USA > Louisiana > Louisiana; comprising sketches of counties, towns, events, institutions, and persons, Volume II > Part 50
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the south by Livingston parish, and on the west by East Baton Ronge and East Feliciana parishes, from which it is separated by the Amite river. Early settlement in St. Helena was made by the French and Spanish, while English traders settled along the Amite to carry on an illicit trade with the colonists in Louisiana. The posts established by the English became quite important and the trade carried on with the colonists was overlooked by. the provin- cial authorities, as the settlers would trade secretly if not allowed to do so openly. After the Revolutionary war. settlers began to come from the older states, most of them from Georgia and the Carolinas, and a few from Virginia. The settlements were usually made along the streams. Ephraim Bates built the first grist mill in the parish and kept the first store. When war was declared between Spain and England in 1779. Gov. Galvez of Louisiana. conquered the territory east of the Mississippi river for Spain. He appointed Col. Grandpré governor of the conquered districts, and St. Helena was governed by Spain as a part of West-Florida until the West Florida Revolution in 1810, when Gov. Claiborne took possession of the country lying east of the Mississippi river in the name of the United States, claiming it to be a part of Louisiana as ceded by the treaty of 1803. St. Helena was created a parish the following year, but does not seem to have been recognized until two years later. Montpelier, about 10 miles below Greensburg. became the seat of justice. Shepherd Brown was the first parish judge and opened the parish court July 13. 1813. David Kemp acted as the first sheriff : Thomas Butler was judge of the third district court and D. Wright was clerk. When the parish was divided in 1832 and the southern half taken to form Livingston parish, it was necessary to secure a new site for the parish seat. A committee was appointed by the police jury, who selected Greensburg, near the center of the parish, as the location for the new seat of justice. A frame building was erected for a court- house and a log house for a jail, and were used until 1855, when they were replaced by substantial brick buildings. St. Helena is poorly supplied with railroads and in consequence is not a popu- lons parish. Greensburg, the parish seat, is the most important town. Other towns and villages are Chipola, Darlington. Dennis' Mills, Grangeville, Harvell's Mills. Liverpool. Lookout. Mayer, Pinegrove and Tinus. St. Helena is essentially a farming com- munity though there are some saw and grist mills located upon the streams. The parish is well watered by the Amite river along its western border. the Natalbany river along its eastern border. and by Darlings creek and the Tickfaw river through the northern and central portions. St. Helena lies in the eastern long leaf pine region and has an area of 409 square miles. The surface of the country is generally undulating upland interspersed with creek and river bottoms. The soil of the uplands is that common to the pine districts, being a light. easily-worked sandy loam, with a subsoil which makes it retentive, while the creek and river bottoms are made up of a dark sandy loam with good clay subsoil. The parish
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has a wealth of timber such as pine, oak, beech, magnolia, holly, gum, hickory and poplar, which has practically not been touched. Lumbering is an important industry and a source of great revenue, as thousands of feet of pine and other commercial timber is ent and exported each year. Cotton, the great staple of the state. is the largest agricultural export product, but corn, hay, oats, sugar- cane, potatoes, sorghum and tobacco are all grown in considerable quantities. Such fruits as pears, peaches, apples, plums, quinces and grapes grow well. and large quantities of berries are shipped to the northern markets. Springs abound in the uplands, and as good pasture can be obtained nearly the entire year live stock raising and dairying are becoming important industries as the for- ests are cleared. St. Helena needs only railroads to develop its resources and bring it closer to the great markets of the north and south, and several lines of these commercial highways are either under construction or in contemplation. Transportation is furnished by the Kentwood. Greensburg & Southeastern R. R. which runs from Kentwood to Greensburg and thence into the northwestern part of the parish : the Brakenridge Railway & Navi- gation company has a line running south from Greensburg to Springfield, in Livingston parish : and the New Orleans, Natalbany & Natchez R. R., which connects with the Illinois Central R. R. at Natalbany, taps the southeastern corner of the parish. The following statistics concerning the parish are taken from the U. S. census for 1900: number of farms in the parish, 1,274; acreage, 131,484; acres improved, 38.583; value of land and improvements exclusive of buildings, $497.540; value of farm buildings, $197,390; value of live stock, $220.980; value of all products not fed to live stock, $100,869; number of manufacturing establishments, 17 : capi- tal invested, $47.005; wages paid. $9,483; cost of materials used, $29,021: total value of all products. $60,162. The population of the parish in 1900 consisted of 3.896 whites, 4.528 colored, a total of 8,424, an increase of 417 since the year 1890. The estimated population for 1908 was 8,800.
Saint Idlefonso, Treaty of .- ( See Treaties.)
Saint James, a village of St. James parish, is situated on the west bank of the Mississippi river, opposite Convent, the parish seat, and is a station on the Texas & Pacific R. R. It is a busy little town. has a money order postoffice, telegraph and express office. a large retail trade, and in 1900 had a population of 270. Originally the town was the seat of justice for the parish.
Saint James Parish was established in 1807. Under French and Spanish rule it was known as the "County of Acadie," having been named by the Acadian exiles in memory of their beloved country in Canada. In 1804 Acadia became one of the 12 counties into which Orleans territory was divided by the council, and in 1807, the "Second Acadian Coast" was erected as St. James parish. one of the first 19 parishes of the territory. St. James is situated in the southeastern part of the state and is divided by the Mississippi river. It is very irregular in geographical outline; is bounded on
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the north by Ascension and Livingston parishes; on the east by Lake Maurepas and St. John the Baptist parish; on the south by Lafourche parish, and on the west by Assumption and Ascension parishes. Small settlements were made along the lake and river during the early part of the 18th century, but it was not until after 1765 that it could be regarded as a colony, the Acadian refugees coming in then and greatly increasing the population. They set- tled on both sides of the Mississippi river above the "German Coast," up as far as Pointe Coupée, and their settlement became known as the "Acadian Coast." The present population of St. Jamies parish is largely composed of the descendants of these Acadians, though many of the most prominent families trace their ancestry directly back to France. One of the residents of St. James parish who was prominent in the affairs of the state was A. B. Roman, twice governor of Louisiana. Valcour Aime, the dis- tinguished sugar planter, was a resident of St. James parish. J. Gentil, a native of Blois, France, and a graduate of Blois college, settled in the parish at an early day. Dr. Pierre Lyon, a French refugee, practiced in the parish for over 16 years, and Eugene Dumez, another French refugee, was a professor in St. James for a number of years. The first seat of justice was at St. James, but in 1869 it was changed to Convent, on the opposite side of the Mississippi. St. James church, the first Catholic church in the parish, is located at St. James, which is the oldest settlement in the parish. At first the church was known as the Cantrelle church, in honor of Commandant Cantrelle, one of the first Spanish com- mandants of the Acadian coast, but was changed to St. James after the erection of the parish. Public schools are maintained throughout the parish for white and black. Jefferson college was established at an early day at College Point, and has done much for the education of the youth of Louisiana. The Convent of the Sacred Heart, 2 miles above College Point, was founded in 1825 by French nuns. There are a number of other schools and con- vents in the parish all doing good work. As St. James is well settled and has railroads, a number of good sized towns have grown up. The most important are St. James, Central, Feitel, Gramerey, Hester, Lagan. Lauderdale. Lutcher, Oubre, St. Pat- ricks, Paulina, Union, Vacherie and Welcome. The parish is drained by the Mississippi river, Bayou Des Acadians and a num- ber of small streams. The parish has an area of 280 square miles, comprising alluvial land, wooded swamp and a little coast marsh. The high land of rich alluvial deposit along both banks of the Mis- sissippi river is highly productive and well settled. Sugar cane is the principal crop here, while the land farther back is devoted to rice culture. The cultivated belt varies in width from 3 to 6 miles on each side of the river and in many places terminates in marsh prairie. The main products are sugar and rice, though potatoes, beans and oats are raised in paying quantities, and the famous Perique tobacco is raised exclusively in this parish. The fruits most successfully raised are oranges, pears, grapes and pomegranates.
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Large areas of cypress, gum, oak, willow and cottonwood still exist in the parish. The Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R. runs through the parish on the east bank of the Mississippi river, the Texas Pacific R. R. taps the southern and western portions, and cheap transportation is afforded by steamboat on the Mississippi river through the central portion, providing excellent shipping facilities in every direction. The following statistics concerning the parish are taken from the U. S. census for 1900: number of farms, 361 ; acreage. 95,899; acres under cultivation, 53,506; value of land and improvements exclusive of buildings, $2.277,760; value of farm buildings, $757,830; value of live stock, $412,914; total value of products not fed to live stock, $1,456,399; number of manufactories, 65; capital invested, $4,844,423; wages paid, $434,689; cost of materials used. $1,928,469; total value of prod- ucts, $2,650,684. The population in 1900 was 8,839 whites, 11,356 colored, a total of 20.197, an increase of 4,482 over the year 1890. The estimated population of 1908 was over 22,000.
Saint John the Baptist Parish, established in 1807, is one of the 19 parishes created by the territorial legislature. Previous to that time it had formed a part of German Coast county erected by the territorial council in 1804. The old German settlement was known as St. John and the name was given to the parish. It has an arca of 209 square miles, and is bounded on the north by St. James parish and Lake Maurepas ; on the east by Lake Pontchartrain ; on the south by St. Charles parish, and on the west by St. James parish. The first large settlements were made by a colony of German immigrants shortly after 1723, under Chevalier d'Arens- bourg. The population was subsequently increased by immigra- tion of the banished Acadians. The colonists were honest and industrious and the settlement soon became one of the most pros- perous on the river. At the time of its incorporation the parish contained a population of more than 1,300. Among the immigrants were such families as the Webres, Heydels, Roussels, Cambres, Lesches, Bossiers and others, whose descendants are numerous in the parish today. The original parish seat was located at Bonnet Carre Point, now known as St. Peter, but was changed to Edgard in 1848, where a courthouse was erected. Edgard is located on the west bank of the Mississippi river and is the principal town of the parish. Other towns and villages are Frenier, Garyville, Laplace, Lions. Lucy, Mountairy, Reserve, Ruddock and Wallace. Exceptional transportation facilities are provided by the Illinois Central R. R. along the west shore of Lake Pontchartrain. the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R., which runs along the east bank of the Mississippi river, and the Texas Pacific R. R., along the west bank of the river, while cheap shipping and transportation is afforded by steamboat on the river. Outlets are thus furnished for the products of the parish in every direction. The parish is drained by the Mississippi river, Lakes Maurepas, Pontchartrain and Des Allemands, and some minor streams. The general surface of the country is level, of alluvial formation, and consists of wooded
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swamp and coast marsh. There are large expanses of tillable land on both sides of the river, extending back to the swamps which are heavily wooded with valuable timber, such as cypress, oak, gum, elm, etc., and lumbering is an important industry. Sugar is the great export product, but rice, oats, corn, hay, jute and pota- toes are also produced. Some cattle and hogs are raised, while the rich soil, mild climate and the inducements offered by the railroads have caused market gardening to become a prominent feature. All kinds of vegetables, fruits and berries are grown in large quantities and shipped to the northern markets. The following statistics are taken from the U. S. census for 1900: number of farms, 311 ; acre- age, 65,507 ; acres under cultivation, 35,026; value of land and. improvements exclusive of buildings, $2,054,430; value of farm buildings, $615,940; value of live stock, $222,353 ; value of all prod- ucts not fed to live stock, $1.106,174; number of manufactories, 22; capital invested, $1,551.110; wages paid, $108,875 ; cost of materials used, $1,005,850; total value of products, $1,220,974. The popula- tion for 1900 was 5,145 whites, 7,184 colored, a total of 12,330, an increase of 971 over the year 1890. The estimated population for 1908 was over 13,000.
St. Joseph, the seat of justice of Tensas parish, is located in the east central part on the Mississippi river and the line of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern R. R. It was made the parish seat in the early 40's, the first meeting of the police jury having been held there on Jan. 5, 1843. The first merchants in the place were J. W. Davenport, R. H. Snyder and Robert Murdock, and Henry Barkhaw, "a Dutchman and a gentleman," kept the first hotel. About 1853 Andrew Marschalk began the publication of the first newspaper, which was also the first in Tensas parish. For some time the growth of St. Joseph was slow, but after the advent of the railroad it became a place of more importance. It has a bank, large lumbering interests, two newspapers, several good general stores, schools, churches, etc., and in 1900 reported a population of 717. Young's Louisiana Directory for 1909 esti- mates the population at 1,500.
Saint Landry Parish, the "Eden of Louisiana." was established as one of the first 19 parishes of the state in 1807. It was created from the vast region known under the French and Spanish occu- pancy of Louisiana as the "Attakapas District." The Attakapas Indians, a powerful tribe, once possessed the whole region, but the other Indian tribes formed a league against them and finally the Attakapas (man-eaters) were almost exterminated in a great bat- tle, fought on the hills 3 miles west of St. Martinville, in St. Martin parish. That part of the district which now forms St. Landry parish was alloted to the Opelousas Indians and went by the name of "Opelousas District," until after the cession of Louisiana to the United States. The name St. Landry comes from the old St. Landry church, built by the Capuchins at Opelousas in 1777. This is supposed to be the first church in southwestern Louisiana, and when the county of Opelousas was extinguished the name was
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given to the parish in honor of the church. Very little is known of the earliest occupancy of the Attakapas district. In 1757, dur- ing the administration of Gov. Kerlerec, mention is made "of a few French Canadians, deeming it to be the direst of calamities to submit to the English yoke, abandoned their homes in Canada to join their countrymen in Louisiana." No date can be fixed for their settlement in the region of the Bayou Teche. During the decade from 1760 to 1770, the government made grants in the Attakapas district to the exiled Acadians, who took their families into the wilderness and founded homes. After the cession of Lou- isiana to Spain more interest was taken in this vast prairie region. Its population as shown by the census taken by order of Gov. O'Reilly in 1769, was 409 persons. The new government had no faith in colonizing companies, but realized that the wealth of the colony depended upon the development of its agricultural resources and in raising cattle on the great prairies. The fostering of these industries became a fixed policy. Attakapas post was established on the Teche and the post of Opelousas to the northwest on the prairie. Officers were placed in charge of these posts who exer- cised civil and military authority. Their civil duties were much like those performed by the justices of the peace in the parishes today. Chevalier de Clouet commanded both Opelousas and Atta- kapas posts until 1787, when Don Nicholas Forstall was appointed commandant of Opelousas, and was followed by Gabriel de la Claire. Gov. O'Reilly made large grants in the Opelousas district to settlers and supplied them with cattle, provisions and farming implements, and stock raising became the chief industry. This policy had the desired effect; settlers, mostly of French origin, were attracted by the rich soil and natural advantages of this district, and as the population increased the colony became more prosperous. Gov. O'Reilly wrote that ". . Opelousas fur-
nished cattle by the thousand," and in 1788 the census showed that the population had increased to 1,985. Tobacco, corn and cotton were cultivated successfully. The colony was in this condition when Louisiana was ceded to the United States in 1803. The next year Opelousas district was erected as one of the 12 counties of Orleans territory and in 1807 it was organized as St. Landry parish. The present population of St. Landry is largely made up of the descendants of the Acadians, though many are direct de- scendants of the cadets of noble French families who came into the country during the French regime. The creole element is large, and in the past half century many Americans have moved into the prairie region and engaged in stock raising. The old post of Opelousas became the seat of justice when the parish was or- ganized. The different land companies have done much for the development of the rich resources of the parish, and the railroads have also been an important factor. St. Landry is one of the rieli- est and most populous parishes in Louisiana and has a number of good towns, of which Opelousas, the parish seat, is the most in- portant. Other towns and villages are Arnaudville, Barbreck,
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Bayon Chicot, Beaver, Begg. Bigcane, Chatagnier, Eunice, Gar- land, Grand Cotean, Deshotels, Lonepine. Leonville, Melville, Mor- row, Plaisance. Palmetto, Port Barre, Rosa, Sunset, Turkey Creek, Ville Platte and Washington. St. Landry is situated in the southern part of the state in the prairie region. Lafayette, Acadia, Calcasieu and Cameron parishes have been wholly or in part cre- ated from its original territory. As now constituted it is bounded on the north by Rapides and Avoyelles parishes ; on the east by Pointe Coupée and St. Martin parishes : on the south by St. Martin. Lafayette and Acadia parishes, and on the west by Calcasieu par- ish. It is well watered by the Atchafalaya river, Bayous Rouge, Courtableu, Teche, Boeuf, Cocodrie and Nezpique, and many small streams. St. Landry has an undulating surface of 1,662 square miles. Its formation is prairie, alluvial land. pine flats, wooded swamp and bluff land. Along the streams are timbered bottoms affording different varieties of hard and soft wood for all purposes, while the swamps have an abundance of fine cypress. The tillable land is of alluvial deposit and exceedingly fertile, large crops of cotton, rice and sugar being produced for export, while the uplands are nearly as fertile and cotton, corn, oats, hay, potatoes, beans, sorghum and all kinds of garden vegetables are raised in paying . quantities. Up to a few years ago little attention was paid to hor- ticulture, but the mild climate and rich soil all tend to the ready and rapid growth of fruit trees, hence peaches, pears, plums, apples, grapes, quinces and the smaller varieties all do well, and the in- dustry is growing to keep up with the demand of the northern markets. Since the earliest settlement of the parish the live-stock industry has been carried on extensively on the prairies, which furnish pasture practically the entire year, and stock needs little care. Thousands of cattle, sheep, hogs and horses are exported each year. Transportation and shipping facilities are excellent. The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific R. R. runs north and south through the western part of the parish: the Colorado Southern crosses the southern part, passing through Opelousas; the South- ern Pacific traverses the central portion north and south : the Texas & Pacific enters the parish at Melville on the western boundary, runs northwest to Morrow, and the Opelousas, Gulf & North- eastern runs southwest from Opelousas. The following statistics are from the U. S. census for 1900: number of farms. 7.549; acre- age, 480,444; acres under cultivation, 292,894; value of land and improvements exclusive of buildings. $4,364.370; value of farm buildings, $1.117,600; value of live stock. $1.484.191; total value of all products not fed to live stock. $2,661.539; number of mann- factories, 192; capital invested. $505,610; wages paid. $71.621 ; cost of materials used. $320,765 ; total value of products, $557,101. The population for 1900 was 26,170 white. 26.658 colored, a total of 52,906, an increase of 12,656 over the year 1890. The estimated population for 1908 was over 60.000. Evangeline parish (q. v.) was created from the western part of St. Landry by the legislature of 1908.
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St. Martin, Louis, lawyer and politician, a native of Louisiana, was born in St. Charles parish in 1820. Ile was educated at St. Mary's college, Missouri, and Jefferson college, Louisiana. After graduating he entered a notary's office for the purpose of studying law, but in 1846 was elected to the state assembly of Louisiana and the same year was appointed register of the United States land office for the southeastern district of Louisiana by President Polk. He was elected to the legislature a second time and after 2 years' service was elected a representative, from the 1st district of Louisiana, to the 32nd Congress. At the close of his term he became engaged in mercantile pursuits, and in a short time was appointed register of voters for the city of New Orleans. In 1866 he was nominated by the Democratic party and elected to the 40th Congress, but his seat was denied him, as it was held that Louisiana was not a state in the Union at the time. In 1868 he was elected to the 41st Congress, but the election was contested and sent back to the people. He was sent as a delegate to the Democratic national convention that nominated Pierce, Seymour, Tilden and Hancock, and was a presidential elector on the Tilden ticket. For several years he occupied a position in the municipal government of New Orleans, and in 1884 was elected to the 49th Congress as a Democrat. He died at New Orleans, La., Feb. 9, 1893.
Saint Martin Parish was established in 1811, late in the terri- torial era. It was created from that part of the state known during the French and Spanish rule of Louisiana as the "Attakapas coun- try," which embraced the great stretch of country west of the Atchafalava river to the Calcasieu river, and south from the Avoyelles country to the Gulf of Mexico, a region once possessed by the Attakapas Indians, from whom its name was derived. (See Indians.) The district was known to the early French governors, but little attention was paid to it and no efforts were made to colonize it. A few traders and trappers wandered over the district and some French Canadians settled there during the first half of the 18th century, but the exact date of settlement cannot be fixed. The "Poste des Attakapas." (St. Martinville) was established on the Teche, and acquired some considerable importance, though all it consisted of was a small church without a resident priest and a poorly constructed barracks for the small garrison and the commandant. There was also a small trading store for the few scattered settlers of the neighborhood. The wide prairies were given over to deer and wild cattle which wandered unmolested. When Louisiana was ceded to Spain a new policy was inaugurated by Gov. O'Reilly. In 1769 colonists who went to the Attakapas country were given cattle, provisions and allotted large grants of land if they would settle there. Soon after that the Acadians were sent at government expense to settle on the Teche. They were forced to pass through numerous bayous and swamps before they reached the lands allotted them near the Poste des Attakapas. Among them were the Martins, Guilbeaux, Bernards, Arceneaux,
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