The earliest permanent white settlers of the
Bayou D'Loutre region
of eastern Union Parish Louisiana arrived during the winter of 1835 -
1836. Colonel Matthew Wood traveled to what was then northwestern "Washita"
Parish Louisiana and purchased government land in January 1836. Wood's
son-in-law, former Butler County Alabama Sheriff John Taylor, may have
accompanied him on that trip. Wood apparently remained in north
Louisiana for the balance of the calendar year, for he again purchased
land in what is now Union Parish on 13 December 1836. However, soon
after this purchase he returned to south-central Alabama and began
making preparations to lead a large group of settlers of that region
back towards north Louisiana, with the intent to settle there
permanently.
Some residents of Lowndes County Alabama began
planning their westward migration towards Louisiana even before Wood's
return. Indeed, on the very day Wood made his final 1836 purchase of
Louisiana land at the land office in Monroe, back in Lowndes County
Alabama William Ham disposed of his plantation. Other residents sold
their farms in early January, and on 14 January 1837, both Colonel
Matthew Wood and his son-in-law John Taylor sold their Alabama
plantations. All of them lived in southern Lowndes County, just north
of the Butler County line; during the 1820s, they had resided in
northern Butler County, near Fort Dale and Greenville.
Colonel Wood and his group departed from
Lowndes County soon after January 14th, for they made the trek from
central Alabama to north Louisiana within one month. Two years later,
Wood, Taylor, and a few other influential citizens
petitioned the Louisiana Legislature to form their own parish, separate
from Ouachita. On 13 March 1839, the legislature granted their wish
with its creation of Union Parish. Within two months, the legislature
appointed John Taylor the first parish judge, a
position he held for twenty years.
Upon his arrival in Louisiana in February 1837,
John Taylor purchased
government property at the land office in Monroe. Between then and
1860, Taylor accumulated one of the largest plantations in the parish,
in terms of wealth and farm production.
Taylor's plantation bordered the location of
what we now know as the
Taylor or Liberty Hill Cemetery. In fact, the cemetery originated as
John Taylor's private family graveyard. Taylor was a Primitive Baptist;
his brother James Taylor was a Primitive Baptist minister. Judge Taylor
likely permitted the earliest Primitive Baptist Church of the region to
hold services at his house and possibly to build a meeting house on his
plantation. The church was originally known as "Pleasant Hill
Church", but at some point the members changed the name to the "Liberty
Hill Primitive Baptist Church". In the latter 1840s, Henry P.
Anderson (Taylor's brother-in-law) officially gave the church the land
on which the church and cemetery now stand.
As it is both a church and community cemetery,
many have disputed the
proper name of the cemetery. Most refer to it today as the "Taylor
- Liberty Hill Cemetery". The cemetery and church are located in
the NW¼ of Section 12, Township 21 North, Range 1 East. From
Farmerville, travel northeast on Louisiana Highway 33 towards Marion
about eight miles, then turn right on Union Parish Road #6702. Go about
0.25 miles, then turn left on Union Parish Road #7749. The church and
cemetery are on your left.
