Cemeteries: Bethlehem Cemetery Newsletter #3- Sep 1994, Winn Parish, LA Submitted by Peggy Chandler Beaubouef, 2656 Hwy 1232, Winnfield, LA 71483 ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** [These articles are taken from the Bethlehem Cemetery Newsletter published by the Bethlehem Baptist Church cemetery committee. They are posted here with the full knowledge and consent of the cemetery committee. Bethlehem Cemetery is located in Ward 8 of Winn Parish on Hwy. 1232. These articles were written by Peggy Beaubouef based upon information supplied by others. As with all secondary sources, the data shown should be used as clues to further research and verification.] Issue No. 3 Sept, 1994 HISTORICAL FACTS: In the first edition of the Bethlehem Cemetery News, the historical section noted that the oldest person at the time of his/her death buried in our cemetery was Martha Ann D. Hogg. She was born March 15, 1856 and died June 6, 1960 at the age of 104 years, 2 months and 21 days. The following article was published in the Winn Parish Enterprise in February of 1951. It brings to life that particular statistic and is a testimony to the type of pioneering spirit that we attempt to honor with our care of their final resting place. Winn Parish Lady, 94, Recalls Pioneer Days On March 15, "If I live until that date," a Winn Parish woman--believed to be Winn's oldest citizen--will celebrate her 95th birthday. She is Mrs. M.A. Hogg who has lived in Calvin for more than 34 years. A native of Palmida, Georgia, Mrs. Hogg, who was before her marriage Martha Ann Driver, recounted memories of days in the old west, when Indians and wolves were dangerous, and traveling was done on horseback, or in covered wagons. Although those days are gone, Mrs. Hogg at 94, has a clear memory of dates and happenings for which most of us must depend on history books. Her parents, Doc and Polly Driver, moved from Georgia to Athens, Texas in 1871. At the age of 15 Martha Driver became Mrs. Louis Dalton, her husband of Athens also. Later, due to his bad health, they traveled a lot, and covered several states, including Arkansas, Texas, and Louisiana. All their traveling was done in a covered wagon. Mrs. Hogg (Mr. Dalton died in 1878 and she remarried) told in an interview this week of a trip she and her husband made near the New Mexico state line. Due to the danger of Indians, they could not have a light in their wagon at night, and wolves would come near the wagon at night and eat. In her words, "It made you feel creepy". While traveling there they stopped at various ranch houses for ranch dances on Saturday nights. While on one trip, Mrs. Hogg relates that they traveled 75 miles without water. After going without water all this time, they saw a group of horses. She begged her husband to go to the horses, in the hope they could lead them to water. Sure enough, Mrs. Hogg said, they found a beautiful spring of water bubbling from some rocks. She said they believed Indians had fixed the spring. After one year of marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Dalton made a trip into Arkansas, this time riding horses. (And she even remember the horses names Waco and Russ.) They stayed in Arkansas about one year. While there he built a new wagon and a spinning wheel. Mrs. Hogg says she wishes she had her old spinning wheel--it would keep her company. They were accompanied by friends on the return trip from Arkansas, she said. They had bought two steers in Arkansas and the couple traveling with them also had two steers, which they hooked to the wagon. While coming through a range of mountains in Texas, the steers decided the climb was too much and laid down. One refused to get up until Mr. Dalton, at his wife's suggestion, put his hat over the steer's nose to smother him. It was on this trip that they saw their first train. They heard the whistle while spending the night on the road, and the next morning they got to see the train. It was really a sight to them, she says. On one trip, she said her husband tried to fool her about some cypress knees. "How do they cut stumps round like those?" he asked her. But she couldn't be fooled. She told him she had been through Louisiana before and crossed Lake Ponchartrain, seeing alligators lying among the cypress knees. She has traveled a lot for a woman born in her times, she says. She is still active and lively as a woman of 95 and credits her long life to her activity in her younger days. She likes to see people take an interest in life, and says she believes an active person will live longer. She can't understand people now, she says. When she was 75 years old, she walked four (4) miles each night for revival services at Bethlehem Church and did not feel badly. She has splendid health now but cannot walk as far. After her first husband's death, she married H.M. Hogg, also of Athens, Texas, in June of 1880, and made their home there until October, 1916 when they moved to Calvin. Mr. Hogg, a veteran of the Civil War, died in 1920. She lives at Calvin with a daughter.