Richmond E. Cuny, Rapides Parish, Louisiana Submitted by: Gaytha Carver Thompson ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** SOME PROMINENT RAPIDES NAMES OF LONG AGO by DR. G. M. G. STAFFORD Source: Melrose Collection #66; NSU Archives; Natchitoches, LA. Louisiana State Courier January 1985 Compiled by: Annette Carpenter Womack, editor RICHMOND E. CUNY About two miles above Lamothe's Bridge, on Bayou Rapides, is the remnant of an old graveyard. It is on the Gordon place and is usually spoken of as the Gordon graveyard. Some of the old negroes in the neighborhood speak of it as the "Levi Wells graveyard." This is probably correct as the place was originally owned by Samuel Levi Wells and many of his descendants were buried there. There is one large marble slab to be seen there, almost covered over with earth, with the following inscription on it: RICHMOND E. CUNY Died April 8, 1824 Age 55 Years He was born in Wales in May, 1769 and came to America with his mother when a small child. His father was arrested in England and imprisoned, probably for political reasons. He managed to communicate with his wife and instructed her to go to America with their young son. She did so and resided in New York several years, waiting for her husband to join her. It is said that she was never able to hear from him again. She then came to the Louisianan territory, where she met and married Caesar Archinard, commandant of the post of Rapides under Spain. Thy had one child, John Archinard. In 1794, Richmond Edmond Cuny, the young exile from Wales, married Tabitha Wells, a daughter of Samuel Levi Wells and Dorcas Hule. Of this marriage six sons were born, two of whom were participants in the noted Sand Bar fight in 1827. One of the, General Samuel C. Cuny, was killed in that affair. After the death of her husband in 1824 Tabitha Wells married Judge Seth Lewis of Opelousas. There were no children of this second marriage. After the death of Judge Lewis she went to Texas with her youngest son, Phillip Minor Cuny and died there at the age of 96 years.