Sandhill Cemetery, Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana Submitted to the USGenWeb Archives by Sandra McLellan, Nov. 2005 Special thanks to Jim Perrin for donating it to the archives. ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ SAND HILL CEMETERY By JIM PERRIN, Local Historian Located about four miles east of the city of Ponchatoula, Sand Hill Cemetery, sits atop a hill considerably higher in elevation than the surrounding flatlands. Although Sand Hill is a natural formation, probably produced by the meandering Tangipahoa River many millenniums ago, various Indian tribes lived in this area over the past several thousand years as Indian artifacts found in the Sand Hill area indicate an early and prolonged occupation of this landmark. Early settlers near Sand Hill such as Timothy Cryer, Henry and William Cooper, Samuel and George Richardson, all of whom owned nearby land, probably often passed by since the hill was just north of the public road from Madisonville to Springfield. The land that became Sand Hill Cemetery is in Section 14, Township 7 south, Range eight east, and is bordered by Big Branch, which flows south into the swamp. This section was public domain until Levi Wells obtained the property from the federal government. Levi Wells was born in June 1812 in Louisiana. He married Virginia Bourg (also spelled Burke in some records) about 1836. Virginia was born May 1, 1820, and was the daughter of Maurice Bourg and Genevieve Ouvre (Hoover). Virginia died August 7, 1843, and was buried in the Collins Cemetery near the Tangipahoa River. Levi died in July 1868 and was also buried in the Collins Cemetery. Levi and Virginia had four children: Adeline (1837-1908), m. David Robertson; Amelia Jane (1838- 1905), m. John Fendlason, Jr., m. 2nd William H. Holden; Josephine (1840-_____); and Levi Benjamin F. Wells. Levi Benjamin F. Wells was born May 2, 1842 in the Ponchatoula area. He briefly served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, and after the war married Mary Louisiana Lavigne, daughter of Henry Peter Lavigne and Mary Elizabeth Mitchell. Levi's father died in July 1868, and the younger Levi purchased in Feb. 1869 from his siblings about 480 acres of family land including about 200 acres around Sand Hill. On the eighth of March in 1886, Levi B. Wells sold 100 acres, more or less, of this family land known as "Wells' Sand Hill," to James Tucker for the sum of $380. Included in the 100 acres was one acre reserved as a burial ground. At his death in December 1920, Levi B. Wells was buried in "Wells' Cemetery" {Sand Hill}. Soon after James Tucker purchased the hundred acre tract around Sand Hill, he sold it on February 20, 1888, to William Edwin Hicks of New Orleans for five hundred dollars cash. One acre of the 100 was again reserved as a burial ground, and was now referred to as the Wells & Tucker Burial Ground. Free access to the cemetery was stipulated in the deed of purchase. Mr. Hicks, his wife and two small children soon moved from to New Orleans and made their home on the southern crest of Sand Hill. Many years later, Mr. Hicks later moved into Ponchatoula when he started a business and lived on Pine Street next to his business place. Business reverses forced Mr. Hicks to mortgage the Sand Hill as well as his residence in Ponchatoula. On Dec. 29, 1929, Willard M. Mitchell purchased the Sand Hill property as well as the Hicks residence for $6,000. The one acre for the Wells-Tucker Burial Ground was again reserved in this conveyance. Mr. Hicks died in 1930 and Mrs. Hicks died in 1940. Both are buried on Sand Hill, about two hundred feet from their former residence. Although the date of the first burial in Sand Hill is uncertain, it was certainly in existence when little Eulalia E. Gosselin, daughter of Pierre Gosselin and Josephine Wells, died in October 1854, at the age of ten months and was interred in the cemetery. Eulalia was the niece of Levi Wells who owned the Sand Hill area in 1854 and she was put to rest there rather than in the Collins Cemetery or another location. When Virginia Bourg Wells died in 1843 she was buried in the Collins Cemetery, either because the Sand Hill Cemetery may not yet have been started, Levi wished her to be buried among other family members in the Collins Cemetery, or for other reasons. Based on the scant evidence available, it seems likely that the cemetery was begun during the 1843-1854 period with a date closer to 1854 being most likely. Although it was earlier called the Wells Cemetery, then the Wells-Tucker Burial Ground, and occasionally in the early 1900's as Hicks' Hill Cemetery, by the 1920's the cemetery began to be referred to as the Sand Hill or Sandhill Cemetery. The Sand Hill Cemetery Association, Incorporated, was chartered 10 Jan. 1958, with Bert Tucker and Thomas Wells, as agents for the association. Serving as trustees in 1958 were: Eli Joiner, Bert Tucker, Mrs. Ruth Keaghey, Miss Ouida Robertson, and Eddie Wells. Bert Tucker was also listed as president of the association, Ouida Robertson as secretary, and Edna Young as treasurer. Thirty-six people were listed as incorporators of the cemetery association. In July 1978, as available grave sites in Sand Hill were beginning to be exhausted, new property on the west side of the hill was purchased and made available for use. The 1978 purchase supplemented smaller tracts added to the cemetery in 1957, 1958, 1969. With the growth of population in the Ponchatoula area, and as other cemeteries such as the Mitchell Cemetery and Ponchatoula Cemetery neared capacity, demand for burial locations at Sand Hill has increased. Among the earliest burials in Sand Hill, according to extant tombstone inscriptions are: Eulalia E. Gosselin, died Oct. 1854, age 10 months. John Fendlason, 1838-1870 David H. Robertson, 1834-1877. Mary E. Tucker Terry, 1843-1878. John O. Terry, Jr., 1867-1878 Sara T. Brewer, died 1879 Rachel Rheams Tucker, 1814-1879 Mary Holden, 1874-1880 Abraham Penn, 1875-1881 Clark White 1810-1881 Georgia F. Penn, 1880-1881 Charles W. White 1834-1886 Joel Shelton, died 11 Aug. 1887, age 74 There are a number of persons buried in the cemetery whose graves are currently unmarked. Many of these may have had cypress headboards or other temporary markers which have been lost over the years. Sand Hill Cemetery has become a last rest for larger numbers of persons in recent years. "The Hill" with its majestic moss covered live oaks is one of several historic sites in the Ponchatoula area where pioneer settlers rest, their earthly treks completed. Anyone with comments, questions, or additional information about Ponchatoula's rich heritage may call Jim Perrin at 386-4476.