(pg. 29)
EVERGREEN, LOUISIANA - Once in Evergreen, you will drive alongside Little Bayou Rouge. On your right, as you near the bridge over Bayou Rouge, is the Church of the Little Flower. Continue on the highway-Main Street past the Evergreen Elementary School. Turn right at the corner of the school grounds. Drive about one block, turning left. At the end of this section, to the left, in the middle of a psture, lies the grave of Roger Marshall, the planter who lived across the Bayou Boeuf from the Epps Place. The small family cemetery is at the highest point in a small hill, enclosed by a fence. Continue your drive along the street until you come to Bayou Rouge Baptist Church where Peter Tanner and his wife are buried (across the street in front of the church, straight towards the back of the old cemetery). When you leave the church, turn right, and after a brief distance, turn left on Goudeau Road. Continue until you find Northup Marker #9 on your right. This is Lone Pine Plantation house, home of Dr. and Mrs. John Lemoine.
The Village of Evergreen grew along the Bayou Rouge in the early years of the 19th century. Within Evergreen, named for the greenery on its rolling hills, is Bayou Rouge Baptist Church which was founded in 1841 with Peter Tanner as one of its founders. Peter Tanner, brother of Mrs. William Ford, hired Northup from his owner, the itinerant carpenter, Tibeats, to work under Tanner's carpenter named Myers. Tanner was one of the most extensive planters on Bayou Boeuf and had sugar interest in Cuba as well. Tanner moved from Bayou Boeuf to the Evergreen area sometime around 1850. He was an ardent Baptist and is famous for the passage in Northup where Tanner was pictured reading to his slaves from the Bible to prove they were meant to be slaves.
I have family that lived in this area but can't seem to find any information on them. We also have a list of slaves and their descriptions but don't know anything more about it. How can I find more information?
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ReplyDeleteMy great grandfather, Louis Odilon Francois Cotey, was a minister of the Bayou Rouge church and he and my great grandmother are buried right in front of the door in the cemetery. Her name was Regina Adelaide Benoit Cotey. She died while Rev Cotey was preaching here, and he died in NO but wanted to be taken to Bayou Rouge to lie next to Regina. Beautiful place.
ReplyDeleteMy Great (x4) Grandfather was supposedly the first pastor of Bayou Rouge Baptist! Reverend John O'Quin. I am also related to the West, Easton, and Jackson families of this area and time. I would love to find out any information or stories out there!
ReplyDeleteMy name is Michelle and I am the BRBC historian. If you have any questions on family, I have done a great deal of research had have the vast majority of obits for ALMOST everyone buried there. Another good source is the book Three Pioneer Rapides Families.
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