Tanner Cemetery, Rapides Parish Louisiana
Submitted by Jane Parker McManus
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TANNER FAMILY CEMETERY (Cheneyville) - Rapides Parish
Directions: This small family cemetery is located behind Witchwood
Plantation (presently the home of direct descendants of Robert Tanner and
Providence Robert). It is in the back of a field near Bayou Beouf near
Loyd's Bridge. The Tanner burials are in a fenced area while the Pierce and
Brown graves are outside the fence. There are at least two dozen unmarked
graves in this area, indicated by depressions.
In 1971, a high school girl inventoried the burials and recorded the same
number of markers with same information we found in 1993 with one exception.
She listed two footstones with initials J.S.K. & A.C.K. Today, one
footstone with "A.C.K." was located, and one footstone with no initials.
The footstone for J.S.K. was not found. Marilyn Quantz Pias of Alexandria,
LA, a direct descendant of the Tanners, provided information on the Tanner
Family and the cemetery.
Several years ago, a bush-hog was used to clear the area, and many of the
tombstones were destroyed or broken. A fund has been established at the
Bank of Lecompte with plans to restore and return the dignity to the graves
of these pioneers. Although repairs to the marble slabs of Robert and
Providence Tanner are scheduled first, help with removal of brush and vines
would also be appreciated. Marilyn and her family have already begun
restoring the area. Inscriptions were recorded by Mary Parker Partain and
Marilyn Pias, January 1993, with assistance provided by Jack Fraziar Jr, and
submitted by Jane McManus, July 2000.
History:
Robert Tanner and his wife, Providence Robert, along with numerous relatives
and slaves left their home in Beaufort SC, and traveled by wagon through
Georgia to the Nickjack Cave near the present city of Chattanooga. Here,
they built flatboats to carry their families, livestock, wagons, and goods
down the Tennessee and Mississippi Rivers to Natchez. They arrived in
Natchez in 1805 to find no suitable settlement, so they continued on to Fort
Adams (60 miles further), and settled near Woodville MS (1). By 1813, many
of this group moved to Louisiana and settled in the Cheneyville area.
Robert and Providence were charter members of the Beulah Baptist Church in
Cheneyville. The first pastor, and also a charter member, was Rev. Ezekiel
O'Quinn. He had also come from Beaufort SC, by way of Woodville MS to
Louisiana. According to the LA Baptist Association of 1824, "Rev. O'Quin
[sic] died on 23 Apr 1824, and was buried in the Tanner Cemetery on the
South side of Bayou Boeuf about two miles above Cheneyville." The exact
location of this grave is unknown.
The very large, beautiful tombstones for Robert Tanner (who died of yellow
fever), and his wife, Providence, are now broken into several pieces. Near
their burial site are three large unmarked brick vaults. Several yards away
are two footstones - one with initials "A.C.K." and the other blank.
Andrew Conger Kilpatrick, a Methodist Minister (1793-1849), married Jane
Sophronia Tanner (1804-1851), daughter of Robert & Providence Tanner. Two
of their six children died in infancy, and are no doubt buried here with
their parents, but tombstones were not located.
In another section far removed from the others are three marked graves. One
holds the remains of Ann Grimball Tanner (Brown) Pearce, daughter of Robert
and Providence. The other two are Ann's grandsons, Silas Wright Brown and
Talton Edwin Brown (brothers)(2). Although Ann was widowed twice, the
burial site for her husbands, William Brown, Sr. and Stephen Pearce, is
unknown. She was living with her son, William Brown, when she died. Her
only other child, Stephen Samuel Pearce (1833-1917) married Mary Ellen
Bennett (1839/1895), and they are buried at the Bayou Rouge Baptist Church
in Evergreen, LA.
Five unmarked brick vaults have been discovered [by Marilyn Pias] under
several inches of dirt, after a thicket of vines, briars, bamboo, and weeds
were cleared. These are between the graves of Silas & Talton Brown. Two of
these are probably for a son of Ann Tanner, William Robert Brown (ca
1818/1866), and his wife Elmira Toler Brown (died 1869). The remaining
three are probably for those of their nine children who died young or
unmarried: Tanny Brown - died the day he was born, 1850; Rosa Brown - died
at age 10 in 1861; and Allison Brown - died in 1866, unmarried at age 25.
Current plans are to remove more dirt this winter, possibly uncovering more
graves.
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Brown, Silas Wright, son of Elmira & Wm. R. Brown - 20 Nov 1849/24 Sep 1855
[tombstone lying on ground by tree]
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Pearce, Ann G.[Grimball Tanner] - 16 Oct 1796/27 Jul 1852 Mother
[marble stone, 3-1/2' tall, lying on the ground]
[married 1st to William Brown & 2nd to Stephen Samuel Pearce]
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Brown, T. E. [Talton Edwin] - 22 Jan 1862/6 Nov 1897
[originally an obelisk, but pieces are scattered on ground]
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[wire fence]
Tanner, Robert - 14 Feb 1769 SC/24 Sep 1839 Bayou Boeuf, LA
[stone carver: John White, Memphis, TN]
Tanner, Providence R.[Robert] - 30 Aug 1774 SC/14 Jan 1856 Bayou Boeuf, LA
Wife of Robert Tanner [J. White, Memphis]
[Two 6-foot marble slabs that may or may not be in proper place]
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[Other known burials in this cemetery:]
Kilpatrick, Andrew Conger - 24 Jul 17? NC / 31 Dec 1849 A.C.K.
Kilpatrick, Jane Sophrenia Tanner - 4 Jul 1804 SC [Mar 1851]
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(1) "Biographical & Historical Memoirs of Mississippi"
(2) Stafford, Dr. George Mason Graham, Three Pioneer Rapides Families,
Claitor's Publishing Co., Baton Rouge, LA, 1946.