Girod Street Cemetery
Submitted by:  	Ellen Barnett Cleary May 2003

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                             Girod Street Cemetery
                             Ellen Barnett Cleary

Are you trying to find out what happened to the remains of people who were
buried in Girod St. Cemetery?

Here is the information I've been able to gather on that topic.

On January 4, 1957, Girod Street Cemetery was officially deconsecrated by the
Rt. Rev. Girault M. Jones, Bishop of Louisiana.  

According to Leonard V. Huber in his book, To Glorious Immortality, Christ
Church Corporation records show that before the mass removal of remains between
January 14 and March 8, 1857, a number of families privately removed the
contents of their tombs to other cemeteries.  These included:

Tombs of Fred P. Abel family, of Bachemin, Baggett, Belisle, Col. W. S. S.
Bliss, Breedlove, B. E. Brown, Hannah Carroll, Chamberlain, Ciolino, Easley,
Ferry, Fink, Elizabeth Tyler Gallier, George-Chellet, Gorham, Granderson,
Guyton, Henrietta Hamilton, Sidney & Walker Handy, R. Y. Hopkins, Nancy Knox,
James L. Lambert, Joseph Laroche, Laycock, Frank A. Lee, Peter Lott, George B.
Loudon, Malcolm-Woods, Miller, Edward Nuller, Palfrey, Lucinda Palmer, Pangburn,
Poucho, Benjamin F. Price, Ralph, Rodd, Rogers, Joseph L. Ryan, Mary Schmidt,
Amelia Schriever, William K. Sewell, Charles C. Smith, Louise D. Smith, St. Cyr,
Story-deLesseps, Hamilton Taylor, Jr., Celia Thompson, Toby-Augustin, Priscilla
Turner, Watson, C. R. Williams, Yost, Young, and the vaults of Female Benevolent
Society #1 and the Texans, Culp, Fuller, and Oliver.

Christ Church Cathedral provided, without charge, a special crypt, No. 1083-A in
Section "K", in Hope Mausoleum for the reinterment of white people.  The remains
of the following 55 families were interred, each in its own individual marked
container, in this crypt which is marked with their names:

Ammann, Bell, Brand, Brinkman, Brothers, Buchanan, Christy, Churchill, Conrad,
Dietrich, Dow, Doyle, Erickson, Evans, Ferguson, Forsyth, Friend, Gerard,
Goldenblow, Grant, Hollins, Jewell, Jordy, Kenny, Kip, Lambert, Lathrop, Laudun,
Lee, Leiris, McClelland, McCoard, McLeod, Madere, Montague, Napier, Nicholson,
Ogden, Perkins, Pulley, Reed, Salkeld, Saul, Scruggs, Seale, Smith, Thorn, Vail,
Veeder, Ventress, Wallace, White, Wilkinson, Wire, Mac Arthur, Morris, Beck,
Waggaman.

Thirteen of the most outstanding vault slabs which were left in Girod Street
Cemetery at the time the bodies were disinterred were preserved by Leonard V.
Huber and Guy F. Bernard and were permanently attached to the back wall of the
Canal Street wing of Hope Mausoleum in St. John Cemetery.  They include:

John Mather; William W. Lowd, Jr.; Jerome B. Stockwell; Jeanne Lyall; Thomas H.
Montague; the children of Gertrude and Dr. John Rollins -- Mary Ann, Gertrude,
Ann Louisa, Emiline, John; Lewis F. Merlin; P. C. Leiris; and William Smith
Clark.

There is also plaque at Hope Mausoleum commemorating Rev. James F. Hull, D.D.,
Rector of Christ Church 1866-1830; Rev. William T. Leacock, D.D., Rector of
Christ Church, 1852-1882;  Richard Relf, Warden of Christ Church for 52 years;
Rev. John Henry Kleinhagen, Evangelical and Lutheran Pastor; Glendy Burke,
merchant and banker; and the actress Jane Placide, who were also buried at Girod
Street Cemetery.

Slaves were not barred from purchasing tombs in Girod Street Cemetery.  It
contained a number of tombs owned by slave benevolent societies.  A bronze
tablet in Providence Memorial Park marks the spot where the mass burial of the
remains of black people interred in Girod Street Cemetery were interred.  There
are no names listed on this plaque.

In the 1930's, the WPA did an index of tombstone inscriptions in the Girod
Street Cemetery.  It is an alphabetical index citing what was found on the
headstone inscriptions in the cemetery.  The index is available at the Louisiana
State Museum Historical Center which is located in the Old Mint, 400 Esplanade
Ave., New Orleans LA 70176-2448.  It is also available on microfilm at New
Orleans Public Library Louisiana Division and from the Family History Center of
the Church of the Latter Day Saints.  It will tell you about the people buried
in Girod Street Cemetery, but it gives no information as to what happened to
those people when the remains were disinterred.

The New Orleans Public Library Louisiana Division has microfilms of the records
of Girod Street Cemetery, 1815-1939.  This resource will give information about
burials, but has no information as to what happened to those people when the
remains were disinterred.

SOURCE: Huber, Leonard V. and Guy F. Bernard, To Glorious Immortality: The Rise
and Fall of the Girod St. Cemetery, New Orleans' First Protestant Cemetery,
1822-1957; Hamer, Collin B., Jr., Wayne M. Everard, Irene Wainwright,
Genealogical Materials in the New Orleans Public Library's Louisiana Division
and City Archives, New Orleans, La.: Friends of the New Orleans Public Library,
1998; Jeffrey Derbes, Providence Memorial Park; Hope Mausoleum.

Source:  	Huber, Leonard V. and Guy F. Bernard, To Glorious Immortality: The Rise
		and Fall of the Girod St. Cemetery, New Orleans' First Protestant Cemetery,
		1822-1957; Hamer, Collin B., Jr., Wayne M. Everard, Irene Wainwright,
		Genealogical Materials in the New Orleans Public Library's Louisiana Division
		and City Archives, New Orleans, La.: Friends of the New Orleans Public Library,
		1998; Jeffrey Derbes, Providence Memorial Park; Hope Mausoleum.