By Jessica Gorman
As you walk through a cemetery and make note of those buried there, you can’t help but wonder about who they were and the lives they lived. If you really pay attention, you notice so many clues to the past. The Minden Cemetery, the final resting place of so many of Minden’s early settlers, was established in the early 1840s. It now contains over 4,000 burials. Among them are civic leaders, businessmen, two U.S. congressmen, ancestors of two Louisiana governors, and maybe even an infamous outlaw. The cemetery is full of history and mysteries.
It is said that the first burial in the cemetery was that of Mrs. Mary A. Smith on 22 April 1840. There is no headstone and no known documentation to confirm her burial. The oldest marked grave in the cemetery is that of five month old Sarah Elizabeth Morrow who died on 19 June 1843.
The original cemetery was deeded to the town in 1854. The year before, the property containing the cemetery had been sold to Mrs. Martha Lewis by David L. Evans. At least two members of the Evans family are buried in the cemetery, Martha Vining Evans and her granddaughter, Louisa Maples. (It is also interesting to note the presence of a Mary A. Smith in the Evans/Maples household in the 1850 census.)
There are still details to be worked out, but it looks like David L. Evans is another of my newly discovered cousins. I have felt drawn to the Minden cemetery and have spent hours there trying to help care for the graves. We have a family plot in the new section where my great-grandparents are buried along with my 3rd great-grandfather and other family members, but I have always felt drawn to the old section in particular. Without realizing it, several years ago, I removed dirt and grass from the gravestone of Louisa Maples who I now realize was a distant cousin. And now, I add to that the realization that the land on which the cemetery sits must have belonged to the family as well.
By 1883, the cemetery was in need of cleanup. At the urging of Mayor P.W. Paul, volunteers came out and cleaned the cemetery. In a speech, Rev. W.H. McGee reminded the townspeople of “the duty they owed themselves in beautifying and keeping the graveyard in a good condition and as a duty they owed the dead.” It would seem that efforts were not maintained to the necessary standard as it was noted seven years later that the condition of the cemetery needed to again be addressed. It was at this time, in 1890, that the Minden Cemetery Association was formed. Care of the cemetery has been the responsibility of the association ever since.
Additional property was donated over the years to accommodate the expanding cemetery. What is referred to as the new section of the cemetery was donated by the Bodcau Lumber Company. It had been part of the property of the Minden Lumber Mill and homes built for mill workers were located in that area.
When Minden was struck by the devastating tornado of 1933, the old section of the cemetery suffered much damage. Many headstones were toppled. While some graves were restored, others were not. It’s difficult to know how many graves may have been lost because of the storm.
Another large cleanup effort was held in 1963 by the Kiwanis Club. They worked to clear trees and vines from part of the old section which had become overgrown.
Maintenance of a cemetery as large as the Minden Cemetery is expensive and time consuming. Just keeping the grass mowed is an enormous job. It is essential that we consider what we can do to contribute to the care of this and all our cemeteries.
In May 1883, Mayor P.W. Paul said, “Surely there are loving hearts and willing hands enough in our little town to remove from our graveyard all that evidence of dilapidation that speak so badly for the living who acknowledge ties of blood and affection for those who sleep the sleep of death among us.” These words still ring true today. The biggest need for any cemetery is “loving hearts and willing hands.” We can’t have the attitude that care of our cemeteries is someone else’s job. It’s ours. I hope you will join us at the museum next Monday night at 6:00 pm to talk about what we can do to preserve our cemeteries.
(Jessica Gorman is the Executive Director of the Dorcheat Historical Association Museum, Webster Parish Historian, and an avid genealogist.)