Directions: Take LA Hwy. 8 East from Slagle after crossing Calcasieu River Bridge, you turn right, south, at the first road, Zagar Loop and go 1.1 Miles the cemetery is on the left behind the Old Richardson Place. From the second road Zagar Loop turn south and go .6 miles the cemetery is on the right behind the Old Richardson Place.

HISTORY OF THE COOLEY FAMILY

The original patent for the land where the Cooley Family Cemetery is located was made by Steven Cooley (born ca 1819 in South Carolina). As a young man, he moved to Florida where he probably met and married his first wife who was born there. In the late 1830's, Steven and his young wife packed their worldly goods on a wagon and began the migration to Texas. Their first child, Westley, was born in Texas in 1838-1839. Then for reasons unknown, the Cooleys decided not to remain in Texas, and by the mid 1840's, they had settled in Louisiana where two daughters, Elizabeth and Martha, were born. Steven's first wife may have died with the birth of the youngest daughter, or shortly thereafter, but her burial has never been located.

Steven raised the three small children for several years on his own. In the early 1850's, he met and married Eliza Louise Ventioner, daughter of Isaac Ventioner and Matilda Sweat, and they had four children: Francis Marion, Letha Annie, Steven (Cap), and Sarah.

In 1860 Steven Cooley traveled to Natchitoches, Louisiana where he patented the 199 - 22/100 acres of land where he had homesteaded for years. The description of that property was: SE 1/4 of SE 1/4 of NE 1/4 of Section 27, Township 3, Range 6

Not long after he had taken care of this property, Steven Cooley and his oldest son Westley answered the call to support the Southern cause in the conflict between the States. He served as a Pvt. in Co. D, 1st LA Infantry, and his son Westley served as a Pvt. in Co. E, 16th LA Infantry. After the war Steven returned to the parish a beaten man, having lost his beloved son Westley during the Battle of Chickamauga in the mountains of Tennessee. Steven Cooley died in 1868 and was buried on the banks of the Calcasieu River in the small Mayo Cemetery (Vernon Parish).

Steven (Cap) Cooley, son of Steven Cooley and his second wife, Louise Ventioner, moved onto the old homestead where they lived for many years and raised their family. Cap had married Lucinda Frances Jane Monk, daughter of Richard Monk and Martha Jane Cooley, and had eight children: Alice, Emma, Dora, Grace, Lela, Beulah, Steven, and Sybil Cooley. In 1895 during an influenza outbreak in the community, two of the Cooley daughters died within a day of each other.

Cap & Jane Cooley buried their little girls near the house, and this site became known as the Cooley Family Cemetery.