Minden Cemetery

Last updated

The Minden Cemetery
Revised photo of Minden Cemetery, Minden, LA IMG 2349.JPG
Entrance to Minden Cemetery
at Goodwill Street.
Minden Cemetery
Details
EstablishedBefore 1843
Location
Minden, Louisiana
CountryUS
Coordinates 32°37′00″N93°17′37″W / 32.6167°N 93.2936°W / 32.6167; -93.2936
Find a Grave The Minden Cemetery

The Minden Cemetery, located in Minden, the seat of Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana, United States, has graves dating from 1843, seven years after the founding of the city in 1836. Some of the oldest marked graves date back to the era of the American Civil War, but most are 20th-century interments.

Contents

Location

Part of the graveyard is located south of Bayou Avenue not far from the downtown district. A larger section is bordered by Bayou Avenue on the west, Goodwill Street on the south and Rephart Street on the north and east. Rephart Street follows the easternmost part of the newer portion of the cemetery adjacent to the main artery of traffic, Pine Street. There is a traffic light at the intersection of Pine and Goodwill at one of several entrances to the cemetery. [1]

History

According to the cemetery website, historical accounts differ on when interments began at the cemetery. Many older grave markers were destroyed in a tornado on May 1, 1933. The first grave, the re-interment of a Mrs. Mary A. Smith on April 22, 1840, is unmarked, having been among the monuments toppled in the tornado. Two other early graves are those of Sarah Emily Pennell on September 13, 1843, and Samuel B. Harper on October 12, 1859. [2] In 1854, the cemetery owners, Colonel and Mrs. John Langdon Lewis, deeded the property to the city of Minden. [3] As of 2009, gravemarkers still existed dating back to 1843. [4]

In 1864, the bodies of twenty-one Confederate soldiers who died of wounds suffered at the Battle of Mansfield were buried in unmarked graves in the cemetery. In 1936, an obelisk was placed at the site of the graves. [5] Individual markers were placed near the obelisk in 2008 to honor the soldiers. [6]

The last surviving Confederate widow in Minden, storekeeper Alberta Glass (August 25, 1845 – January 8, 1937), is interred at Minden Cemetery. [7]

In 2003, the Minden Cemetery Association began conducting an annual "Ghost Walk" to raise money for cemetery upkeep. The event features citizens dressed in period costume portraying some of those interred at the cemetery. [8]

Notable burials

Prominent local citizens interred here include two U.S. representatives, four state representatives, a state senator from the 1950s, and twelve mayors who served since 1910. Their tombstones are pictured in their (if any)Wikipedia articles, accordingly:

Historic Minden Cemetery has graves dating from the era of the American Civil War. Older graves at Minden Cemetery, Minden, LA IMG 2865.JPG
Historic Minden Cemetery has graves dating from the era of the American Civil War.
Mayors in chronological order
Confederate monument (May 1936) in old section of Minden Cemetery. Revised Confederate mounument, Minden, LA, Cemetery IMG 4965.JPG
Confederate monument (May 1936) in old section of Minden Cemetery.
Others in alphabetical order

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claiborne Parish, Louisiana</span> Parish in Louisiana, United States

Claiborne Parish is a parish located in the northwestern section of the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish was formed in 1828, and was named for the first Louisiana governor, William C. C. Claiborne. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,170. The parish seat is Homer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doyline, Louisiana</span> Village in Louisiana, United States

Doyline is a village in southwestern Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana, United States. The population was 818 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Minden Micropolitan Statistical Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dubberly, Louisiana</span> Village in Louisiana, United States

Dubberly is a village in Webster Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 290 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Minden Micropolitan Statistical Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minden, Louisiana</span> City in Louisiana, United States

Minden is a small city and the parish seat of Webster Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is located twenty-eight miles east of Shreveport. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 11,928. The Main Street district of Minden is recognized as a Louisiana Main Street Community, a Louisiana Cultural Products District, and is sited on the National Register of Historic Places. Minden is the core and principal city of the Minden Micropolitan Statistical Area, consisting of all of Webster Parish, which is included in the Shreveport–Bossier City–Minden CSA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shongaloo, Louisiana</span> City in Louisiana, United States

Shongaloo is a village in Webster Parish, Louisiana, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Calvary Cemetery (Queens)</span> Cemetery in Queens, New York City

Calvary Cemetery is a Catholic cemetery in Maspeth and Woodside, Queens, in New York City, New York, United States. With about three million burials, it has the largest number of interments of any cemetery in the United States. Established in 1848, Calvary Cemetery covers 365 acres (148 ha) and is owned by the Archdiocese of New York and managed by the Trustees of St. Patrick's Cathedral.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexandria National Cemetery (Louisiana)</span> Historic veterans cemetery in Rapides Parish, Louisiana

Alexandria National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located in the city of Pineville, in Rapides Parish, Louisiana. It occupies approximately 8 acres (3.2 ha), and is site to over 10,000 interments as of the end of 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taddy Aycock</span> American politician

Clarence C. "Taddy" Aycock, an American conservative Democrat from Franklin in St. Mary Parish, was the only three-term lieutenant governor in 20th century Louisiana history. He served from 1960 to 1972. Aycock failed in his only bid for governor in the 1971 Democratic primary. Few lieutenant governors in Louisiana have been elected directly to the governorship; former Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco of Lafayette, is a prominent exception.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. Smith Young</span> American lawyer

John Smith Young was an American lawyer and Civil War veteran who served briefly as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana from 1878 to 1879.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James E. Bolin</span> American politician and judge

James Edwin Bolin Sr. was an American jurist and politician who served as a judge of the Louisiana Second Circuit Court of Appeal. He was a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from Minden, the seat of government of Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana.

Hubert Tamblyn "Tam" Spiva, Jr., was an American television screenwriter best known for his work on The Brady Bunch and Gentle Ben.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wellborn Jack</span> American politician

Wellborn Jack, Sr., was an attorney from Shreveport, Louisiana, who was a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from Caddo Parish serving from 1940 to 1964. He finished in sixth place for five at-large seats in the general election held on March 3, 1964.

John Cecil Jones (1915–1946) was an honorably-discharged World War II corporal and veteran who was tortured and lynched near Minden, in Webster Parish, Louisiana by a mob in 1946. His 17-year-old cousin Albert Harris, Jr. was tortured and left for dead alongside Jones. This was the only known post-World War II lynching to occur in Louisiana, and it involved multiple well-known local individuals, politicians, and a cover-up by multiple law enforcement entities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeff Cox (judge)</span> American judge (born 1965)

Jeffrey Stephen Cox, known as Jeff Cox is a judge of the Louisiana Court of Appeal for the Second Circuit, based in Shreveport, Louisiana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. D. Batton</span> American politician

John David Batton, was from 1952 to 1964 the sheriff of his native Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana. He was defeated after three terms by O. H. Haynes Jr., a fellow Democrat and the son of the sheriff, O. H. Haynes Sr., whom Batton had himself unseated twelve years earlier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John T. Watkins</span> American judge (1854-1925)

John Thomas Watkins was an American lawyer and politician who served eight terms as a U.S. representative for Louisiana's 4th congressional district from 1905 to 1921.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean M. Doerge</span> American politician and educator

Jean McGlothlin Doerge is director of the Germantown Colony and Museum in Webster Parish, Louisiana, and a former Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives who represented District 10 from 1998 to 2012. From 2001 to 2006, she served as the vice chair of the House's Commerce Committee; in 2007, she was appointed to the Louisiana House Appropriations Committee, and from 2008 to 2012, she served as the vice chair of the Retirement Committee.

Minden High School serves 9th to 12th grade students in Webster Parish, Louisiana. The school in Minden, Louisiana was preceded by Minden Academy. It is part of the Minden School District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John N. Sandlin</span> American politician

John Nicholas Sandlin was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician who served eight terms as a U.S. Representative from Louisiana from 1921 to 1937.

William Wesley Hicks was an American politician. He served as a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives.

References

  1. ↑ "Map of Minden Cemetery". maps.google.com. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
  2. ↑ "History of Cemetery at Minden: First Interment Occurred in Cemetery in 1840", Minden Signal Tribune and Springhill Journal, Historical Edition, April 30, 1971.
  3. ↑ John Agan, Webster Parish historian, "The Minden Cemetery: A look at the story behind the historical graves," Minden Press-Herald , November 1, 2005
  4. ↑ "Don't Miss the 2009 Ghost Walk". mindencemetery.blogspot.com, October 27, 2009. Retrieved May 31, 2011.
  5. ↑ Agan, John A. (2002), Minden: Perseverance and Pride, Arcadia Publishing, p. 35–6, ISBN   978-0-7385-2388-0
  6. ↑ "Dedication for unknown soldiers' graves Saturday". The Times . Shreveport, LA. March 25, 2008. p. A3. Archived from the original on November 7, 2012. Retrieved June 11, 2011.
  7. ↑ Minden Cemetery records, Section A West.
  8. ↑ Welborn, Vickie (November 9, 2006). "Minden Ghost Walk: A living history lesson". The Times . Shreveport, LA. p. D1. Archived from the original on November 7, 2012. Retrieved June 11, 2011.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.