Historic Hasley: Secrets from the Grave

Jason Church, Chief of Technical Services at the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training, surveyed Hasley Cemetery in August of 2021. He provided information about monument types, symbolism, history and preservation.  See each biography for information on specific monuments and the link below for more information on preserving grave markers in historic cemeteries.  

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Morris Henry Carroll

February 23, 1907 - September 19, 1979

A respected educator and Civil Rights advocate, Morris Henry was named for his grandfather, Henry C. Carroll. Henry C. Carroll came to Ouachita Parish during reconstruction and was a skilled boat caulker during the steamboat era. He purchased land on the west bank of the Ouachita River, helped organize the Trenton Baptist Church and develop the Trenton Community. Morris Henry inherited his grandfather’s work ethic. As a boy he delivered milk for his uncle, Browder Willis, who had a dairy. Morris Henry paid for college at Southern University by working at the Slagle Johnson Lumber Company. Morris Henry Carroll was recognized as an  “All American fullback” in football. He was an educator and principal of Monroe Colored High School when Carroll High School was built. Morris Henry Carroll named the new school after his grandfather, Henry C. Carroll.  

Morris Henry Carroll's monument is a modern four-person mausoleum made from two types of granite. 

Elias Burch Cryer 

April 19, 1844 - January 31, 1910

Cryer was an owner and operator of steamboats on the Ouachita River and its tributaries. His boats included the Ora, the Acme, Willie, St. Francis Belle, and D. Stein. A November 5, 1928 Monroe News Star article recounts how Cryer captained the Francis Belle in a race from Monroe to Pleasant Landing in Bayou Bartholomew, a distance of 58 miles by river. Cryer beat his rival by 35 minutes because of his ability to handle the crooks and bends of the bayou. He also owned wharf boats at Trenton and Monroe. His last steamboat was the Annie Lee on Bayou Macon.   

E. B. Cryer's monument is granite and possibly replaced in the 1960's when repair work on the iron fence around the family plot was made.  The monument for his daughter, Effie, is marble probably Italian with raised lettering and marked St. Louis. The clasped hands are a common symbol of love, Christian love or brotherly love. This example is of a woman and a man based on the cuffs of the sleeves. The monument includes a bedstead and a footstone of a carved lamb. The words on the headstone, Let Me Rest, indicate the child was probably sick for some time before she died.  

Isaac Hamilton 

July 9, 1911 - May 1, 1997

Hamilton's first job was selling newspapers which he soon did on horseback in West Monroe. He drove an ice wagon and scaled hogs and after high school he started rodeoing. He began rodeo clowning in 1928 but at a 4^th of July rodeo in 1936 he broke his leg in five places. It was several years before it healed, and he was left with a lifelong limp. Hamilton became an auctioneer and traveled all over the south.  He is a member in the Auctioneer Hall of Fame, the National Cutting Horse Association Hall of Fame and the Louisiana Auctioneers Association Hall of Fame. Hamilton always returned to West Monroe and his family. He was devoted to his wife Shirley and their three children and his community. He helped found ARCO, a day school and the G. B. Cooley School. The Ike Hamilton Exposition Center is named for him. 

Ike Hamilton's monument is a marble, flat, pillow-top stye marker.  

William G. Head

September 1848 - July 29, 1930

Born an enslaved person in the Head household, as a young teenager during the Civil War, W. G. Head attended J.P. Crosley, Martha Head’s husband. After emancipation, Head helped establish schools and churches where often he was the only person in the congregation who could read and write. He helped establish the Gum Springs Baptist Association in 1872 in Farmerville and served as its first secretary. In 1909 Head served as an elder for the Louisiana Baptist State Convention. Head was elected to the Ouachita Parish School Board and was an early worker in the church that is now Trenton Missionary Baptist Church.

WIlliam Head's grave is unmarked but is probably near family members buried at Hasley. Ada R. Head is listed on the 1880 census as William Head's two-year-old daughter. She died in 1882 and her grave is marked with a concrete marker. 

Sally and Jim May

1853 - 1928

Little is known about Sally other than she was listed as a survivor and the mother of 8 children in the May 1928 obituary of her husband Jim. 

Sally's monument is cast concrete with pressed letters. It was probably handmade and originally limewashed white.

Jim May worked on steamboats as a roustabout and captain of the watch who was responsible for stowing cargo, mooring and unmooring the steamboat. He was a hunting guide and an assistant sexton for Hasley Cemetery.

Jim’s grave is no longer marked but is probably next to that of his wife, Sally May.

Lillian Bruce Herron Williamson

September 27, 1893 - July 23, 1939

Williamson was a librarian at the Ouachita Parish Public Library and Northeast Junior College and had served as president of the Louisiana Library Association. She had degrees from Louisiana State University and Louisiana Tech. She was taking graduate courses at LSU and working in their library when she died. She and her husband, Frederick William Williamson, a writer and newspaperman, were working on a book, Eastern Louisiana, at the time of her death. Williamson dedicated the book in her memory. 

Lillian's monument is made of marble. The grapes represent the Eucharistic wine, a symbol for the blood of Christ.