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 (dicksevier@gmail.com). 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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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© 2012 Richard P. Sevier (dicksevier@gmail.com)