New Orleans Catholic Cemeteries

06/09/2026

Tomb Tuesday|St. Louis No. 3
New Orleans Catholic Cemeteries

This handsome coping tomb in St. Louis Cemetery No. 3 is the burial place of Smith Wendell “S.W.” Green, influential businessman and fraternal organization leader. He was born enslaved in 1861 in Waterproof, Louisiana. His parents, James S. Green and Serena Smith, were laborers on a plantation, but they managed to ensure that their son received an education. Green became a successful merchant in East Carroll Parish. He also invested in real estate.

He was briefly married to Eliza Hardin, and the union produced a son, Smith Wendell Green Jr. Green wed again in 1890, this time to Lorania A. Crane, a marriage that aligned him with important political figures. Lorania’s stepfather was Jacques Adolph Gla, a Civil War veteran active in the Republican party during Reconstruction. Lorania’s brother-in-law, John W. Cooke, was a prominent political leader. These connections as well as those made through his business dealings led to Green becoming a committeeman for the Fifth District Republican Committee. He also served as a delegate to five Republican National Conventions between 1896 and 1920.

Green is best remembered for his role in the Colored Knights of Pythias. Founded in Vicksburg in 1880, the fraternal organization quickly became active throughout the Mississippi Delta and Louisiana. Green became a member in 1883. He was elected Vice Chancellor but out of necessity served as Chancellor Commander until his election as Grand Representative from his lodge to the Grand Lodge of Louisiana in 1886. Green rose in the ranks of the Knights, becoming Grand Chancellor in 1892. He held that position until 1897, then was again elected to it in 1899. Green’s business acumen enabled him to eradicate the Grand Lodge’s debt and then accumulate a surplus.

Green and his wife, along with his stepson J. A. Brown, relocated to New Orleans in 1900. He advocated that a Pythian Temple be constructed in his adopted city to serve as a headquarters for the organization’s meetings and offices. Dedicated on August 18, 1909, the commanding edifice rose seven stories above Loyola Avenue, making it the first high-rise building constructed by and for African Americans in New Orleans. In addition to serving as a home for the Knights of Pythias, the Pythian Temple rented offices to African American merchants and insurance agents. It also contained a large theater and an elegant rooftop garden, where jazz concerts were performed. Construction cost $200,000 (approximately $7 million today). “The Pythian Temple here, erected debt free, was a monument to [Green’s] initiative, energy and organizational ability,” The Louisiana Weekly noted in 1946. “One would be an ingrate, indeed, to deny that his achievements proved to be an inspiration and a challenge. . .”

In 1909, Green was elected Supreme Chancellor of the Knights of Pythias, the order’s highest office. He remained in that leadership role until 1935. During his tenure, he was responsible for the construction of the Pythian Bathhouse and Sanitarium at Hot Springs, Arkansas and the building of the Pythian National Temple in Chicago. He also had a mansion built for himself and his wife on N. Miro Street, which was tragically lost to fire in 2023.

The gravesite in St. Louis Cemetery No. 3 is marked by a headstone that reads “God Bless My Child.” Lorania’s son, J.A. Brown, Green’s stepson, was murdered by his paramour in 1913. Shot five times by Corinne Mantley, a resident of Lulu White’s brothel in Storyville, Brown was transported by ambulance to Charity Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Brown had been Green’s secretary, and the Knights urged that justice be served in his case.

After visiting his nephew over Christmas in Chicago in 1945, Green returned home to New Orleans and became ill. He died on January 10, 1946. His funeral took place in the chapel of Blandin Funeral Parlor, followed by his burial in St. Louis No. 3. He was remembered in obituaries throughout the country for four decades of dedication to building a national fraternal insurance empire. He left behind a widow to mourn him as well as his son Smith Wendell Jr., who had relocated to Los Angeles, California. A Pullman porter for the railroad, he was the father of Green’s only descendants, grandsons Wendell W. and Lambert Green.

06/02/2026

Tomb Tuesday|St. Joseph No. 1
New Orleans Catholic Cemeteries

The ornate Fabacher tomb in St. Joseph Cemetery is a monument to famed restauranteurs whose influence on New Orleans cuisine can still be felt today.

Joseph Fabacher, the family patriarch, was born in Busenberg, Germany, on July 24, 1825. He arrived in New Orleans at the age of eighteen. Through youthful energy, determination, and business acumen, he went from working as a clerk in a retail store to owning his own grocery. He became a pioneer in the brewery business and left New Orleans for Mobile to operate a brewery there. After the Civil War, he returned to the Crescent City and opened another grocery. He also invested in rice production on land he purchased in St. Landry Parish.

In 1880, Joseph embarked upon the business venture that would garner him the greatest financial success and make his name known not only in New Orleans but throughout the nation. Fabacher’s Restaurant was established on Royal Street near the corner of Iberville in the French Quarter. With the wealth he amassed from his restaurant, Joseph invested in property and became something of a real estate developer. Ultimately his sons would take over the restaurant. In 1897, the New Orleans States said of Fabacher’s, “From a small unpretentious place capable of seating fifty or more people it has grown to be one of the largest restaurants in the South.”

Joseph and his wife Magdalena Frey Fabacher had eleven children, nine boys and two girls. Fabacher’s Restaurant was operated in succession by three of Joseph’s sons. First Lawrence took over the business. He would be most notably remembered as the founder of Jackson (Jax) Brewing Company. Then it was Peter’s turn. Finally the restaurant passed into Anthony’s hands.

Joseph died in 1897 after complications from an operation at Touro Infirmary. He passed away with his wife and children at his side. His funeral Mass was held at Immaculate Conception Church, and then he was interred in what would become the family tomb in St. Joseph Cemetery.

Anthony “Tony” Fabacher was considered one of New Orleans’s most colorful restauranteurs. Tony specialized in “plain food at low prices.” According to a 1931 article in the States, “his restaurant was a gathering place for the business and professional men.” It featured a long marble counter where diners sat upon stools known as “Fabacher’s Flying Horses.” The stools were almost always occupied. The “Grape Arbor,” a balcony dining room decorated as a vineyard, became famous across the city. In 1907, he began employing song and dance acts to perform in the restaurant.

Tony never let a person go hungry. He fed people in exchange for services rendered. The States noted, “Hundreds of transients washed dishes in return for soup, soup meat, and boiled potatoes.”

A large and imposing man, Tony was passionate about opera. He would sit alone in his box in the Old French Opera House and seemed to fill it entirely. He rarely clapped but would instead smile when pleased with the performance. Baseball was another one of his favorite pastimes.

After setbacks following World War I and Prohibition, Fabacher’s Restaurant closed, and Tony retired. His wife, Lena Foley, had predeceased him. The couple never had any children. Tony moved in with his brother John at his home on State Street Drive. One afternoon, Tony told his family he was not feeling well. He went out for a drive to visit his friend Stella Legier and suffered a heart attack at her home. By the time the ambulance arrived, Tony was dead.

In Tony’s obituary, his family’s restaurant was described as “one of the most famous eating houses in the United States.” Despite having left the business, Tony’s love of food remained. “He has never lost his culinary art and many times prepared meals for his intimate family in the style which made the original Fabacher’s a famous restaurant,” the New Orleans States declared. His requiem Mass was held at St. Rita’s Catholic Church. He was survived by five brothers and two sisters. Six of his nephews served as his pallbearers. Tony then occupied his place in the family tomb with his parents and siblings.

Fabacher’s Restaurant might be long gone, but the Fabacher tomb remains, reminding us of a family whose faith, passion, and determination gave much to our city.

05/28/2026

We receive many requests for burying cremated remains from years back. Yes, that is acceptable.

It doesn't matter how long ago your loved one passed away, if you wish to inurn the cremated remains, we can assist you.

We often have families inurn two or three family members at the same time.

If you are interested in a St Joseph Abbey urn, we offer those in our office. For more information on burying your loved one or purchasing a St. Joseph Abby urn, please contact us at 504-596-3050 or email [email protected]

05/26/2026

Tomb Tuesday|St. Louis No. 3
New Orleans Catholic Cemeteries

Discerning readers of the Daily Picayune on January 3, 1913, upon reaching page 14, found an article entitled GUARDED GATE. It informed them of the death of Fernand Callico, long-time sexton of St. Louis Cemetery No. 1.

Fernand Callico was born a free man of color around 1830. His father, Francisco Callico, hailed from Catalonia in Spain. He arrived in New Orleans aboard a schooner from Tampico in 1823. The forty-year-old Spanish merchant soon met Elisabeth Lespieau (sometimes Despiau), a free woman of color who had come to New Orleans from Port-au-Prince on the island of St. Domingue (present-day Haiti). Their daughter Francisca Carlota was born the following year. The couple also had two sons: Joseph Frederick and Fernand. Soon Callico settled down permanently in the city, becoming a grocer. He died on July 6, 1846.

Fernand maintained a close relationship with his family. In 1870, he was living with his sister and nieces and nephew while working as a clerk in a store. Fernand’s brother J.F. Callico was sexton first of St. Louis Cemetery No. 2 and later of Lafayette Cemetery. He was also a marble cutter. His work can still be seen today in New Orleans cemeteries. Fernand likely learned from his brother, gaining knowledge about the role of sexton as well as the extensive history of the cemeteries.

In the 1880s, Fernand became the sexton of St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, the oldest extant cemetery in New Orleans. He was responsible for maintaining and guarding the cemetery, overseeing burials, and contacting authorities if issues arose, but he frequently also acted as a guide. He was referred to as the cemetery’s “guardian” in news articles. Fernand encountered challenges in his role, including finding the body of a child abandoned in the cemetery in 1897 and addressing tomb burglaries. He did so with dedication

Fernand married Marie Clemence Pignatel on July 24, 1885. She was the daughter of Augustin Pignatel and Marie Louise Clemence Morand. The Callicos lived in a house on Ursulines Avenue owned by Marie Clemence; their household included her widowed sister Emilie Imbert. After Marie Clemence’s death on January 28, 1905, Fernand continued to live in their Ursulines Avenue home with his sister-in-law.

On Sunday, December 29, 1912, Fernand Callico said he was feeling ill, a significant admission considering he had never before surrendered his post. He was so poorly he had to go home. He died on Thursday, January 2, 1913, of urinary toxemia. The Daily Picayune eulogized him, noting, “Perhaps there may be many in this city and elsewhere who do not remember him by name, but the mention of the fact that he is the old man who was a veritable guidebook in himself, and served for twenty-seven years or more as sexton of the old St. Louis Cemetery. . .will bring him clearly before their minds.” Fernand Callico was more than just the guardian of the most historic cemetery in New Orleans; he was also a vast repository of knowledge and a sympathetic mourner. “Mr. Callico knew the history of every tomb in the plot, and his knowledge even went further, covering the family story as well,” The Daily Picayune wrote. “None who came in contact with him could help be impressed with his manner of expressing his sorrow when one of the families he knew and respected passed into eternity.”

Callico left a bequest to his sister Francillette, then a resident of Orizaba, Mexico, and $590 to be shared equally by his nieces, members of the Morant, Edmond, Snaer, and Guichard families.

At three o’clock on the afternoon of Friday, January 3, 1913, Fernand Callico’s coffin passed through the gate of the cemetery he had so faithfully guarded for decades. He was interred with his wife and in-laws in the Pignatel Tomb.

05/20/2026

Holy Angels Columbarium in the oldest cemetery in New Orleans - St Louis Cemetery #1 - serving families since 1789.

Learn more by calling 504-596-3050 or email [email protected]

05/19/2026

Tomb Tuesday|St. Louis No. 3
New Orleans Catholic Cemeteries

In January 1937, nineteen-year-old Ruth Anna Johnston enrolled in the nursing school at Charity Hospital. A native of New Orleans, she was a graduate of Sacred Heart School. Her father, William J. Johnston, the son of Irish immigrants, had been a woodworker, and her mother, Annie Thompson, kept the house. The 1930s was a decade of change for Ruth. Her father died on December 17, 1934. Ruth’s sister Helen, her only sibling, would marry Walter Henry Grashoffer Jr. in April 1937. Across the world, Japan launched an invasion of China, and in Germany Adolf Hi**er espoused expansionist strategies and began accelerating war preparations. With the world on the brink of war, it was crucial that the United States have well-trained nurses for its armed forces. Ruth would be one of that number.

Ruth graduated from Charity Hospital nursing school in January 1942. By May she was a member of the Army Nurse Corps. The following year she was sent to the Pacific front. Now known as Lt. Johnston, Ruth served on New Guinea. “Our hospital was only a year old, and efficiently equipped,” she later told a reporter from the New Orleans Item. “Many of the other buildings had thatched roofs. When wounded soldiers arrived, they would sleep for days, overjoyed to find clean beds.” Ruth and her fellow nurses wore khaki shirts and slacks, heavy boots, and leggings at night to protect against New Guinea’s many mosquitoes and rats.

In an interview with the New Orleans States, Ruth said, “It’s amazing how some girls formerly used to the finer things would think nothing of slicing off the head of a snake with a knife and even get used to insects which are many times the size of ours.” Although nurses were not allowed on the frontlines, Ruth and her comrades did experience some bombings and had to become accustomed to “diving for the slit trench.” Food consisted of tiresome rations of dehydrated potatoes, dehydrated eggs, and beans.

Soldiers were thrilled to see the nurses. “Naturally all of the nurses were pretty popular with so few of us and so many soldiers,” she recalled, “but dates, as such, had to consist of going to a rather makeshift officers club or to Australian USO shows.”

After eight months in New Guinea, Ruth and eight other nurses from her base were sent back to the states on a hospital ship in July 1944. She was the first New Orleans nurse to return from the South Pacific. Ruth was sent to Foster General Hospital in Jackson, Mississippi, to recover from tropical fever. After a three-week furlough spent with her mother in New Orleans, Ruth returned to duty at another hospital in the U.S.

On June 28, 1945, Ruth once again had her picture in newspapers, this time because she and a former WAC were the first discharged veterans to enroll at Loyola University under the educational program of the GI Bill. She and former Private First Class Florence Charlwood were the second and third women veterans to apply for college training in Louisiana. They entered the medical technology department of the university. Ruth reflected that while stationed in New Guinea, “it didn’t enter my mind that the government would send me to college to study medical technology when I got home.”

Ruth married Orion Lloyd Mills on February 8, 1950. The couple resided in Texas and probably met through the army. Mills had enlisted in the army’s medical department in 1940 and served in the Philippine Department. He was still with the armed forces in 1950. The marriage was short-lived; six months later, they filed for divorce. Ruth returned to New Orleans, likely to be near her sister and niece and nephew.

Ruth Anna Johnston died on the afternoon of February 11, 1974 at the age of fifty-five. Her funeral Mass was held two days later at Tharp-Sontheimer-Laudumiey funeral home on Rampart Street. Ruth was interred in a wall vault in the St. Jude section of St. Louis Cemetery No. 3, which she shared with fellow nurse Joyce E. Travelbee, director of graduate education at LSU’s school of Nursing.

05/12/2026

Tomb Tuesday|St. Louis No. 2
New Orleans Catholic Cemeteries

Esteemed orchestra conductor William J. Nickerson was born in 1864 to William Nickerson Sr. and Jane Irwin. He was raised by his father’s sister Clara and her husband Henry Thezan. Nickerson studied music with Professor L’Enfant of the French Opera House’s orchestra. He was an 1883 graduate of Straight University and an accomplished violinist. The Thezans shared a close bond with Nickerson and lived with him until their deaths.

On February 12, 1885 Nickerson married Aurelie Ducongé at Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Nickerson’s three children with Amélie were Camille, Henry, and William Jr. Sadly the marriage lasted only eleven years. Amélie died of tuberculosis at the age of thirty-three, leaving Nickerson widowed with young children. Nickerson married his second wife, Julia Lewis, in 1904, but she died only two years after they wed. In 1911, he again remarried, this time to Artelia Winter, and a son, Dalton, was born the following year.

Nickerson was the principal of the music department at Southern University. He also conducted a private studio, instructing students in voice and a variety of instruments. A member of La Société Economie, a mutual aid association founded by free people of color which met at Economy Hall, Nickerson prepared many brass band musicians to eventually play a radical new form of music that would become known as jazz. Because of Nickerson, jazz greats like Jelly Roll Morton, Manuel Manette, Emma Barrett, and Henry Kimball learned to read and score compositions. Historian Marcus Christian called Nickerson a “musician of distinction” whose reputation and skill ensured that “students of both races attended his school.”

After Southern University’s move to Baton Rouge, Nickerson began teaching at Straight University. He also directed the first women’s orchestra in New Orleans. The Nickersons were parishioners of St. Katharine Catholic Church, and Professor Nickerson, as he was known throughout the city, served as choirmaster there for many years. Later in life, Nickerson taught an after-school orchestra class at the Thomy Lafon School. This provided a unique opportunity for students to be trained in European pedagogies that would enable them to read music. Acquiring these fundamentals aided them in the improvisational element of jazz music, which many would later go on to perform. Nickerson occasionally composed music, including a popular World War I tribute to Black troops.

Professor Nickerson instilled a love of music in all of his children. But Nickerson’s most renowned pupil was his daughter Camille. Her study of music began under her father’s tutelage when she was six years old. Camille was an accomplished pianist and performed with her father’s women’s orchestra. She went on to study at Oberlin Conservatory, the Julliard School, and Columbia Teachers College. After graduating from Oberlin in 1916, she returned home and for a time became an instructor in her father’s music school. Ultimately Camille Nickerson attained great success as a performer and scholar. She was a distinguished professor of music at Howard University in Washington, D.C. She collected and arranged Creole folksongs and lectured about Creole music. From 1941 to 1961, Camille Nickerson toured the United States and Europe; the State Department sponsored her on a 1954 tour of France.

William J. Nickerson died on February 7, 1928. His obituary in the Louisiana Weekly stated that Professor Nickerson was “well known in the music world” and that he “kept in touch with the leading musicians of the country.” He was interred in the Rousseau-Thezan tomb with his aunt and uncle.

05/10/2026

May is the month of Mary and Mother's Day. Wishing all a blessed Mother's Day.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen

05/08/2026

Don't let the rain stop you. Did you know you can tour New Orleans Catholic Cemeteries virtually? See our website and view our cemeteries!

360 Virtual Cemetery Tour

05/05/2026

Tomb Tuesday | St. Vincent de Paul #1
New Orleans Catholic Cemeteries


St. Vincent de Paul Cemetery #1 was founded in 1859 on Soniat Street by the Congregation of the Mission, an order of the Vincentian family, whose patron saint is St. Vincent de Paul. The priests and sisters of the Congregation of the Mission served St. Stephen Catholic Church, and members of the parish’s congregation were buried in the cemetery. The McCabe tomb on the center aisle is a monument to a family with a strong devotion to St. Stephen parish and the Catholic faith.

Hugh McCabe and Elizabeth Gaffney were married on April 13, 1871, at St. Stephen’s. Both Hugh and Elizabeth were the children of Irish immigrants. Elizabeth’s parents, Peter Gaffney and Mary Bray, came from Meath, Ireland. Hugh and Elizabeth were born in New Orleans in the 1840s. Hugh supported his growing family first as a laborer and later as a carpenter. The McCabes had five children: Francis, Mary, James, Hugh, and Peter. They attended St. Stephen’s.

The McCabes’ eldest son, Francis, was born on February 6, 1872. He was educated at St. Stephen’s and then attended high school at Christian Brothers. On December 23, 1891, Francis took vows. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 12, 1896, becoming a member of the order of the Vincentian Fathers, the same order as the priests at St. Stephen’s parish.

Father McCabe rose to national prominence as an educator and orator. He taught English and dramatics at St. Vincent’s college in Los Angeles. He served as President of DePaul University from 1910 to 1920. Under his leadership the college converted to co-education and became one of the largest Catholic universities in the nation. After adding a school of law to DePaul University, Father McCabe was awarded honorary doctorates of law from the Illinois College of Law and Notre Dame University. Later he became the head of the Mission Band in Kansas City.

Father McCabe never forgot his New Orleans and Irish roots. He returned to the city many times over the course of his life to preach at St. Stephen’s or to mourn the deaths of his parents and siblings. He was even briefly appointed pastor of St. Stephen’s. He championed the freedom of the Irish people and rejoiced when Eamon de Valera was elected to head the first Irish republican government.

In 1941, Father McCabe returned to New Orleans for good and entered into semi-retirement. He died on July 2, 1948, in the rectory of St. Stephen’s, the church where he made his first communion. At the time of his death, Father McCabe had been a priest for fifty-two years. An article on his passing in the New Orleans States noted that Father McCabe was a “forceful orator” and lauded him as “one of the nation’s greatest Catholic leaders.” His funeral Mass was held in St. Stephen’s Church. Like his parents and siblings, his final resting place would be St. Vincent de Paul Cemetery, but he would not be interred in the family tomb. Father McCabe was buried with his fellow priests from Congregation of the Mission in a special square of the cemetery.