Saturday, May 9, 2009

Restoration, Once Again


I have finally been able to reach people concerning the condition of the tombs in St Louis No.1 and No. 2 in New Orleans. All it really takes is telling someone to go out there and take a look. One of Mr. Martin Gauthier's la-cemeteries.com other researchers found out in person what the situation is like and is interested in making a change. Threatening or pleading with the Archdiocese is not a useful or effective tool. She managed to find out about grant money that is to be given to the state to restore nuisance or run down property. Our goal is to see if we can include some of the tombs in these cemeteries under the "run down" property title.
Many tourists and visitors go through those cemeteries daily. They are an embarassment (as are many other things!) to the city. So, here I go again on my crusade. My g-g-g-g-great grandmother, Dame Susanne Lavergne Demoruelle, is a Creole ancestor of mine, whose father helped build the city, as a French soldier. People like her are the foundation of the city of New Orleans. She and all of her children are buried in St. Louis No.1 and No.2 and most of the tombs are unrecognizable.
I will be undertaking to have her tomb and those of one of her sons and his family as well as two of her daughter's tombs included in a restoration process of some kind. I established the laws of heirship by speaking with several people at the Metairie Cemetery Office. Therefore, I am an heir to these property's and will undertake to improve them as best I can. I am going to blog the process as is unfolds so that others will be able to do the same if they want to.
There is only one website so far with a survey of SL1, that I have been using. cml.upenn.edu/nola. I will be posting shortly on my blog historicneworleanscemeteries a photograph of one of my Creole ancestor's tombs. This is one that I found to be in particularly bad condition and as soon as I find out about the details and records from the church archives, I will begin looking for funding.

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