ST. MARY CEMETERY HISTORY, Bay St. Louis, MS

St. Mary Cemetery was dedicated by Father Henry LeDuc on December 22, 1872, according to a reference in “Catholicity in Mississippi” complied by Bishop Richard Oliver Gerow, S.T.D., Seventh Bishop of the Diocese of Natchez (originally published in 1939 limited edition, Natchez, Mississippi. On its website, www.hancockcountyhistoricalsociety.com, several references to St. Mary Cemetery can be found in Bishop Gerow’s manuscript by searching the Hancock County Historical Society’s Alphabet File, (under Churches – Catholic; Our Lady of the Gulf, Bay St. Louis) , pages 83 to 87. The information shown in this historical account was reproduced with permission from Bishop Gerow’s original document.

Bishop Gerow’s account refers to two pastors who were buried in St. Mary Cemetery. Very Reverend Florimon J. Blanc was the third pastor of Our Lady of the Gulf Church. He died on June 14, 1903 and was “buried in the vault beneath the Calvary in St. Mary’s Cemetery.”

The Very Reverend Aloise van Waesberghe was the fourth pastor of OLG from 1903 to his untimely death on April 6, 2906. He is “buried beside his predecessor in the vault reserved for priests in St. Mary’s cemetery.”

The mention of a vault and “Calvary” is a bit of a mystery which is perhaps lost to time. Despite very few plats and records surviving Hurricane Katrina, there was one plat showing a circular area marked “Calvary”. This plat was not dated and today the area shown on the plat is the intersection of the central roadway (which divides the cemetery into the North and South sections) and the first roadway to the right that runs parallel to Necaise Avenue. Unfortunately, no evidence of a vault or the 36 foot circular Calvary exists today in the area as shown on this plat.

Figure 1 Undated Plat Showing Calvary at Saint Mary

Religious Priests Burial PlotWhat can be found in St. Mary Cemetery today is a designated burial plot for the religious priests who served in Hancock County. This large plot is located in section S6-01A & 01B. There is one large monument which lists Fr. Blanc and Fr. Van Waesberghe and four other religious:Rev. F. J. Blanc, Died June 14, 1903Rev. Aloise Van Waesberghe, Died 1906Rev Anthony A. Brown, Died Jan 15, 1919Rev. Henry F. Mortimer, Born May 17, 1859, Died Oct 18, 1933 (*)Bishop Leo Fahey, Died March 31, 1950Rev. Andrew J. Gmelch, Died May 16, 1955 (*) According to family members, Bishop Fahey is not buried in the priests’ plot. Bishop Fahey was interred in the Fahey family tomb which can be found in the section S5-04-03 of St. Mary’s.

Other religious burials known to be in this plot are:Msgr. Gregory John Johnson, Born 07-01-1922, Died 07-20-2004 (headstone ordered 2012)Father John T. O’Brien, Born April 24, 1921, Died May 18, 2009

Also, the Rt. Rev. Joseph Jacobi, who died in 1950, is interred in the Jacobi family tomb in section S2-03-05 of St Mary’s instead of the plot for religious priests.

Sisters of St. Joseph Burial PlotThe other burial plot for religious in St. Mary’s is the common burial ground for the Sisters of St. Joseph. This plot is located on the North side of the central roadway and is directly behind the first cross road to the right (section N3-01). The grassy area is marked by an elevated coping similar to the one surrounding the burial plot for the religious priests. The burials of the deceased Sisters of St. Joseph are listed on two common markers that flank a large stone cross monument.

First Monument engravings: Second Monument engravings:Sister Estelle Astier, 1872 Sister Aimee of Jesus Gonzales, 1921Sister St. Peter Elder, 1874 Sister M. Eulalie Mohan, 1922Sister Ellienna Alloid, 1878 Mother M. Augustine Hosmer, 1927Sister Louise Felicity Robinson, 1880 Sister St. Gildand Tranchant, 1929Sister Cecelia Carbon, 1884 Sister St. Clothilde Duvernet, 1938Sister M. Magdalen Finch, 1888 Sister M. of the Annunciation Guillermet,Sister M. Francis Provond, 1889 1938Mother Alphee Champagnon, 1890 Sister M. Cornelius Foret, 1949Sister Mary Angelica Aitkens, 1891 Sister Louise Teresa Farut, 1949Sister St. Stanislaus Dornier, 1897 Sister M. Edith Davis, 1967Sister M. Francis Joyce, 1897 Sister Albertine Cettour, 1971Sister M. Lambert Descombes, 1905Sister Mary Antonio Orgen, 1908Sister St. Agnes Cuevas, 1919Mother St. Raphael Sutherland, 1921

Parcel Descriptions of St. Mary’sIn land records found on the website for the Hancock County Tax Assessor’s office, the cemetery is divided into two parcels. The first parcel is deeded as “St Mary Cemetery” and appears to be the original four sections divided by the center road and cross road to the right (Parcel #149M-1-29-035.000).

The second parcel (#149M-1-29-034.000) is deeded to the “Catholic Diocese of Natchez” and includes a strip of land that runs along the brick wall of St. Stanislaus Stadium (section S5) as well as the land immediately behind the original four sections. This property includes land currently being identified as sections S6, N7, N8, and N9 of St. Mary’s as well as the undeveloped land that extends back to Old Spanish Trail.

Existing Legally Recorded DeedsIn searching through legal records at the Hancock County Courthouse, there are only two recorded deeds found for cemetery plots at St. Mary’s. The oldest deed was issued to the St. Aloysius Society by “H. Leduc, Pastor” on January 1, 1874. The lot is described as “. . . measuring 12 feet by 10 feet superficial measure” and “is designated on the plan of said Cemetery as lot No. 1 in Block No. 1 in Section No. 4 . . .” Unfortunately, no other references to the St. Aloysius Society or the possible disposition of this plot have been found to date in the cemetery or in church records.

The second recorded deed was issued by H. Leduc, Pastor, on November 3, 1878, to Mary Bordages, widow of John Bordages. This plot is described as measuring “Twenty feet by Twelve feet, superficial measure” and “is designated on the plan of said Cemetery as lot No. 172 in Block No. 7, in section No.2”. Once you understand that the rows (aisles) were numbered from the center of the original cemetery with Row 1 at center and ending with Row 9 at Necaise Avenue, you can easily find the Bordages plot in Section 2. (Refer to “Original cemetery layout” below.) The reason for numbering the plot as “No. 172” is now a mystery without original maps of the cemetery to guide us. Unfortunately, there are no engraved markers found for either John (Jean) Bordages or Mary (Marie) Bordages in this plot (other than an illegible wooden marker) although other Bordages descendants are buried here. Today you can locate this plot in section S2, row 3, lot 1.

Throughout the years all deeds for burial plots at St. Mary Cemetery have been purchased and issued through Our Lady of the Gulf parish. It was not required for the purchasers to record their deeds with Hancock County and this probably accounts for finding so few legal filings.

Oldest BurialsSince the cemetery was officially dedicated in December, 1872, one would assume that the burial of Sr. Estelle Astier (see Sisters of St. Joseph) in 1872 would be the oldest recorded burial found in St. Mary’s. This may be true, but the oldest headstone or engraved monument found

to date at St. Mary’s is that of Nicolas Caron who died in 1859, over 13 years before the cemetery was dedicated. His flat marble headstone can be found at the foot of the Eugene H. Caron Family tomb on the right of the first crossroad (location: section N1, row 9, lot 1). It is not known if Mr. Caron is actually buried in St. Mary’s or if his family placed his headstone there as a memorial.

Other monuments with dates of death that predate the dedication of St. Mary Cemetery are:Charles Thiery, 11/01/1860 (location: section S4, row 1, lot 6)Blanche T. Schull, 11/18/1867 (headstone in the northeast corner of Sisters of St. Joseph plot)Ida Ladner, 1/16/1870 (location: section S2, row 6, lot 1)

Number of Burials at St. MaryAs of July, 2012, it is estimated that there are over 2,000 known burials in St. Mary Cemetery.

Original cemetery layoutThe original cemetery was designed as four sections divided by the central road and the first cross road to the right. Sections 1 and 3 are on the North side between the central road and St. Rose de Lima Catholic Church and parking lot. Sections 2 and 4 are on the South side between the central road and St. Stanislaus Stadium. Sections 1 and 2 run parallel to Necaise Avenue. Section 3 is directly behind Section 1; Section 4 is directly behind Section 2.

The numbering of the rows and plots for these four sections began at the CENTER of the cemetery. Consequently, for Sections 1 and 2, ROW 1 began at the center of the original cemetery at the intersection of the roads and ended with Row 9 nearest to Necaise Avenue.The numbering of the rows for Sections 3 and 4 began at the CENTER of the cemetery and continued nine rows away from Necaise Avenue. Therefore, at the first crossroad you can find most of the oldest graves located in the rows around the intersection of these four sections rather than those graves closer to Necaise Avenue.

Current Cemetery LayoutIn 2012 a revised numbering system was assigned to the current layout of St. Mary’s. This change was necessary in order to easily locate burials and to insure compatibility with the computer software being used in the creation of the new digital record. In some cases, the original section number references remain the same as originally designed (i.e., Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5) although the numbering of the rows may differ.

Please refer to the St. Mary Cemetery Section Plat of 2012 to view the current layout of the cemetery. This plat can be found following the final page of this document.

Hurricane KatrinaIn 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed the deeds and records for St. Mary Cemetery which were kept in the Our Lady of the Gulf parish office as well as the maps, plats and records kept in the personal files of Mr. Ames Kergosien who has managed the cemetery on a volunteer basis since taking it over from Mr. Vincent Piazza in 1981. Since many residents of Hancock County also lost their belongings and records in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the effort to reconstruct the cemetery’s records has been a challenge.

In 2010 and 2011, Our Lady of the Gulf began documenting the existing headstones and burial plots of St. Mary’s. All markers and headstones have been photographed and preserved digitally on computer. Information from the headstones regarding individual burials and their locations within the cemetery has also been included in a computer Excel record. In addition, all plots have been measured in the hopes of creating a digitally preserved master plat of the cemetery as a permanent record for the future.

Recently a few parishioners have shared with the parish their salvaged copies of the partial maps and plot layouts. These documents have led to some interesting insights about the layout of St. Mary’s but have also led to many more unanswered questions. Hopefully more old plats, deed records, or cemetery history information will be forthcoming in the future to help complete the lost history of St. Mary Cemetery. If you have information on the cemetery to share, please contact Kathleen Monti @ jkmonti@live.com or call 228-216-0711.

Future BurialsThe current cemetery and its additional undeveloped sections of land stretching back to Old Spanish Trail will provide a sacred enclosure to receive those who have lived within the faith for future generations of Catholic families. For more information on purchasing a plot at St. Mary’s, please call Ames Kergosien at 228-493-2429 or the OLG rectory at 228-467-6509.