Date: Fri, 3 Jul 1998 20:27:34 EDT
Subject: [LAGRANT-L] Rochelle Cemetery
Cemetery: Rochelle Cemetery, Grant Parish, Louisiana
Source: The Colfax Chronicle Volume 122, Number 23,Thursday, June 4, 1998
Submitted by
Kay Thompson Brown
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THE ROCHELLE CEMETERY
| The Rochelle Cemetery, located near Georgetown in the uppermost corner of Grant Parish, has been abandoned for nearly 30 years. The first graves were discovered recently by Grant Parish jail inmates were working under the direction of jailer Carrol Perkins. One grave marker was inscribed with "P.C. Street, C.O.B. 37 GA INF, CSA." Also found was that of Percy Bennett, who was born Aug. 2, 1871 in London, England and died in Grant Parish in 1914.
As the inmates continued to work, three more iron-fenced family plots were located and were being cleared and cleaned up, cutting through years of underbrush, briars, and garbage. Located near Georgetown, "Rochelle" was a huge company town of sawmill employees and their families. It provided a home for more than 1,000 persons, most employed by the mill. During its heyday, it was just as large as Colfax today. Of course, as time passed and the sawmill closed down, people moved from the area, leaving behind deceased loved ones in the cemetery, where many of the inhabitants and employees were buried. |
