Spearsville Cemetery
Spearsville, Union Parish Louisiana

Brief History

The earliest European family that settled in the Spearsville region was that of Elder Lawrence Scarborough, who built a cabin and cleared land on Bayou Corney a few miles south of Spearsville in the mid-1820s. In 1836 and 1837, Phillip Feazel, Francis W. Turpin, and Lawrence P. Maxwell purchased some of the earliest government land in and around Spearsville, but there is no evidence that any of them actually lived on their property. In 1842, David Redden bought land just north of Spearsville and settled there. About the same time, Alexander Spears arrived in the area and within a few years he opened a general store. On 11 April 1848, the Spears' Store Post Office opened, with Spears serving as postmaster. As the community grew around Spears' store, the Fellowship Baptist Church moved to Spearsville and changed their name to the Spearsville Baptist Church. On 13 March 1860, the post office name was changed from "Spears' Store" to "Spearsville".

During the 1850s, residents began using a small tract of land a short distance north of town as a graveyard, and by 1860 they had put up a fence around the graves. On 4 December 1860, three Spearsville residents, Henry Barron, David M. Jameson, and Sidney H. Griffin, paid $20 to Garrett H. Fitzgerald for two acres of land

"...for the purpose of a public Burying ground... being the site of the present grave yard near Spearsville and which is now under fence..."

(Union Parish Louisiana Conveyance Book J, p. 412). For more information on the early history of Spearsville, see Mr. Gene Barron's "The Family of Spearsville".

Cemetery Survey

In May 1976, the late William C. Nolan surveyed the Spearsville Cemetery and he prepared a listing of all marked graves. In the summer of 2009, Gene Barron photographed all of the existing tombstones. Mr. Barron updated Mr. Nolan's data, and he also provided extensive data on the maiden names and parents of all individuals buried in the Spearsville Cemetery. In the tables linked below, names and dates are given exactly as written on the tombstone. Additional background information is given only in the "Maiden Name" and "Other Information" columns.

Thanks to Mr. Gene Barron for carefully photographing the Spearsville Cemetery tombstones.