Goodspeed's History of Pointe Coupee

Pointe Coupee Parish Memoir, Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana
File prepared and submitted by Sherry Sanford (SSanf51819@aol.com)
"Biographical And Historical Memoirs of Louisiana", Vol. II The Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1892

The parish of Pointe Coupee in native richness of soil is scarcely equaled by any other section of Louisiana. With a levee system affording protection to its entire area, no parish in the state of similar extent would equal it in production. It is wholly alluvial and its entire surface was, in its primeval state, heavily wooded. The cultivable lands lie along the banks of the water courses which are of greater elevation than those farther back. It has an area of about 575 square miles, of which about 50,000 acres are cultivated. In 1890 there was cultivated: In cane, 3,225 acres; cotton, 27,563 acres; corn, 12,000 acres. The products were 3,076 hogsheads of sugar, 4,064 barrels ofmolasses, 12,326 bales of cotton, and 138,522 bushels of corn. Thefirst Europeans who visited Pointe Coupee were the ill-fated companies of Fernando De Soto in 1543. According to a tradition handed down to the first white settlers, they had several skirmishes with Indians on her coast. The late Mr. Samson, in digging a canal on his plantation, 1820, found a cannon ball weighing two pounds, and a similar one was found at Waterloo at a depth of twenty-eight feet. The historians, Martin and Gayarre', state that De Soto died in June, 1542, at the mouth of Red river in the upper portion of the parish of Pointe Coupee. In 1708 a number of wandering Canadians or trappers, either from Illinois or Canada, settled in Pointe Coupee, along the river betweenwhere the St. Francis church now stands and the upper mouth of FalseRiver. N 1712 additional settlers from Vincennes and Illinois located at Pointe Coupee and a number of them took Indian wives of the tribe of Oquelousas. It will be remembered that at this time, 1712, New Orleans was not yet in existence. The seat of government was at Biloxi, and the total population of the French colony in Louisiana amounted to 279, as follows: 122 soldiers, including military and civil officers; twenty-four colonists without grants allowed by the government; twenty-eight women, twenty-five children, eighty slaves -- Indians captured in warfare. Beside these were six men sick in the hospital and about sixty wandering Canadian fugitives or deserters. The headquarters of the colony was too weak to admit of sending out settlers for other localities. It needed every able man to protect it against the hostilities of the Indians. It is not strange therefore, that these deserters should join the early settlers of Pointe Coupee. Governor Bienville heard of the little settlement at Pointe Coupee and on an expedition against the Tunica Indians he stopped there and established a military post about one mile above the present town of Waterloo. In 1840 the ramparts could be seen.About 1722 the settlement having increased it was necessary to extend the circle of protection and the fort was removed four miles up the river in the precise neighborhood of the St. Francis church. The trenches are yet visible. This point soon became important as a trading post. A chapel was built, which was replaced in 1765 by the historic old St. Francis church. The records show that the first white children baptized in the colony were Jean Francois Decoux, whose godfather was Jean Francois Descuirs, December 21, 1728, and Marie Charlotte Gasserand, whose godfather was Jean Sudrie, April 1, 1728. The descendants of the Decoux, Descuirs and Gasserands are still numerous in Pointe Coupee. The following is a list of early settlers obtained from records and private sources: Allain, Decoux, Decuirs, Sudrie, Cottau, Bandoin, Blond, Boisdore, Baron, Beauvais, Bergeron, Bara, Bosseron, Bourseat, Belle Isle, Bardelon, Bedel, Blanchard, Brasseux, Boutillier, Chenerert, Chasse, Carmonche, Cheral, Croizet, Chantin, Courellon, Du Bertrand, Duval, De Meuse, Duralde, Des Hotels, Durand, Ducote, Des Mazilieres, Du Manoir, Delage, Dela Houssaye, Enete, Fortier, Fanar, Fuselier, Fabre, Favrot, Gendros, Gremellon, Ganthier, Guerin, Gondeau, Gueho, Gosserand, Gaudet, Hardouin, Hereault, Heriart, Joffrion, Jarreau, Juge, Janis, Leblanc, Lejeune, Lavergne, Lagrange, Le May, Ledoux, Lacour, Langlois, Lemoyne, Lebeau, Mayeux, Major, Morean, Monseret, Marionneaux, Normand, Olinde, Olerean, Porche, Pourcian, Patin, Planche, Prudhomme, Perault, Picard, Poydras, Ricard, Rabalais, Ropillard, Schultz, Sudrie, Samson, Sicard, Saizan, St. Cyr, Tounoir, Terant, Trenoney, Vialex, Vignes, Verret, etc. , and ,many others. Only the oldest names are mentioned. The above were all agriculturists and mechanics. They have all contributed to the development of the country undoubtly, though but few of them had obtained letters of nobility. "They were children of the people, plain mechanics, but they have illustrated their names."

De la Houssaye was the first civil and military commandant at thepost of Pointe Coupee. He was succeeded, prior to 1730, by de Loubois. De Pontalba was the third commandant. Slaves were introduced in Pointe Coupee as early as 1719, and in 1768, notwithstanding an ordinance had been passed prohibiting the importation of slaves from San Domingo, a number were smuggled through and found ready sale in Pointe Coupee. It is not until 1733 that history mentions the existence of the settlement of Pointe Coupee. The prosperity of the colony increased rapidly, and as early as 1745 a number of the colonists were quitewealthy. The Ledouxes, Lacours, Decuirs, de Couxes, Ternants, Tounoirs, Porches and Patins owned land and slaves. The population at this time was 200 white inhabitants and 400 negro slaves. Attempts to introduce the cultivation of cotton in Pointe Coupee were made as early as 1785. It was finally adopted, and toward the latter part of the century became a staple; tobacco and indigo were partially abandoned. Mix, an American farmer, introduced at Pointe Coupee, in 1802, the newly invented cotton-gin, and thence-forward cotton was the chief staple. An attempt had been made by the Jesuits in 1776 to introduce the culture of sugar cane. They failed in their attempt. Later two Spaniards, Soles and Mendez, succeeded in making rum and molasses from the juice. After considerable experimenting Mendez later made a few pounds of sugar, which was clarified and exhibited at a dinner given at the capitol, the sugar being used to sweeten the coffee. Mendez sold all his canes in 1794 to Mr. Boree, who in 1796 manufactured from the product 100 hogsheads of sugar. This marked success in the new industry encouraged many planters to attempt it. In 1800 a wealthy German introduced the industry in Pointe Coupee, and his plantation, opposite Bayou Sara, was cultivated in sugar until the war. In 1816 Mr. Pourcian, of False River, and I.F. Porche, near Waterloo, attempted without anymarked success its cultivation. However, about 1844-45 the majorityof the planters cultivated the paying product, which yielded them alarge revenue.* ( In 1848 there were in the parish seventy sugarplantations and about sixty-five sugar-houses. The crop for 1848-49was 8,190 hogsheads.) Shortly after the accession of Louisiana tothe United States, in 1803, a number of American immigrants locatedin Pointe Coupee. Among them were Bush, Cooley, Faulkner, Gross,Van Winkle, Farrot, Morgan, Burrows, Armstrong, Willis and many others, several of whom married creole ladies. By an act of the legislature of the territory of Orleans, approved 1812, Pointe Coupee was incorporated as the twelfth parish, comprehending the parish of St. Francis. The seat of government was near St. Francis church, and the building occupied as the courthouse had previously served as the seat of authority under the different commands of the French and Spanish. It burned down in 1846, having been occupied for more than a century. In 1848, by a vote of the people, the parish seat was removed to New Road, on False river, wehre a courthouse was erected, which is still occupied. The first parish judge was Ludeling, and the first sheriff John Gross. Francois Dormenon, the second parish judge, remained in office as late as 1834. The total population in 1890 was 19,613. The first settlement in the Grosse Tete section was made in 1831. In 1850 the colony was one of the most flourishing sections of the parish. There were in this neighborhood at that time two public schools, a church, and in 1851 the Lavania Masonic lodge,the first organized in the parish, was founded. Father Irenie, aCapuchin priest, was installed as the first pastor. He was succeededby Father Archange, a very irascible and petulant person. Old St.Francis has nothing remarkable within itself, its architecture beingvery plain, but its antiquity and historical associations as a placeof worship, and as the burial place of those who redeemed Pointe Coupee from its primeval state and paved the way for generations succeeding them, will always endear it to the people of not only Pointe Coupee but of the whole state. A chapel was built in 1728. In 1765 the present church edifice was erected. This was accomplished either by subscription in money, material, or by working on the building. This old structure ahs withstood up to the present the destruction of time. St. Mary's Catholic church at New Road, established 1823, was the second church organized in the parish. Several other Catholic and Protestant churches have been founded since the war. The Catholic religion is largely predominant, though there are settlements almost wholly Protestant.

Superintendent Basil's report for 1889 shows that there were thatyear twenty-nine white and nineteen colored public shcools. Besidesthe public schools, Poydras academy, the outgrowth of Poydras college, established by a fund donated by Julian Poydras, and burned in 1880, was founded in 1889, and under the management of an able corps of teachers is doing good work. Poine Coupee had a newspaper as early as 1846, known as the Pointe Coupee "Echo," published weekly in French and English at Pointe Coupee. Later the "Pelican" was published. The Pointe Coupee "Republican" was published during reconstruction. The Pointe Coupee "Democrat" and the "Banner," both local democratic weeklies, are published at New Road.