Wakefield Plantation

This is the picture of the Wakefield Plantation that I took while participating in the 42nd Annual Audubon Pilgrimage Tour on March 15, 2013.  The Wakefield was built by Lewis Stirling in 1834 and was the place where many of my Morgan, Weathers and Sterling ancestors were enslaved. The Wakefield is private and is only open to the public during the tour. The current owners allow the Stirling descendants to hold reunions at the plantation.

The Road to the Wakefield Plantation

The road to the Wakefield Plantation is lined with Oak trees which is typical of the plantations in the area.

Longhorn Cattle on the Wakefield Plantation

The Wakefield is no longer a sugar and cotton plantation. Nor is it owned by the Stirling family.  The current owners are Dr. Eugene and Jolie Berry; they raise longhorns.

St. Mary's Baptist Church

St. Mary's Baptist Church is located on St. Mary's Road in Wakefield, Louisiana. This church was rebuilt in 1966. When I attended Grandma Carrie's funeral, St. Mary's was a little, white, wooden church in the woods.  Unfortunately, I was not into family history at the time and I did not take a picture of the church.

There are two plaques on the front of the church.  The one on the right, states:

St.Mary's B. Church

Organize 1880

By Rev. ? White

Officers A. White

H. Taylor

J. White

McKinsey

J. Sterling

A. Sterling

Rev. J. H. Johnson

Pastor

The plaque on the left states:

ST. MARY B.C.

REBUILT 1966

OFFICERS

Morris Kelly, Sr.       Albert McKinsey, Sr.

John McKinsey      Albert McKinsey, Sr.

THE WILLING WORKERS OF NEW ORLEANS, LA.

Sarah King, Secty.

Rev. George Noflin, Pastor

LAID BY THE M.W. ST. ANDREW

GRAND LODGE A.F. & A.M. OF LA., INC.

M.W. COL. W.T. MEADE GRANT, JR.

33 degree GRAND MASTER

OCT 27,1968

                                          

                              







Searching for Family

Samuel Johnson, Carrie's grandson and my cousin, and I searched the cemetery grounds for our ancestors.

St. Mary's Cemetery

St. Mary's Baptist Church Cemetery is located a few yards across the road in front of the church. It is not a structured cemetery, just a clearing in the woods with graves. I found Taylors, Morgans, Sterlings and Johnsons buried here.

St. Mary's Church Cemetery, Wakefield, Louisiana

My grandmother is buried in an unmarked grave in St. Mary's Cemetery.  The graves from left to right are: Sullivan Johnson, son of Carrie Taylor Bayonne and Mack Johnson; Carrie Taylor Bayonne, my grandmother; Ida Taylor Walker, Carrie's sister. 

Sullivan's grave has a marker which states that he was born Feb.2, 1908 and died Jan.26, 1983.

Carrie's grave is unmarked.  She was born on November 29, 1890 and died on Sunday, October 11, 1959.  I was home for the weekend from Southern University in Baton Rouge when we received the call that she had passed. Grandmother Carrie was living with her sister, Ida at 2631 Conti Street in New Orleans. I attended the funeral in Wakefield at St. Mary's Church on October 14, 1959.

Funeral were inexpensive in those days. The casket, complete funeral services and the use of three sedans to Wakefield were $752.80! That may have seemed like a lot of money at the time, but it is nothing compared to today's funeral expenses.

Ida Taylor Walker is buried next to Carrie.  Her grave is unmarked, too. I was living in California when she died and I don't remember the date of her death and I have not been able to locate a death certificate for her.