The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1877-04-21
NachitOcheS.
THE OLDEST SETTLEMENT IN LOUISIANA.
INTERESTING FACTS CONCERNING ITS
EARLY HISTORY. Ia 4:
rEvtract from the New On

Extract from. the New Orleans Hmes,J 4
oLong before Iberville fs,sn1lded the
city of New Orleans1the town OF Nat
chitoches, situated on the right bank
of Cane river, which, fifty miles belowd
it, unites its waters with those of Red
river, had become renowned in the
history of the early settlements of our
present State. The tribes name which
inhabited that section, the +" "Natchlt0-,
ches,n signifies sassemine- eaters, a fruit
growing here yet in abundance, similar
to the banana, and known under the
Indian name of popauche; thus the
neighboring tribe of the NacogdOches
means persimmon-eaters, while the
name of Plaquemines was given by
| Iberyilie after the fruit of a certain tree
| growing in the section named after 1T.
To open commercial road to Mexico,
and to prevent the SpanardS from get
| ting a foothold at Natehitoches, st.
Denis was sent by Cadillac from Mobile
| to establish post n1ititaire there. AT
| that time France owned five small for
| titicatiOns here, one at each pOlnt-
| Biloxi, Mobile, on the Mississippi, Dau--
phine and Ship Islands. The year 17l4
saw the first French soldier come to
| Natchltoches. The remnants OF the
ramparts of their enclosures can be seen
yet, and those dwelling around .Natchi-
tOches, whenever they want to go to
| town, invariably express themselves by
saying: Going to the post
| St. Denis crossed the Sabine river
and marched into Texas. NatchitOches
| became a permanent settlement, the
third in antiquity south of the Ohio
river, Philadelphia, Pa, and st. Angus
tine, Fla, holding the priority.
A live ly trade sprang up, and with 1t
came the emigrants. The missionaries
who accompanied the military expedi-
tions kept the church records, which
were written in French, and sometimes
in Spanish, in little books-cahiers-
very legible, yet in some the ink has
eaten through the paper. The venera-
bic Father Francois Martin, chancellor
of the diocese of NatchitOehes, has kind
| ly furnished us them for perusaI, and
from them we CLEAN the record of tie
| first baptism there, which happened on
the 2d of September, 1924, performed
by tie Capucin Brother Francois Ballas
on Francois Gaspar Barber, born July
90, same year, son of Francois Barber
and FRANCHISE Pradromes, with Gaspar
SamignOle and Mary de st. Bernabai
as godparents. All the records made
up to 1884 are signed by Father Ballas,
| when the JesuitS took hold of them,
entering the first baptism August 5, of
Marie des Neiges, daughter of Louis
Jucheau de st. Denis and of Emman-
uella Sanchez de Navarro. Ballas, how
ever, must have returned for his sigma
ture appears again in 1746. In later
years, when people had become more
irreligiOus, a law was made allowing
nobody to own property W hose children
were not baptized as catholics. Thus
we find in 1893 the first baptism con-
ferred on children of American parent
age, the son of Jacob Teele, IS months
old, and two SONS of Christopher Teele,
Is days and IA months old respectively.
! These records. .eonta many. occuTren..
ces of interest, such as the deposit OF
the first founding at the gates OF the
church, the Ordre du ROi de France de-
claring child legitimate. which was
six months old, born while the fathet3
an officer of the French, navy, had been
absent on three years cruise. Many,
many more facts could be brought to
light from these records which were
written while the seat of the blshopry,
which is now at NatchitOches, was then
alternately at Guadalupe, Savannah and
Florida, such as the registration OF
children by ladies of the nobility, omit
ting the name of the children's fathers,
who as it is presumed belonged to the
bourgeoisie, as we'll as other incidents
of interest. All over the country rem
nants Of the old bastiOns and breast
! works can be seen at the old Catholic
graveyard, now the Protestant one, but
j., mile, and at Lake Natchez, about five
; miles from town, where the last Of the
Natchez tribe were tnassacred, bones
traversed by the Indian arrows, are ex-
cavated here and there. This lake, like
4 Lake Terrenoire, goes now under diff
7 feren of appellatiOn, derived from the
: name of the owner of the land border
D ing on them, the former is called Lake
Taylor, the latter Lake Sipley. The
: country is full of legends and tales re-
e sembling those of the Arabian Nights
T Every hill, every date, every tree, house
d or street has historical significance
: historical in the annals of Natchitoehes