BY ELEANOR EVANS
THE DAILY NEWS
 RECORDING HISTORY n Joe Sumrall records the monument data at the gravesite of his brother, Billy Burdette Sumrall. Joe is currently completing updates of all parish cemetery records for publication to allow persons to locate their ancestors with ease. Advertisement |
Sumrall, a retired farmer and rancher and native of Washington Parish, has been updating all parish cemetery records for the past six years.
Sumrall, who is also a member of the Washington Parish Genealogy and History Society, said he never had an interest in genealogy until he began to search for his great-grandfather, Benjamin Isaac Sumrall, and great-grandmother, Isabell Jane Chain, who lived in the area.
"I figured I might as well do all of the record updates," Sumrall said.
Sumrall first spent time working on cemeteries as a group project. He observed the recording methods of others, as well as some of his own, to begin work on the Washington Parish cemeteries.
Sumrall spends his days going out to cemeteries, tape recorder in hand, to record all information from the person's monument, including the person's name, date of birth to date of death, and all other information on the monument. In addition, Sumrall documents the location of each gravesite for publication in the official cemetery records.
"I try to respect whatever place I'm visiting," Sumrall said. "I try to get some history on the place, and treat it with the greatest respect."
"You can imagine what it would be like if you didn't know where the person you were looking for was buried," Sumrall said, noting one could easily spend all day in a cemetery in search of a relative.
In visiting all the cemeteries in the parish, Sumrall said he has seen many sentiments noted on the monument, such as "Together forever" or "With the Lord," but the best one he's seen so far in Washington Parish has been, "I told you I was sick."
Sumrall said gravesite markers and monuments can say a lot about a person n how elaborate they were, what kind of person they were, as well as the trends in monument design at the time.
But one of the most difficult aspects of the documentation process, Sumrall said, has been an inability to find proper markers on each gravesite.
The small, standard metal markers the funeral home initially provides "last about as long as the flowers do," Sumrall said. The markers become difficult to read in approximately one year.
Although one may think a funeral marker is expensive, Sumrall said most monument companies offer a small, simple concrete marker that is placed flat on the ground for approximately $50. Necessary information includes the person's name, birth and death date. Sumrall hopes many will update their ancestors' gravesites before he completes the inventory for all cemeteries in the parish, he said.
Sumrall also stressed the importance of pre-planning and paying for one's funeral ahead of time.
"The best present we can ever give our loved ones is to make these arrangements ourselves," Sumrall said. He estimated funeral costs at approximately $10,000 when considering the gravesite, markers and ceremonial costs. Pre-planning will ease the grieving process, and will also allow the funeral and burial process to be completed according to the wishes of the deceased.
Although he has found his great-grandmother's resting place at Nobles Cemetery, he has been unable to locate the gravesite of his grandfather.
In searching for his ancestors, Sumrall has discovered the importance of sharing family history. "Communicate with your grandchildren, whether they want to or not," Sumrall said, noting that he would have loved to know what his great-grandparents did for a living.
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