By Ray L. Bellande

WEST JACKSON COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI CEMETERIES

Anyone doing genealogical research will eventually tire of observing thousands of feet of U.S. Census microfilm records and find their way to a cemetery. In addition to providing a sacred environment for remembrance and reflection of our loved ones, a cemetery is a chronological record of the people who resided in the area. It is literally a family history book waiting to be interpreted and written. Before I began to seriously investigate the history of Ocean Springs and West Jackson County, Mississippi, I went to all the cemeteries within a ten-mile radius of town that I could locate, and recorded information from gravestones. In addition, land records research was done at the Jackson County Courthouse at Pascagoula.

This and subsequent articles on this subject will give the reader some of the results of this cemetery history exercise. Hopefully, it will give those genealogical researchers unfamiliar with the area a clue as to where to locate their ancestors. The cemeteries investigations will be presented in alphabetic order.

Contents

Antioch Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery-southwest Vancleave

Babendreer -Ocean Springs

Old Basque- East St. Martin

New Basque- East St. Martin

Bellande Cemetery-Ocean Springs

Belle Fontain Baptist Church-Fontainebleau

The Bonnie Chapel Cemetery

Bosarge Cemetery-West St. Martin

Lyman Bradford (lost)-Ocean Springs

George Byrd Cemetery

Camelia-Latimer