Plaisance/Lacour/Bush/Deloaches Cemetery, Rapides Parish Louisiana Submitted by Jane Parker McManus ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** PLAISANCE/LACOUR/BUSH/DELOACHES CEMETERY - Rapides Parish Directions: From Interstate I-49 North of Alexandria, take exit # 103 just north of the town of Boyce, & turn right onto LA Hwy. 8. Cross over the new LA Hwy. 1 and take next right turn onto the old LA Hwy. 1. Continue to the barricade on the road (approx. 1 mile), and turn left toward the site of the old lumber mill at Zimmerman. Do not cross railroad tracks, but turn left onto Red Bayou Road. Go about 1.5 miles down this road to a hill covered with large trees on the right side. There is a gate next to the road with space to park a car. The cemetery is not accessible by automobile, and the walk is not easy. Early maps of the area show one part of the cemetery or maybe even a separate cemetery located near the Red River at a point that is now part of the main river (after new channel was cut). This second cemetery probably collapsed over the years, as no part of it could be found. Newer maps of the area do not indicate this second cemetery. Local residents refer to this area as Deloaches Bluff Cemetery, Lacour Cemetery, and Bush Cemetery, mostly because of the families buried there, however, it is most commonly known as Plaisance Cemetery. The graveyard is in poor condition, run down, tombstones knocked over and broken, some destroyed, and graves were vandalized many years ago. We were able to right some of the overturned stones with help, brush them off, and place them back where they were intended. A small brick church on the hillside has long since been destroyed. The only remnants are the brick walls that enclosed the Villain portion of the graveyard nearby. Other burials were scattered over the hillside, indicating the cemetery was quite large at one time. There were some small headstones in a row with no inscriptions. The entire area is overgrown with briars and weeds. Tombstone inscriptions were was originally copied by Jane P. McManus in November 1972. They were recopied and history added by Mary Parker Partain in November 1989. Many of the tombstones that were copied in 1972 are no longer in evidence, either collapsed or broken and covered by debris. Many are lost. Burials were also recorded by the DAR in 1912, and later published by that organization. This listing submitted by Jane Parker McManus in 1999 History [See footnotes at end of tombstone listing]: This community located around Gilliard bluff above Zimmerman on Red River is correctly termed "Pleasant." The close connection between the settlers there and Cotile cannot be omitted. In fact, commerce was so strong between the river group and Cotile that a public road was laid out and dedicated -- a portion of the road still used today. (1) Its old cemeteries tell the story of the prominent Creole and American families who resided there. The Carnahans whose landing served efficiently Cotile planters, at times lived there. Others in the community were Hernandez, Dubois, Villain, Lattier, DeLoach, Vallee, and others. (1) Plaisance is named for the inherited estate of Claire LaCour who married Bolon Layssard. The LaCours amassed several thousand acres on Red River; the land divided among the heirs. Layssard was descended from one of Louisiana's oldest and most colorful families. By 1745, the Layssards were in New Orleans and were successful economically. Under service of the French Government and later the Spanish, they served as agents on the Mississippi and at Post Rapides. Valentine Layssard was Commissioner for all Indian Affairs and spoke the languages of the tribes. (1) The Layssards were in close contact with relatives in Santo Domingo whose coffee plantation was named "Plaisance," and it is the belief that Bolon named his estate for that reason. He married (as Etienne Malfret Layssard, or LeSart) to Marguerite Claire LaCour, daughter of Bapte, LaCour and Marianne Leonard, on September 3, 1791 at St. Ann Church, Morganza, Louisiana. Their children were: Clair - born 16 Aug 1792; Phelonise - 14 Jul 1795; Marafret - 1 May 1797 at Poste de Rapides & died 6 Jan 1878 Plaisance; Twins - 8 Feb 1802; Carmalite - 28 Aug 1806; son - 19 Aug 1808; and Euranie - 12 Jan 1810. (1) One of the burials which is lost today was for Mary Anne Coralie Grant, second child of Richard Grant and Mary Joseph Harriet Layssard. She was born at Plaisance, home of her grandparents, on 24 Sep 1853 and died on 9 Jun 1855. According to family legend, Mary Anne Coralie and her mother walked from their house to the riverbank, which was just a short distance. There they watched a funeral cortege of boats pass on the river. By the next morning, both were dead from Cholera. Mary Anne Coralie was 22 months old, her mother was 26 years old. (3) Mary Ann Coralie Grant & her mother, Mary Joseph Harriet Layssard Grant are buried in a common grave in the LaCour Cemetery. The grave marker is now gone but the grave is located in the Northeast corner of the Layssard Fammily plot. The Layssard plot is a rectangular shaped plot on the very top of the hill, and has a cut stone boder around the plot. The LaCour Cemetery is located in Rapides Parish LA on the west bank of Red River, about 4 miles north of Boyce. The actual map location is S63,T5N,R3W. Although the stone is gone, the original inscription was copied and published by the DAR in 1912. (3) The obituary for Catherine Rosa Layssard published in the Colfax Chronicle in 1898: (3) "Her remains were laid to rest on the afternoon of the 19th, in the beautiful and picturesque Plaisance graveyard, in Rapides Parish, near Deloache's Bluff. A score of relatives and friends knelt around the open grave while Miss Lucia Brownell in tremulous tones repeated the Lord's Prayer and Hail Mary from the Catholic prayer book, and then the grave was closed in pitiful silence or hushed tones, as the little house in the city of the dead was being built of red earth and marked with gray sand stones at the head and foot. Then all turned away in sober prayerful thought of the spirit gone to meet the merciful God who gave it." Grant, Kate Kingston Boyd, wife of Richard Henry Grant - 22 Feb 1852 / 16 Sep 1893 Grant, Richard Henry - 10 Oct 1818 / 30 Apr 1885 [this tombstone is lost, obituary indicates burial was here] (3) Grant, Mary Joseph Harriet, wife of R[Richard] Grant, & her child - 22 Jan 1829 / 9 Jun 1855 Grant, Mary Anne Coralie - 24 Sep 1853 / 9 Jun 1855 [this tombstone is lost, burial was reported by DAR in 1912 in this cemetery] (2) Bush, William H. - 28 Aug 1875 / 5 Oct 1885 Bush, Nicholas V. - 28 Feb 1868 / 26 Mar 1900, 32 yrs. 1 mo. 8 days Bush, William E. - 28 Feb 1838 / 5 Jan 1891, 53 yrs 11 mos 8 days Father Bush, Alice Mariah Villain - 30 Dec 1841 Plaisance LA / 7 Nov 1908 Rosedale LA Mother Wife of W. E. Bush [Rosedale was the name of the Villain Plantation on Deloaches Bluff] Brownell, Clara Ann - 6 May 1856 / 4 Jul 1857 Hickman, William Preston - 6 Jan 1804 NC / 4 Jul 1842 Shelbyville KY Father Hickman, Mary Ann Baillio - 14 Oct 1814 Rapides LA / 27 Jan 1901 Fairmont LA Mother Wife of W. P. Hickman LaCour, Peter - 15 Nov 1831 / 30 Jan 1862 Father LaCour, Mary Cora [Layssard] - 25 Jan 1833 / 13 Jan 1906 Mother [badly damaged tombstone, almost unreadable] LaCour, J. Peter - 8 Sep 1857 / 25 Jul 1890 LaCour, John B. - 16 Jun 1854 / 7 Jul 1899 Teal, John Henry, son of Cora & C. H. Teal - 27 Dec 1881 / 8 Oct 1885 Teal, Jodi - 15 Apr 1889 / 15 Sep 1890 [this tombstone lost, copied by DAR in 1912 in this location] (2) Dunn, Mrs. M. C. [Mary Cora Teal], wife of R. M. Dunn - 26 Sep 1877 / 25 Jun 1898 Rannells, Elizabeth, wife of Charles Rannells - 17 Dec 1862 / 14 Apr 1887 Stewart, Harry B., son of M&M S. N. Stewart - 2 Jun 1915 / 28 Jul 1920 [This tombstone lost, copied by DAR in 1912 in this location] (2) Stewart, Sam B. - 1832 / 1908 Stewart, Catharine - 1838 / 1915 Stewart, Infant Baby - 1907 [single large stone, inscriptions on 3 sides] Stickells, Ewphame nee Serguatt - 15 Aug 1844 / 6 May 1902 [death date unreadable now, copied by DAR in 1912] (2) Stickles, S. M. - [no dates], Co. G, 2nd LA Inf. CSA Villain, Felonise [Baillio], wife of N. Villain - died 25 Feb 1855, 40 yrs 85 days Mother Villain, Celeste Virginia - died 10 Oct 1855, 20 yrs 8 mos 17 days Eldest daughter of N. Villain & Felonise Baillio Villain, Emma Ann - died 30 Sep 1869, 29 yrs 9 mos Villain, George - died 4 Aug 1864, 14 yrs Villain, Helene Alicia - 7 Oct 1858 / 7 Aug 1859, 10 mos Villain, Mary A. P. - 8 Nov 1856 / 3 Jan 1857, 1 mo 26 days Villain, Felonise Laura - 10 Jul 1842 / 28 Jul 1844 Villain, George R. - 15 Nov 1844 / 8 Oct 1849 Villain, Augustus B. - 28 Jul 1846 / 4 Oct 1849 [large stone] - Sisters & Brothers Layssard, Rosa C. Villain, wife of F. A. Layssard - died 6 Jul 1870, 22 yrs 8 mos Layssard, F. A - died 25 Mar 1915, 71 yrs Layssard, Mdsmle. Marafret, nee: Pamela Castarede - died 31 Oct 1871 [de morte le 31 Oct 1871 a l'age 64 ans [French inscription] Layssard, Etienne Marafret - 1 May 179 Poste de Rapides / 6 Jan 1878 Plaisance [tombstone lost, copied by DAR in 1912 at this location] (2) Layssard, Arthur, son of Archie & Rosa Layssard - died 12 Feb 1887, about 10 yrs [tombstone lost, burial here according to obituary in Colfax Chronicle] (3) Layssard, Catherine Rosa - 27 Feb 1881 / 18 Oct 1898 [tombstone lost, burial here according to obituary in Colfax Chronicle] (3) (?), Lena - 4 Jan 1874 / 28 Sep 1876 [no last name on tombstone] The following burials in a fenced area beside main cemetery: Powers, Alphonse Sr. - 25 Jan 1872 / 23 Aug 1929 Powers, Mertie Emmett - 1916 / 1919 Powers, Wilmer Thomas - 29 Jun 1920 / 16 Jul 1920 Powers, Arthur Louis - 1914 / 1922 Prewitt, Dorothy Debra - 19 Jul 1926 / 19 Jul 1926 Powers, Shirley Ann - 1933 / 1933 Sarsee, Joe - died 2 Oct 18- [tombstone lost, copied by DAR in 1912] (2) Carroll, Levy N. - 23 May 1860 Natchitoches LA / 1 Nov 1880 Chopin LA United with Missionary Baptist Church at Zion LA in 1875 Footnotes: (1) Barber, Patsy K., Historic Cotile, Baptist Message Press, 1967, pg. 128 (2) "Louisiana Tombstone Inscriptions," DAR, Vol. VII, 1912, pp. 82-83. (3) O'Quinn, Frank M., Baton Rouge LA, descendant of Richard Henry Grant.