TALLULAH CEMETERIES - Silver Cross and
Memorial Park
NOTE - The following data is
registered (TX 4-627-242) at the United States Copyright Office and is the
property of Richard P. Sevier ([email protected]). It is intended for
informational use only and may not be reproduced by ANY means whatsoever
without written permission from the author.
Prior
to the War-Between-the-States most people in Madison Parish were buried in
small plantation cemeteries. Through the years these small cemeteries have
become "lost" or have been destroyed by being incorporated into the
surrounding farmland. However, some of these old cemeteries are still being
found. One of the oldest tombstones discovered -- that of Thomas B. Scott (1817-1853)
- was found recently and must have originally been located near his home in
what is now Tallulah.
Of
the two cemeteries listed in this report, Silver Cross,
is by far the older and larger. Although It was
established about 1880 by the Ziegler family, many graves are much older than
this and must have been moved here from other locations, such as Milliken's
Bend or some of the smaller plantation cemeteries. During the 1960's when it
was feared that Silver Cross could expand no more, Memorial Park cemetery was
established as a private enterprise. Both cemeteries are still in use today.
The two cemeteries have been combined in this report. However, any grave can be
traced to its proper cemetery since each line is annotated with an
"MP" (Memorial Park) or "SC" (Silver Cross). Click here
for a more complete history of Silver Cross Cemetery.
Most
of the data contained herein was gathered during the months of April and May 1997.
However, It has been continuously updated since that
time. Although the inscriptions on many tombstones were virtually illegible,
every effort was made to maintain accuracy. However, accuracy is not
guaranteed. Since several tombstones were overturned, and recent graves had no
tombstones, some graves may not appear on this list. Please send any additions
or changes to dicksevier@gmail.com, and they will be added or corrected
promptly.
Please
note that this report contains data from both cemeteries on people who may
still be living, but are listed because their names were found next to those of
their deceased spouses on "double" headstones. Note also that on
post-1997 listings birth dates may be a year off as the newspaper obituaries
list only age and date of death.
NOTE: Since the original fieldwork in 1997, this list has been
supplemented by adding deaths found in the weekly Madison Journal. Sometime
in 2002 the Madison Journal began to charge for each obituary, thereby
omitting many of them. Since the Madison Journal is no longer a
responsible source for Madison Parish deaths, it is no longer used. However,
omitted deaths can always be added or corrected by sending an email to dicksevier@gmail.com. Since 2002 the Vicksburg Post has been the primary source for death data as
well as obituaries, which are now hyperlinked to the cemetery data with over
3,100 presently available; many on former Madison Parish residents not buried
in Madison Parish.
JULY 2005 NOTE: Since most of this initial data was gathered by videotaping the
tombstones, color reproductions of individual tombstones have now become
available online. During July and August 2005 the original analog videotape
images were converted to digital images. Although these images were initially
intended only for the information they contained, they can now be used as
low-resolution digital tombstone photos. Please be aware that these images were
made from one frame of an 8 mm videotape – about the size of a small fingernail
– so they are nowhere near the quality of today’s digital cameras. Also, they
were not necessarily taken squarely in front of the tombstones; so some will be
crooked, and some may not have even have captured the entire tombstone. The “Thumbnails” of the tombstone photos can
be enlarged by clicking on them.
Viewers are encouraged to supplement these tombstone photos by
supplying higher resolution copies or by adding those that are missing.
JANUARY 2012 NOTE: All cemetery sites have
been supplemented where possible with Birth and Death day and month data from
the Social
Security Death Index (about 1964-present) and the Louisiana
Death Index (1900-1919.) Where there is a discrepancy between Tombstone
year and SSDI or LDI year, the Tombstone year is used.
Surnames: A Ba-Bo Br-By C D EF G H IJK L Ma-Mc Me-Mz NOP QR Sa-Sl Sm-Sz TUV Wa-Wh Wi-XYZ
© 2012
Richard P. Sevier (dicksevier@gmail.com)