Public Access Road and Protection / Preservation of Soule’s Chapel Cemetery

Summary of Soule’s Chapel

Location: On a beautiful hilltop giving a vista of surrounding farm and pasture land one and one-half mile southeast of Trebloc, MS, located in the West half of Section 29, Township 14, Range 5 East, and lying within property currently owned by Carnathan Farms.

Established: Probably between 1840 – 1850. William and Elizabeth Gates deeded five (5) acres to Trustees James A. Stewart, Wiley Conner, Eli E. Stephens, Francis A. Shell and Andrew Naugle on January 29th, 1852, “for the purpose of erecting or building or causing to be erected or built thereon a house or place for the worship of Almighty God for the use and benefit of the members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South.” The church was eventually named “Soule’s Chapel” in honor of Joshua Soule, a Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Per local oral history, the congregation probably merged with present-day McCondy Methodist Church since there were more people in the McCondy area.

Burials: As was the custom of the day non-white freemen and slaves were buried in separate parts of the cemetery. Burials are documented beginning in the 1840’s and generally ended in the white section about 1940. The latest burial in the black section is 1981. The majority of the white section is contained within a fence. There are at least seven (7) fenced family plots both within and outside of the current fence. There is physical evidence that another, or a larger area, was under fence at one time. There are 181 recorded burials, headstones vary from home-made to ornate. Local oral history states there are unmarked slave graves in the area. There is abundant physical evidence of marked and unmarked sunken grave sites.

Historical Significance: (1) First generation American immigrant pioneer families buried here. (2) Per the Chickasaw County History Volume II, pg 260 Edward S. Callahan, a War of 1812 Veteran may be buried here in an unmarked grave. (3) There is a significant number of Civil War Veterans, including at least one who was killed in action. (3) There is one black World War I Veteran and four black World War II Veterans buried here.