By Garry Blanson
It’s strange how Black People Will travel all the way to Tennessee, Atlanta, and other states to visit Historic places when there are so many of them right here in the Monroe / West Monroe area. One of them just happens to be The “Hasley Cemetery” in West Monroe, Louisiana (located at 1500 Arkansas Road, right up the street from where “The Hasley Plantation” used to be, at “800 Arkansas Road.”
It is reported that a former Negro slave by the name of “Rev William G. Head” is buried there on the grounds of the Hasley Cemetery (NOTE former Carroll High School Principal Morris Henry Carroll is buried there as well)}. Well, Rev. William G. Head (affectionately called “Uncle Willie” & “Uncle Billy “) was born into slavery on a plantation owned by the Martha Head family in Mississippi in 1848.
William moved to Ouachita Parish with The Head family in September of 1858. Sometime after the family’s arrival in Ouachita Parish, William was sent to serve J.P. Crosley, who was a son-in-law of the Head family (he served Crosley before, during, and after the American Civil War). After the War, William convinced a White teacher in Trenton, Louisiana (now the city of West Monroe) to teach him how to read & write.
It’s not known exactly when he decided to go into the ministry, but he attended seminary training in Gibsland, Louisiana. Since William was the only member who could read & write at the time of the formation of the Negro Baptist Association of Louisiana, he was chosen President and Secretary of the organization. Additionally, William was a founder and President of the Gum Springs Baptist Association. Also, Rev. William Head served as pastor of Mt. Zion and Zion Traveler churches at Ruston, Mt. Avery church at Spencer, and Mt. Pisgah church at Spearsville.
Furthermore, He was pastor of Trenton Missionary Baptist Church in Trenton, LA (now West Monroe) for 50 years up until his passing! Rev. William G. Head was a strong Educator. His accomplishments included helping found Coleman College at Gibsland and the Ruston Institute.
Not only did he teach school in Ouachita Parish, but he also served as Secretary of the Ouachita Parish School Board for several years (when he was elected to the School Board in 1877, it was reported in newspapers all over the state of Louisiana!). In 1875, William married Mary Jennette “Jennie” Amos in Ouachita Parish 1875 (they were the parents of eight children).
Their daughter “Octavia” took after her father and went into the education field. She married “J.S. Clark,” and the two were founders of Southern University (a local elementary school bears the name of her husband).
