DIRECTIONS TO GRACE EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN ST. FRANCISVILLE:
From Baton Rouge, take 110 North to US 61 Natchez/North (Exit 8B).
Take 61 North (this hwy. will take you to St. Francisville).
After you pass Star Hill, start looking for Alexander Creek. The first left after you cross over Alexander Creek is Commerce St./La 3057.
Turn LEFT onto La 3057 (Commerce St).
After you turn left on La 3057 (Commerce St.), veer LEFT onto La 10 (Ferdinand St.) SEE MAP.
Grace Episcopal Church is on the corner of Prosperity St. and Ferdinand St. in the Historic District of St. Francisville.
FYI:Grace Episcopal Church was founded in 1827.
WHO IS BURIED HERE:
There are a lot of people buried here, but in our family there's only ONE: Napoleon Bonaparte Riddle I (click on image to enlarge)
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Napoleon Bonaparte Riddle, I |
NB I is Pappaw's great, great-uncle.
To get to Napoleon Bonaparte I's grave, you need to walk all the way to the far left hand side of the cemetery next to the fence (see #2 below). NB I's grave is under the big oak tree, behind the Szabo family. (Click on images below to enlarge).
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Notice the oak tree has actually grown around the old cemetery fence! Now that's an OLD tree! |
FYI: If you'll note, there is a fence between the Szabo family and NB Riddle. This fence WAS the old cemetery boundary until they built the new fence that you can see in the background. Notice that NB is buried OUTSIDE the original fence because he was Irish Catholic, and therefore not allowed burial in an Episcopal/Anglican cemetery! Interesting! |
A SHORT FAMILY HISTORY – William P. Riddle was from Ireland . Two of his boys were Mahaliel and Napoleon Bonaparte (obviously he became NB I after his nephew, NB II, was named for him). Family lore has it that he was named after THE Napoleon Bonaparte because his daddy (William P. Riddle) was a soldier for and believer in Napoleon's reform movement. Read more about Napoleon here. In any case, William P. Riddle came to America probably because of the difficult situation for Catholics in Ireland in the late 1700s. (Click to read about Early Irish Emigrants in America). So, William P. Riddle moved his family which included Mahaliel and Napoleon Bonaparte I to South Carolina (we think). So the family tree looks like this: Mahaliel is Pappaw's great-grandfather. NB I never married and is buried at Grace Episcopal Church. Mahaliel is the one that told his wife he'd “send for her and the 10 kids” when he got settled in Louisiana. See Riddle Cemetery for more information on this infamous family story. (Mahaliel probably came to Louisiana because he was going to settle some of the land that his brother, NB I, bought from one of Jim Bowie's brothers who had a Spanish land grant that included West and East Feliciana Parishes. The Bowie family moved to Louisiana in 1801 after declaring allegiance to the Spanish crown. Here's a short history of the Bowie family.
