----- Forwarded Message ---- From: Penny Tveiten <pennyt153@yahoo.com> To: laorlean@rootsweb.com Sent: Monday, April 28, 2008 6:56:10 PM Subject: Cemeteries part 3 It was built originally for Josie Arlington Duebler, of Storeyville fame, and many stories have been told of it. Greenwood and Cypress Grove Cemeteries, In the front left-hand corner of Greenwood Cemetery, plainly visible from City Park $12,000. ' At the entrance, standing beneath a group of Gothic arches, is the 6-foot statue of a fireman, erected in 1887 in honor of the members of the Volunteer Fire Department who lost their lives in service. The statue of the fireman is of marble and was designed by Alexander Doyle. The pedestal and arches are of white Maine granite. ' Cypress Grove Cemetery has a gateway in Egyptian style. Here one finds the monuments and tombs of Dr. Warren Stone, outstanding physician; Maunsel White, veteran of 1815; James H. Caldwell, actor, banker, and impresario; and Mayors John P. Conway, Charles J. Leeds, and John T. Monroe. Among the 'ovens' along the Canal St. wall is one with a slab marked' Grave of Mumford,' in which rests the young Confeder\lte sympathizer who was court-martialed 'and 4anged for pulling down the American flag from the United States Mint in April 1862. A fine monument of Irad Ferry, the first volunteer fireman to meet death while on duty, at afire in Camp Street in 1837, stands just to the right of the entrance. The mausoleum contains the bodies of other members of Ferry's company who lost their lives in combatting fires. One of the most interesting tombs in this' cemetery is the Chinese Mausoleum, a plain square concrete structure with va-ults opening' on an inside covered court. The slabs all have Arabic numerals, and some have Chinese symbols. In one corner there is an open grate in which incense is burned during burial services. The custom of leaving food as an offering to the dead is no longer observed. The mausoleum belongs to the Chinese tongs and affords a temporary resting-place to its members, since all Chinese are taken to China for b\Jrial, regardkss of the length of time they have been absent from their native land. At intervals of about ten years the vaults are opened, the bones removed, cleaned and packed in steel boxes, about 30 inches high and 20 inches square, for shipment to China for permanent burial. City Pari" Ave. and West End Blvd. (Cemeteries or West End car from any Place on Canal St.). The Firemen's Benevolent Association controls these two cemeteries, which are situated across the street from one another and just across the Basin from Metairie Cemetery. They contain the tombs of many prominent people of earlier days, including that of Warren Easton, the New Orleans educator. Here are also the mausoleums of the Swiss Society, the Association of Alsace Lorraine, the Typographical Union, and the Elks. Ave., stands the monument erected in honor of the Confederate dead. The mausoleum, in which more than 600 soldiers are buried, consists of a large mound in the shape of a pyramid, buttressed with granite on the edges. Steps in front lead up to a granite slab, about 8 feet square, and in the center rises a marble shaft 9 feet in height. On the shaft is a life-size statue of a Confederate outpost guard, body bent and bayonet pointed, an expression of dogged watchfulness on the fac~. Life-size busts of Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, Leonidas PoH\., and Albert Sidney Johnston adorn the four faces of the shaft. On the south side is the engraved inscription, 'Erected in Memory of the Heroic Virtu,es of the Confederate Soldier, by the Ladies' Benevolent Association.' B. M. Harrod of New Orleans selected the design for the monument, and its erection was under the management of George Stroud. The material used in the structure is Carrara marble, and the approximate cost was St. Roch Cemetery, favor received or desired. ' The chapel is a, diminutive chancel of a Gothic church, and' is constructed of brick covered with cement. Tall, narrow. windows pierce the upper walls, wh,ile th~ Imyer reaches are covered with metal in imitation of wood paneling. The little altar is made of carved wood and has a small statue ,of Saint :Roch ard his faithful dog, just apqve the, tabernacle. The painted folding panels of the altarpiece are so badly faded that only the gold halos on the heads of the saints remain. Along the walls on each side of the altar are marble emblems and plaques, together with artificial limbs and crutches testifying to the cures that have been wrought through the intercession of the patron saint. ~n the floor of the chapel in front of the altar is the marble slab covering the grave of Father Thevis. Each Good Friday for many years young girls of New Orleans have made a" pilgrimage to St. Roch's Chapel.because of a local legend which promised a husband before the year was out tci the maiden who s:iLid a prayer and left a small sum at each of nine churches. It was considered doubly lucky to end this pilgrimage at St. Roch~s and to pick a four-leaf clover in the oldce;metery. The red spots ,¥hich appear on the clover there are said to result from the blood spattered by a bride-to-be who committed suicide on the grave of her lover. I, 1427 Sixth St. (take Magazine car at Canal and Magazine Sts.; get off at Sixth St. and walk two blocks right), and No.2, Washington Ave. between Loyola and Saratoga Sts. (take St. Charles car at Canal and Baronne Sts.; get off at Washington Ave. and walk four blocks right), contain tombs of many well-known residents of the old Garden District; St. Joseph's, Washington Ave. and Loyola St., contains the original frame church of St. Mary's Assumption, which was moved there from its original site, when the present brick church was erected. The National Cemetery at Chalmette was laid out in 1865 and contains the graves of more than 12,000 soldiers, almost half of them unknown. 197 OTHER CEMETERIES The cemetery of St. Vincent de Paul, 1322 Louisa St. (take St. Claude car at Canal and N. Rampart Sts.; get off at Louisa St. and walk two blocks left), is notable because of its connection with Pepe Llulla, who is credited with having established it, although it appears that he merely developed it after he became connected with the family who started it. A native of Mahon, Spain, heavily bearded and of striking appearance, he was noted for his swordsmanship, and was said to have been a veteran of more than thirty duels. His prowess in this respect was so great that popular tradition states that he started the cemetery in order to have a convenient place to bury his victims. St. Vincent de Paul's also contains the tombs of Mother Catherine Seals, Negro spiritualist leader, and of Queen Marie of the Gypsies, who died March 19, 1916. The large marble tomb of the latter bears the name 'Boacho' and the legend 'Tomb of the TinkaGypsy.' Gypsies are said to make regular visits to the resting-place of their Queen. There are many Hebrew cemeteries in different sections of the city, while the Masons and Odd Fellows have well-kept burial grounds at the head of Canal St. The three St. Patrick Cemeteries, in which many of the old Irish pioneers are buried, are also on Canal St. The Lafayette Cemeteries No. St. Roch and Derbigny Sts. (Frenchmen bus from Canal and Chartres Sts. to Derbigny; walk four blocks downtown). St. Roch is one of the quaintest of New Orleans' cemeteries. Modeled after the famous Campo Santo dei Tedeschi (Holy Field of the Germans) near St. Peter's in Rome, it was called the Campo Santo by its founder, Father Thevis, a young German priest, who had come to New Orleans at the request of the Bishop of New Orleans because of ,the scarcity of native priests. As assistant pastor of the Holy Trinity Church, he was confronted in 1868 with the loss of his pastor and many of the parishioners, victims of a yellow fever epidemic. In this extremity Father Thevis invoked the intercession of Saint Roch, famous for his wonderful work among the plague sufferers of the Middle Ages, promising to erect with his own hands the chapel of St. Roch, which has been a favorite shrine ever since. The cemetery soon grew up around it,; its walls, with their chapel-like niches containing the Stations of the Cross within and tombs beneath, and Saint Michael's Mausoletlm in the second section of the cemetery, were a,dded soon afterwards. A steady stream of devout Catholics have made their journey to St. 'Roch for many years. Mass is said there every Monday morning, and on any day candles cah be found burning before the altar, either in thanksgiving or in petition for some ________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ