The herald. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1905-1953, 1916-09-28
MAHONEI ADDRESSES
HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Hon. NJ. S. Mahoney in an address
before the Historical Society regard
ing the old Olivier Cemetery, said
in part:
Ladies' and Gentlemen and Fellow
Members of the Louisiana Histor-
ical Society:
"Algiers hath it's history, no less
interesting than that of other sec
tons of our city and state; and fur
thermore Algiers has contributed
many good things to our city and
not the least among them, Hon. Mar
tin Behrman, as its Mayor, who has
given it the most glorious and the
most successful administration it has
ever had as piece of Algiers his
tory. / have been requested by Mr..
w. o. Hart to read for your infor-
nation, your pleasure and entertain
ment a subject entitled IAN Algiers
Burying Ground" which appeared in
| last Sundays issue of the Times
Picayune, which l take pleasure in
| doing, as follows:
There is now in process of trans
fer to the municipality an ancient
cemetery across the river, to be used
as a playground for children. Less
than two weeks ago the bones of
those of another generation were re-
moved from this Gods acre" to Me-
tairie, and soon the family tomb of
the Duverjes and Oliviers will be re-
moved to Metairie and then the plot
bounded by Verret, Seguin and
Evelina streets and Opelousas ave-
nue. will be turned over to the chill
dren as a recreation ground.
The story of the transfer of this
piece of real estate is interesting.
and demonstrates there are still per-
sons who place sentiment above the
dollar. This piece of property was
for over a century the private burial
ground of the Duverje and Olivier
and related families 1t is of irreg-
ular shape and comprises about the
area OF half city block. Some time
ago an intermediary approached Jo-
seph G. Olivier with an offer from
man of means to buy the property
for $4,000, the prospective purchas-
er agreeing to keep that section in |
which members of the old family
were buried in good order in perpet- |
uity. Tell the gentleman said Mr.. |
Olivier, that particular strip of land
is not a commodity and that it has
no money value attached to it.
1T took eight months to clear the
title to the property, for there were
seions of the Duverje family in every
of the globe, and one signal
ture had to be obtained from Japan.
secured the consent of all
those interested in the plot, Mayor
Behrman was approached and the
transfer was completed. There was
not a dollar of money involved in
the transaction. The Olivier family
stipulated only that the bones of
their ancestors and of their negro
slaves should be disinterred andi
buried in plot provided in Metairie
Cemetery, and that the family tomb
also should be removed to Metairie.
This the city contracted to do, and
he remains of those buried in the
title cemetery have already been re-
moved, and when the contractor has
made a transfer of the main family
omb the property will be converted
nto a playground, the apparatus be-
ng already in hand.
When Duverje died he left five
daughters, and hence the name died
tut with him. The names his de-
cendants acquired through marriage ,
re shown on the slabs of marble on ,
he tomb. There are Villeres, Oil ,
1ers' Robelots, LaVignes and Coy ,
aults buried in the cemetery and for ,
ears the descendants of these
rought their dead to the old family d,
urial place. Some of the bodies +,
anne from remote sections. Not long :
go one member of the family was .,
rought back from Paris for burial ,
the tomb of his fathers, and an /,
verage of three or four bodies a
ear were buried there. Some scores
the descendants of Duverje were
uried in the tomb back of the altar.
nd as many more in the other tombs
Inside the chapel in all probability.
wo OF the outside tombs were ded-
'ated to the family, and two others
the more favored of the negro =
aves, the other slaves being buried Z
graves back of the old brick wall. =
lfty years ago these graves of >,
aves were marked with crosses. hut
lese have disappeared.
Historic Place Transferred. Il
Some of the streets of AlgiersI
IKE their names from the names II
lgraved on the family tombs. There A