The images above were the result of taking only one shot of the mausoleum. They were captured on a sightseeing visit around St. Louis Cemetery No. 2 in New Orleans, LA. The imagery normally connected with the burial place of our dead and the common belief of inhabitance by the undead is amplified by a truly creepy layout of above-ground tombs and the inability to see potential threats from a distance within the cemetery. It’s a place where one wouldn’t be considered irrational to show concern about what may be on the other side of the tombs surrounding you. The image on the far left of the group was the image intended to be captured that day, but there were 16 of the image on the far right discovered in the camera roll of the cell phone when reviewing back at the vehicle. Another ‘technical glitch’ I witnessed with the 16 variations of the intended photo posting themselves to social media, increased the confusion and uneasiness about what might have occurred.
| BIRTH | 2 Dec 1846 New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana, USA |
|---|---|
| DEATH | 31 Oct 1917 New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana, USA |
“In part her obituary reads ‘Mrs. Lallande was a Miss Emma Rathbone, member of the old New Orleans family. She was born on Royal Street in the old days when the street, with its high-walled courtyards and French buildings was one of the fashionable centers of the city. Her husband, the late John B. Lallande, was a well known commission merchant here. He died about five years ago. Much of her time was spent in Europe.
In the partition of her mother’s estate completed last November, Mrs. Lallande inherited the residence at 1227 Esplanade Avenue. The funeral will take place at 4 p.m. Thursday from that residence. Services will be held in the Jesuits’ Church, Baronne Street, Interment will be in St. Louis Cemetery, No. 2.'”
“This is the story of Henry A. Rathbone, one of our most interesting early cousins, who ”went south” as a young man and made a fortune as a banker in New Orleans. He took his family to France during the Civil War, rather than participate, and died in Paris a few years later. Henry Alanson Rathbone was born Dec. 27, 1803, in Charlemont, Mass., the second son of Samuel Rathbone (John Joshua John). Samuel Rathbone was postmaster and magistrate in Charlemont, but moved in 1816 to New York City where he and a partner opened a dry-goods wholesale business. Henry was 13 when the family moved to New York and spent the bal-ance of his early years there. He undoubtedly had a good education and probably attended college, but we have no details. At least two of his brothers were college graduates. In 1822, he was an ensign in the 100th New York Militia Regiment, but in his early 20s, for some reason, he moved south and settled in Rogersville, Tennessee. He was mar-ried there about 1831 to Anne Powell, 18, daughter of a local judge and prominent citizen. They moved a short time later to Taladega, Alabama, where two sons were born-Samuel Powell Rathbone, on Oct. 25, 1832, who died the following August, and George Powell Rathbone, born Feb. 15, 1834. Ten months after his birth, Anne died at the age of 20, on Christmas Day, 1834. Henry’s activities for the next few years are not known, but at some point, probably about 1836, he moved to New Orleans, and was listed there in the 1840 census. He was apparently in the banking business. In 1845 or early 1846, aged about 43, he was married to Marie Celeste 52 Henry A. Rathbone pictured in a litho-graph made in New Orleans by Jules Lion, probably in the 1840s. Lion was a Black artist, born and trained in France, where he reportedly worked with Louis-Jacques Oaguerre, inventor of the Oaguerrotype photo process. Lion moved to New Orleans in 1836 and was the city’s first photographer, possibly America’s first Oaguerrotypist. Forstall, 23, daughter of Francis Placide Forstall and Delaphine Borga de Lopez Forstall, members of two of Louisiana’s oldest and most prominent Creole families, with both French and Spanish ancestors. With his new family connections, Henry prospered in the banking field and became president of the New Orleans Canal Bank. Unfortunately, there are no known records to document his activities. He was, however, a wealthy slave owner in the 1840s and 1850s. They lived in a large, three-story, white frame house at 173 Esplanade Avenue, in what was then one of New Orleans’ finest residential areas. The house had impressive upper and lower balconies facing the street and was surrounded by beautiful gardens behind brick walls and black iron fences. It must have been one of the centers of the city’s social life. In the next 15 years, Henry and Marie Celelste had eight children-six daughters and two sons. All the girls were given the name Marie, and were distinguished only by their middle names-Marie Celeste Emma, Marie Pauline, Marie Elizabeth Stella, Marie Laurie, Marie Louise Alice and Marie Rita. The sons were Paul Henry, who lived only five months, and Francis Henry; who died at 17 months. New Orleans was hit by a severe Yellow Fever epidemic in 1853, which killed nearly 8,000 persons. Among the victims were Henry’s little son Francis Henry, and his oldest son, George Powell Rathbone, age 19, from his first marriage. The two boys died three months apart, and Rathbone had lost all four of his sons. Marie Laurie died in 1858, aged 16 months. The other five daughters lived to maturity and married. In 1861, with the outbreak of the Civil war, Henry was in a quandary. His wife’s family and friends, and most of his banking associates, favored secession and were supportive of the war. Henry, though a slave owner, was a northern Yankee and could not bring himself to support a war against his friends and relatives in the North. He solved the problem in 1862 by taking his wife and five daughters to France, where he rented a home in Paris for the duration of the war. The girls ranged in age from Marie Celeste, 16, to Marie Rita, only a few months old. What he did in Paris is not known. Possibly his bank had a branch office or other connections there. But when the war ended in 1865, the Rathbones did not return to New Orleans. Possibly he was in no hurry to face his wife’s relatives and his former neighbors. Or possibly he was in poor health, for on March 10, 1867, Henry died at the age of 63. His widow, 43, was devastated. She donned the traditional black mourning dress, and wore nothing but black for the rest of her long life. She and the children sailed back to America, and Henry’s body was shipped back for burial in New Orleans. In his probate file are papers showing that it cost $400 to send his body to the United States. The widow received $2,800 from the estate that year for expenses-probably living costs after his death, and the cost of Marie Celeste Forstall Rathbone as portrayed by an unknown artist at the time of her marriage about 1845 to Henry A. Rathbone. The original painting is still owned by descendants. sailing back to New Orleans. Her father, Placide Forstall, was the executor of the estate. On Henry’s coffin in the Rathbone vault in Metarie Cemetery is written, in French: “Henry Allenson Rathbone, decede a Paris Ie 10 Mars 1867 a I’age 63 ans.” On a marble slab in the tomb is inscribed, also in French, the records of his two young sons and daughter: “Henri Paul, fils de H.A. Rathbone et de Cte. (Celeste) Forstall ne Ie 6 Janvier 1849, decede Ie 17 Mai de la meme anno,” and “Son Frere Francis Henri, ne Ie 12 Mars 1852, decede Ie 7 Mai 1853,” and “Marie Laure Rathbone, nee Ie 28 Avril 1857, decedee Ie 7 Aout 1858-Trois Ange au ciel (Three angels in heaven).” Marie Celeste Rathbone lived the rest of her life in the family home. One of her daughters, Marie Alice, was Carnival Queen for the 1880 Mardi Gras celebration. But one by one, the girls married and left home, and for some years she was alone. About 1903, her widowed daughter Marie Pauline, came to live with her. The once stately home fell into disrepair, and a generation of New Orleans children growing up in the early 1900s called the Rathbone place a “haunted house” and made up stories about the “strange old woman” who lived there. On April 3, 1914, the day before her 91 st birthday, Marie Celeste Forstall Rathbone died, at 6:30 p.m. Her body was placed in the family tomb near that of her husband, whose death she had mourned for 47 years.”
Past Events:
