us were truly a godsend. Snakes were a concern but we went down to Louisiana when the weather was still a bit mild (if that's even possible in Louisiana). It saddens me to find these old abandoned cemeteries. There are others that need to be documented but it will have to wait until winter as I'm hearing from folks back home that rattlesnakes are very active right now.

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  2. I believe Rev. George B Matthews II is my great grandfather.

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  3. I believe the Rev George B Matthews II is my Great grandfather on my Dad's side. Thank you.

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    Replies
    1. I was so hoping that a descendant would find this post and discover where their ancestor was laid to rest. Thank you, LaMonte for leaving a comment!

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