Rapides History taken from a Cemetery, Rapides Parish Louisiana Submitted by Annette (Carpenter) Womack ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** Because of the amount of genealogical information included in this article I am enclosing it exactly as was printed. There was no way of identifiing the source of the article, but my guess it was clipped from the Alexandria Towntalk and in pencil dated 1927. I copied it from the Melrose Collection (scrapbook # 66) Archives Division, Watson Library, NSU, Natchitoches, Louisiana around 1983--Annette (Carpenter) Womack Louisiana was a vast territory once, extending from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi river was the main artery of travel, as the dense forests and swamps formed an impassable barrier by land. The adventurous French soon built forts and settlements along the banks of the mighty river, and not content, they soon began to explore the numerous tributaries and settle further inland. The Spaniards did likewise, and towards the close of the eighteenth century many Anglo-Saxons had mingled with them. St. Denis, on his way to Mexico, established Natchitoches in 1715. A mission chapel was built in Pineville near this period and was looked after from Natchitoches. The building was on the site of the Rapides cemetery and is said to have been just to the left of the gate as you enter. That was almost a century before Alexandria was settled. The hills on the Pineville side of the river were preferable to the low marsh lands on the Alexandria side. Red River just above Alexandria was shallow and obstructed by rocks, which place was spoken of as the rapids, and a trading post and settlement was soon founded at Pineville, which was known as the Port of Rapides. In the cemetery near where the first chapel stood is a grave with the following inscription on it: Sacred to the Memory of ENNEMOND MEULLION Aged 83 years and 11 days also JEANNETTE MEULLION Born April 6th,,1752 Died October 29th, 1835 Aged 83 years, 6 months and 23 days Ennemond MEULLION was Spanish commandants of the Port of Rapides. He was a French surgeon of noble birth who came to Louisiana about 1770. Although at that time a Spanish province, he soon became prominent in its political affairs. He was born in Dauphiny, France, in 1737, and was the son of Ennemond MEULLION and Claudine BARRAL. He was first married at Point Coupee on September 3, 1773, to Anne STEPHEN, widow of Jacques DESAUTELS and daughter of Jean STEPHEN and Anne Francoise ROLAND. She died a few months after their marriage. In 1780 he married, as his second wife, Jeannette POIRET, the widow of Colonel LA MOTHE. She was the mother of Polycarpe LA MOTHE, after whom Lamothe's Bridge on Bayou Rapides is named. Jeannette POIRET was the daughter of Andre Claude Baptiste POIRET, the Chevalier de BRIE, who was commander at different times of Fort Chartres and Fort Kaskaskia. These forts were on the Mississippi River, near Cairo, ILL. Soon after his second marriage Ennemond MEULLION settled in Rapides and here his children were born. They were: Rosalie, who was born July 21, 1784; Jeannette, born May 13, 1786; Lucille, born April 24, 1787; Louis, born May 15, 1789; and Benoist, born May 28, 1794. Of these children Rosalie MEULLION married William Willing WELLS, a brother of Samuel Levi WELLS. As her second husband she married Dr. John SIBLEY, and after his death she married William MARSHALL. She had children by the first and third husbands, and from them are descended the Branch TANNER, Alanson PEARCE, and MARSHALL families of Rapides. Ursula married William MILLER, one of the early settlers of Rapides, who afterwards became the first territorial judge of the parish. He came here as a partner of Alexander FULTON, who founded Alexandria. Judge MILLER, and his wife had thirteen children, one of whom married Dr. Thomas H. MADDOX, many of whose descendants are now living here. Another daughter married Allison OWEN of New Orleans, the grandfather of the present General Allison OWNE of that city. Judge MILLER moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1858. His eldest daugher married Judge David K. ESTE of Ohio and I saw an acount in a Baltimore paper of her having celebrated her ??? anniversary. Jeannette MEULLION married Hatch DENT, who came from Maryland and was a noted lawyer in Alexandria in the early days. One of their daughters married General Montfort WELLS and many of her numerous descendants are now living in Rapides. Lucy MEULLION married Dr. John C. RIPPEY, who came to Rapides from Pennsylvania. They had no children. In the cemetery is a dilapidated grave, long since forgotten, with the following inscription on it: THIS STONE Sacred to the Memory of DR. JOHN C. RIPPEY Was erected as a monument of his worth and of her affection by his wife LUCIE RIPPEY He was born in the state of Pennsylvania December 3rdg A. D. , 1776 2th And died at Rapides, January A.D. 1822 Aged 45 years, 1 month and 9 days Doctor RIPPEY was killed on the corner of Murray and Second streets by Colonial Robert A. Crain, the grandfatehr of the late governor N. C. BLANCHARD. The dispute was over some business matter, and in those days men were more hot-headed than courteous. Colonel CRAIN killed him with a sword cane. I have heard it said that Dr. RIPPEY put his hand on his breast where he was stabbed and then placed it on a post on the corner in order to support himself, and that for a long time afterwards the print of his blood-stained hand could be seen on the post. In connection with this, another tombstone in the Rapides cemetery tells us of the wild history of this then wild country. It is that which marks the resting place of Colonel Robert E. Crain. He came to Rapides from Virginia at the dawn of the Nineteenth century and settled near the present town of Boyce. He was a tall, slender, handsome, hot-blooded man, who seemed to enjoy a fight. He acted as second to Dr. Thomas H. MADDOX in the celebrated Sandbar Duel. There were six people on each side, and after the principals had satisfied their honor by firing two shots apiece at each other at a distance of eight paces and no damage being done, the seconds (among whom there was ill-feeling) decided it was an opportune time to settle their differences. When the smoke cleared away Alfred BLANCHARD and Jim BOWIE were wounded, and General Sam CUNY and Major Morris WRIGHT were dead. Jim BOWIE killed Major WRIGHT, and Colonel CRAIN killed General CUNY. Another grave leads us back to the story of the first one mentioned. it is that of Judge Thomas C. SCOTT, one of the early jurists of this parish. He was born in Charlotte County, Virginia, on January 20, 1784, and came to Rapides in the pioneer days of Alexandria, where he died on August 24, 1854. He married Marie Francoise Laulette LE DOUX, a daughter of Charles Volsin LE DOUX and Eugenie LA MOTHE. So her mother was a daughter of Ennemond MEULLIONIS wife by her first marriage. A daughter of Judge SCOTT and his wife became the wife of Governor James Madison WELLS and has left numerous descendants in Louisiana. There is another grave in the Rapides cemetery connected with this family. It is that of Cyprian L’ESCOFFIE. You will find it beside that of Ennemond MEULLION and his wife. His mother was Constance LA MOTHE, also a daughter of Mrs. MEULLION by her first marriage. Not far from this grave is that of his aunt, Eugenie LA MOTHE, who married Charles Volsin LE DOUX. So, after all, graveyards are places of interest, and are of historical value. We should preserve them and not let snakes and toads find a fit habitation there. The author of this article is unknown and no by-line was given. Only signed: "by a Friend of Old Graveyards."