By Jessica Gorman

The Bloom Cemetery is located on private property in Webster Parish. To protect from trespassers, the exact location will not be disclosed in this article. There are three known graves located in the cemetery. 

Matthew Bloom was born in Germany and died on 15 October 1847 in what was then Claiborne Parish. The only record related to Matthew that has been found is an 1840 census record. It indicates that he was between the ages of 20 and 29 and that a female of similar age was also living in the household. The assumption would be that this record would indicate a married couple. No other record of Matthew Bloom has been found. With his death occurring in 1847 and the Claiborne Parish courthouse being lost to fire in 1849, it is likely any local record would have been destroyed. 

Also buried there are two infants, Mathew L. and James, both grandsons of Matthew Bloom. Their parents were Sebastian and Caroline Bloom. Mathew L. would have been their first-born. He was born 8 Sep 1866, only living seven months, before his death on 10 April 1867. After the death of their first child, it would seem that Mrs. Bloom soon found herself pregnant again. That child being James who sadly, just ten months later, was born and died on 4 Feb 1868. 

This is a perfect example of one of those situations that highlight why caring for our cemeteries is so important. The only information we have for Matthew Bloom and his two grandsons is what is on their gravestones. That is all that is left to say they even existed. 

The boys’ father, Sebastian, is the only verified child of Matthew Bloom, as of yet. He was only 5 years old at the time of his father’s death. It is unknown what happened to his mother or even who she was. No trace of Sebastian has been found in census records for either 1850 or 1860, although a page-by-page search has not yet been completed. The next record found for Sebastian is his enlistment in the Civil War. He was conscripted in August 1862 and was captured at the siege of Vicksburg on 4 July 1863.  

After the war, Sebastian was married to Caroline Nickerson. In October 1866, he purchased 80 acres of land from Cynthia Logan and established the Bloom homeplace on Old Arcadia Road. As previously indicated, their first two children died in 1867 and 1868. The couple’s third child, Emma, was born 29 January 1869. She lived to adulthood, but died at the age of 30, never having married. She is buried at Mt. Zion cemetery. It is likely that the couple’s next child was Pearl, born 13 June 1871. She married Benjamin Gruner. Then came Sallie Elizabeth, born 14 July 1873, who married John Craton. 

The details of the family get a little fuzzier from here. I have yet to find them on the 1880 census, but again, a page-by-page search is still needed. It is known that Ruth Bloom was born 6 Feb 1880. She never married and died at the age of 28. A son, Sebastian Bloom, Jr., was born 6 Sep 1882, but like his older brothers, he only lived a short time and died at only ten months old. Also during the 1880s, Sebastian expanded the family homeplace adding 120 acres in 1884 and another 40 acres in 1888. 

We again lose track of the family until 1900. In that year, the household consisted of Sebastian, Caroline, and daughter Ruth who was then 20 years old. Daughters Pearl and Sallie had both married. The census record for that year reveals a sad statistic. It indicates that Caroline was the mother of ten children, but only three were living. If this is correct, there were four other children who have not been accounted for. Caroline herself died just two years later. Ruth followed in 1908. 

Sebastian Bloom outlived his entire family with the exception of one daughter, Pearl Gruner. He died 23 December 1931. He had just celebrated his 90th birthday. He and other members of the Bloom family are buried at Mt. Zion Cemetery just east of Minden.

(Jessica Gorman is Executive Director of the Dorcheat Historical Association Museum, Webster Parish Historian, and an avid genealogist.)