Wisby Memorial Cemetery- Vernon Parish Submitted by Jane P. McManus ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** In the center of Cravens in Vernon Parish, on LA Hwy. 10 at Cravens, turn South onto LA Hwy. 399 and continue 3.5 miles. Turn West (right) at the sign (Wisby Memorial Cemetery, 1865) onto gravel Road, and continue for .1 mile to the end of the road. Cemetery is located on the left beside an old unpainted building. This building was originally used as a Church, but when it disbanded, it was retained as a convenient place to conduct funerals or reunions. Many of the burials have full size concrete or granite vaults, a few do not. A trust fund has been established to handle maintenance of the cemetery, and Board Members placed small granite markers with names (but no dates) at all previously unmarked graves. A family meeting is held the 3rd Saturday in July each year at the cemetery. Tombstone inscriptions were recorded in rows, in zigzag rows by Jane P. McManus October 1994. Submitted by Jane McManus 14 February 2000 (jane_mcmanus@yahoo.com). HISTORY Patrick Wisby (b. ca 1770-1780) and his wife Rhoda (b. ca 1779-80 LA) came to this area by covered wagon, and settled in St. Landry Parish by 1810. By 1850 their son, James Wisby (b. ca 1810 St. Landry) and his wife Emily (Nash) Wisby were in Calcasieu Parish with their children: William Murlan, Mary, Minerva, Isabella, & Merriday Wisby. The oldest of these children, William Murlan Wisby married Nancy E. Mathis, daughter of Thomas Mathis, and they homesteaded property in the Cravens area of Rapides / Vernon Parish where they raised a large family. In 1865 William & Nancy Wisby donated a small portion of that original land for a burial ground for his family and the community. A second cemetery in the immediate area is Drakes Fork Cemetery across Whiskey Chitto Creek. Settlers were buried in the Drakes Fork Cemetery when the creek was high and they couldn't cross with the wagons. History by Lynn Bass, Cravens, LA, 17 January 1995. Row 1: Wisby, Bobby L. - 16 Dec 1946 / 19 Oct 1990 Wisby, Addris - 6 Oct 1922 / 4 Oct 1975, Cox US Navy WW2 Daddy Wisby, Irene B. - 4 Dec 1924 / [no dates] Mother [Above 2 burials have double stone] Wisby, Elmer - 1900 / 1952 Wisby, Rosa - 1903 / 1980 [Above 2 burials have double stone] Row 2: Green, B. [Benjamin] Frank - 8 Jan 1890 / 24 Oct 1968 [son of Peter Green & Emily Alpha Smith] Green, Ida W. [Wisby] - 15 Oct 1891 / 9 Jul 1954 [daughter of Huey Wisby & Cora Jane Gill] [Above 2 burials have double stone] Jorum [Gorum], Mary Matildy [Matilda], Wife of J. H. Jorum [Gorum] - 23 Jun 1853 / 16 Jun 1908 Daughter of Mary [Bass] & James Bunch Mother [epitaph & stone erected by] A sister C.B. [Caroline Bunch Bayham] Nessmith Infant - [no dates] Nessmith, Amanda Gorum - 12 Apr 1873 / 14 May 1906 [daughter of John Henry Gorum & Mary Matilda Bass] Hayward, William F. - 17 Jul 1908 / 21 Nov 1983, Tec 5 US Army WW2 Hayward, Cora J. Wisby, born Gill - 23 Jun 1875 / 15 Sep 1948 Mother Wisby, Bobbie Mae - 19 Mar 1925 / 22 Oct 1926 Wisby, Della V. Arnold, wife of J. W. Wisby - 31 Oct 1901 / 13 Mar 1945 Wisby, J. W. - 7 Mar 1898 / 5 Dec 1955 Father [above 2 burials have identical stones] Bailey, Infant of Neil Bailey - [no dates] Bailey, infant of Neil Bailey - [no dates] Bailey, Addie P. - 5 May 1913 / 15 Oct 1961 Mother Bailey, Neal [sic] - 26 Mar 1905 / 13 Jan 1974 [son of Isaac R. & Ludie W. Bailey] Bailey, Ludie W. - 16 Aug 1881 / 10 Jan 1965 Mother [daughter of William Murlan Wisby & Nancy E. Mathis] Bailey, Isaac R. - 11 Jun 1877 / 15 Jan 1970 Father [Above 2 burials have double stone] - Married 23 Dec 1899 Bailey, Charlie C. - 10 May 1914 / 6 May 1981 Row 3: Bailey, Lee Wilmer - 10 Feb 1902 / 1 Oct 1982 Bailey, Lue Johnson - 23 Dec 1901 / 8 Apr 1988 [Above 2 burials have double stone] - Married 4 Oct 1924 Wisby, William Jr., husband of Emma Odom - 13 Sep 1886 / 27 Oct 1975 Father [son of William Murlan Wisby & Nancy E. Mathis] Wisby, Emma Odom, wife of William Wisby Jr. - 19 Sep 1891 / 1 Sep 1946 Mother [above 2 burials have identical stones] Wisby, Beatrice Elizabeth, daughter of M&M William Wisby - 23 Jun 1922 / 28 Jan 1926 Wisby, W. M. [William Murlan] Sr. - 9 Mar 1843 / 15 Dec 1920 Married Nancy E. Mathis 12 Sep 1863 [a vase in center has inscription: "Est. 1865 by William & Nancy Wisby"] Wisby, Nancy E. - 19 Feb 1847 / 14 Feb 1911 [daughter of Thomas Mathis] [Above 2 burials have identical stones] Wisby, Avia Esebel, daughter of W. M. & Nancy E. Wisby - 7 Nov 1876 / 18 Nov 1876 * * * [oldest marker in this cemetery]* * * Wisby, Infant of Huey Wisby - no dates Wisby, Levie - 1896 / 1896 Wisby, Huey - 9 Mar 1871 / 10 Nov 1902 Father [son of William Murlan Wisby & Nancy E. Mathis, husband of Cora Jane Gill] Wisby, Letitia - 1901 / 1905 Johnson, Jim - [no dates] Wisby, Mattie Gorham & her infant - [no dates] Wisby, Infant of James & Julia Wisby - [no dates] Wisby, Infant of James & Julia Wisby - [no dates] Wisby, James - 2 Jan 1876 / 28 Apr 1919 [son of William Murlan Wisby & Nancy E. Mathis] Wisby, Julia [Hillman] - 17 Mar 1877 / 17 Oct 1950 [Above 2 burials have double stone] Row 4: Wisby, Rachel - 1 May 1941 / 13 Apr 1943 Daughter Wisby, Infant of Fred Wisby - [no dates] Wisby, Infant of Tom Wisby - [no dates] Wisby, Little Hazel - 29 Oct 1907 / 10 Feb 1910 Wisby, Mary J. [Johnson] - 6 Jul 1877 / 16 Sep 1926 Wisby, Thomas J. - 18 Mar 1873 / 28 Feb 1945 [son of William Murlan Wisby & Nancy E. Mathis] [Above 2 burials have double stone] Coody, Lenora Wisby - 16 Feb 1901 / 25 Sep 1983 Wisby, E. "Ray" - 24 Jun 1909 / 3 Feb 1985, Pvt. US Army WW2 [above 2 burials have identical stones] [2 unreadable funeral markers] Johnson, Albert - [no dates] Bass, Leo Vernon - 23 Jun 1926 / 22 Nov 1987 Bass, Sylvia Trahan - 16 Mar 1935 / [no dates] [Above 2 burials have double stone] Stephens, Infant of D. E. Stephens - 1950 / 1950 Row 5: Bass, Jimmy "Jim" Darwin - 4 Apr 1937 / 10 Oct 1983, Airman 2C USAF Rawlins, Sylvia "Peggy" - 6 Jun 1914 [only date] Bass, William J.[Jackson ] - 26 Nov 1904 / 3 Mar 1939 [son of Frank Bass & Pollie A. Wisby] [3 almost above 2 burials have identical stones] Bass, Polly Ann - 6 Nov 1883 / 18 Mar 1964 Mother [daughter of William Murlan Wisby & Nancy E. Mathis] Bass, Frank - 17 Aug 1884 / 23 Jan 1963 Father [son of William Tillman Bass & Sarah J. Powell] [Above 2 burials have double stone] Perkins, Tillman Leo - 13 Dec 1949 / 31 Dec 1991 [this stone in center front of above 2 burials have double stone below] Perkins, Madelda B. - 26 Sep 1906 / [no dates] Perkins, Monroe J. - 26 Jan 1902 / 8 Jun 1976 [Above 2 burials have double stone] - Married 12 Feb 1930 James, Thomas Mc - 1 Dec 1876 / 26 Nov 1887 Miller, Rachel - 18 Jun 1980 [infant burial, unreadable funeral marker] Wisby, Elizabeth - [no dates] Goins, Granny - [no dates] [Grandma Goins was mother of John Tom, Fletcher, Levi, and Lucy Goins Bookter] Wisby, Infant of M&M Monroe Wisby - 18 Apr 1932 / 18 Apr 1932 Wisby, Infant of M&M Monroe Wisby - 17 Jun 1933 / 17 Jun 1933 Wisby, Betty O'Banion - 13 Jan 1938 / 27 Oct 1974 Wisby, Mattie P. - 5 Jan 1911 / [no dates] Mother Wisby, Fred I. - 25 Apr 1911 / 24 Apr 1949 Father [Above 2 burials have double stone] Row 6: [Infant burial - no dates on marker] Wisby, Terry Lynn - 28 Dec 1953 / 17 Jul 1982 Wisby, Frederick Allan - 17 Jul 1957 / 27 Oct 1983 Daddy Arnold, Elizabeth - [no dates] Wisby, T. Monroe - 15 Nov 1902 / 26 Jul 1979 Husband Wisby, Ada J. - 10 Sep 1903 / 11 Jan 1980 Wife [Above 2 burials have double stone] Perkins, Reasing - [no dates] Bass, Sarah - [no dates] [b. 1862] Perkins, Sarah - [no dates] Perkins, Nathan - [no dates] Bass, [Mary] Elizabeth [Nash]- 1830 / 1893 [wife of Josiah Bass] Bass, [William] Tillman - [no dates] [ b. sep 1849] [son of Josiah Bass & Elizabeth Nash, husband of Sarah J. Powell] Row 7: Strother, Harold Wayne - 30 Mar 1942 / 31 Aug 1982 Father Strother, Tillman Lee - 28 Jul 1945 / 5 Nov 1958 Son Strother, Georgie - 6 Mar 1921 / [deceased, no dates] Mama Strother, Willie Virgil - 1 Apr 1913 / 17 Jul 1982 Papa [Above 2 burials have double stone] - Married 5 Oct 1950 [2 large vaults - no information] Row 8: Cross, Mrs. Judith Eileen Stewart - 28 Aug 1994, 52 yrs 2 mos 4 das [funeral marker] Hardisty, Jimmie Ruth "J" - 31 Jan 1944 / 22 Dec 1989 Mother [old funeral marker read Jimmie Ruth Johnson Schrader] Strother, Gertrude Bailey - 7 Sep 1895 / 7 Aug 1960 Strother, R. E. "Bo" - 20 Jan 1889 / 21 Mar 1970 [Above 2 burials have double stone] Strother, Colin Keith - 16 Aug 1962 / 19 Feb 1985