Photo courtesy
of Melanie Wilburn
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Molsey's
and other tombstones in the Hazelwood Ceme., De Soto Par., LA,
are in need of restoration and a contributions to a fund for
that purpose will help to complete the work.
Old Hazelwood
Cemetery. Molsey Elizabeth Ross Durham, and John A Ross and his
wife Mary Goodwyn Ross are among those buried in old Hazelwood
Cemetery in Desoto Parish Louisiana.
"In
2007 a group of descendants of some if the people who are buried
in Hazelwood Cemetery began a restoration of this old cemetery
which is 160 years old. There are 78 gravesites that we have
found to date in this cemetery. For many years cows roamed freely
in this cemetery and most of the gravestones are broken.
"In
2007 we hired a crew and had the cemetery cleared of fallen trees,
broken tree limbs, debris, and a controlled burn was done to
get rid of the underbrush. After the cleanup a group of volunteers
cleaned the gravestones. A fence was built by Charles Taylor
of Grand Cane who was hired to build a fence around the entire
cemetery. This fence keeps the cattle out of the cemetery grounds.
We had sixteen gravestones repaired by professional workers from
Central Monument in Shreveport Louisiana at a cost of about one
hundred dollars per gravestone. We pay someone to keep the maintenance
done on the cemetery grounds as needed. All of these things were
accomplished with donations from descendants of some of the families
buried in the cemetery.
We have
hopes of reaching people who are connected to both Durham and
Ross and who would like to help in restoring the Durham and Ross
gravestones.
John A
Ross and his wife Mary Goodwyn Ross have two beautiful gravestones
which were once connected by an arch that said mother and father.
The arch is intact but was broken from the gravestones and needs
to be repaired. The Durham gravestones in the cemetery are also
broken and need to be repaired.
A cemetery
book was written in hopes of raising funds for the Hazelwood
Cemetery. The cemetery book which is in color has pictures of
the gravesites and short histories of some of the families buried
in old Hazelwood Cemetery. All proceeds from the sale of the
cemetery book which sells for $50 goes to the cemetery restoration
fund. An account was set up at a bank in Grand Cane Louisiana
for donations to the Hazelwood Cemetery Restoration Fund - Capital
One Bank – PO Box 84 – Grand Cane Louisiana - 71032
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In
Apr 2007, two newspapers, The Mansfield Enterprise and
the Toledo Herald published articles about the cemetery
to raise awareness of the plight of this cemetery. In May 2007
The Desoto Plume, a genealogy publication, printed an
article About the cemetery.
The website,
“Desoto Parish Louisiana Genweb” {under the Grand Cane
Historical Society} has an article about the cemetery and shows
a picture of the Goodwyn & Tomkies family plots. There is
also a transcription of the Hazelwood
Cemetery
at the Desoto Parish Louisiana genweb site.
A cemetery
DVD was made of the cemetery and pictures were taken before any
work was done at the cemetery. The pictures show the neglect
and pitiful condition of the cemetery and the graves in Dec 2006.
Digital pictures were taken of the cemetery after the cleanup
at the cemetery in Apr 2007. Pictures were taken of all gravesites
in the cemetery in Nov 2007 and a transcription of the names
and dates of people buried in the cemetery was compiled. There
are many broken gravestones in Hazelwood Cemetery which need
to be repaired. Among those broken gravestones are the Ross &
Durham gravestones. The descendants of Burford, Sample, Russell,
Cowley, Jackson, Dubose, and Best have been involved in this
restoration of their ancestors family plots in the Hazelwood
Cemetery but we have not yet found Durham or Ross descendants
who are connected to the families buried in the cemetery and
who might be interested in helping restore the gravestones of
Osmon L Durham's wife, Martha J. Hagood Durham, Lizzie Smith
Durham, Mosley Elizabeth Ross Durham, and John A Ross and his
wife Mary Goodwyn Ross.
If you
who have a connection or know of others who may have a connection
to Osmon L. Durham and his wife Martha Hagood Durham, Lizzie
Smith Durham, Mosley Elizabeth Ross Durham, wife of Robert Winnfield
Durham and daughter of Abner Ross, or (her brother) John A. Ross
and his wife Mary Goodwyn Ross, please tell them of the cemetery
restoration.
If you
are interested in helping restore the gravestones in the Hazelwood
Cemetery please let me hear from you. Thank you. angelawilburn@gmail.com
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