Daily World from Opelousas, Louisiana • Page 96

6 DAILY WORLD OpeJouiw, Lo. Bicentennial July 1776-1976 Church Point Town Got Start With a Store and a Church was secured. The first school was in one room adjoining the chapel and accomodated some 12 pupils. The school system was semipublic; teachers were paid by the parish for two months; the rest of the school year, teacher pay funds came from tuition paid by the pupils. This school was also the first school in what is now Acadia Parish.

The first teachers were a Mr. Chenet and later, a Mr. Ducourson. Little is known of these early instructors. Perhaps the most significant development in the growth of Church Point was the establishment of the first post office on Sept.

29, 1873. The town was officially recognized as a community and Church Point was "on the map." The name Church Point derived from both the original name of the settlement, Plaquemine Brulee and the first chapel provided by the Daigle brothers. Jesuit missionaries visiting the mission chapel referred to it as "la chapelle de la pointe de Plaquemine Brulee," or the chapel on the point of Bayou Plaquemine (Continued on page 37) chased for $120 in 1848. Jesuits from the Grand Coteau church were installed in the new building, which was purchased by the Jesuits from Mrs. Leon LeBleu.

In 1851, the chapel, which measured 20 by 30 feet, was soon outgrowned. A newer and larger chapel was constructed on the church property. A cemetery was laid out adjoining the chapel grounds. Pierre Louis Guidry, known affectionately as "M'sieu Guid," was Church Point's first merchant. His small store, with the Guidry family home directly behind it, was located on property which is now the site of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart For many years, the store was the only place where merchandise could be bought in the tiny settlement.

The store was a gathering place for the early settlers, who came to buy and stayed to talk about crops and share news of neighbors and friends. The establishment of a school was a natural consequence of community growth. This event took place in 1856, some 13 years after the Daigle brothers came to Plaquemine Brulee and eight years after the first chapel sons, Joseph "Jose" and Theodole, married two sisters, Celina and Evelina Fux, daughters of Jean Louis Fux, a native of Alsace-Lorraine, and Emeline David. They built homes circa 1843 in what is now Church Point proper. They, in reality, could be named as the first founders of present day Church Point.

Both brothers prospered, as they were reputed to be hard workers and ambitious, generous with their time and money. They raised cattle, corn and cotton and until the Civil War, owned slaves. Shortly after the Daigle (as the name was later changed to) brothers came in 1843, other families moved into the area. The majority of these were of French, French-Acadian descent. Among pioneers known to have settled during the 1840's were the families of David, LeBleu, Breaux, Guidry, Barousse, Latiolais, Bergeron, Comeaux, Thibodeaux and Wimberly.

English settlers' also moved into the area with names such as Elkins, Briscoe and McBride. They married the sons and daughters of the earliest settlers and were soon assimilated into the French-Acadian culture. As the population grew, the need for a church was inevitable. Being mostly of French-Acadian descent, the settlers were mostly Catholic. In order to attend Mass, the people would travel 13 miles to Grand Coteau, where a church parish had been established in 1819.

According to Grand Coteau church archives, a piece of property measuring 120 by 240 feet was pur (HUIU POINT In 1800, Ktienne d'Aigle III. the son of Kstienne (Etienne) d'Aigle a Canadian came to what was then known as the Plaquemine Brulee area. At this time, the area was part of the vast St. Landry Parish that stretched from the Atchafalaya Kiver to the Sabine River. Court records reveal that his son, Ltienne d'Aigle IV, born to he and Marie Anne Taillon of St.

Louis, made a claim to 406.20 acres on the west side of Bayou Plaquemine Brulee in 1H13. The downtown section of present day Church Point was owned by Sylvian Sonnier (Saunier). Louis Leger (Legeea) owned land to the east towards the Lewisburg area. Across Bayou Plaquemine. property was owned by Etienne d'Aigle and to the east, Leufroy Latiolais held land titles.

Other properly owners of the early lHUO's in the general area of what is now Church Point were Miguel Comeau. Baptiste Fontenot. Charles Smith. Jacques Deshotels, Louis Latiolais. Louis Lavergne and Joseph Bourg.

The early settler of the area was primarily a cattleman and horse-; breeder. Lack of transportion, the unleasibility of fencing in the prairie lands of the sparsely settled area made it virtually impossible for the settlers to grow agricultural products to any extent. Thus, livestock and not land was the mainstay of the economy of the area prior to the Civil War. On April 9, 1882, Lile Dupre married Joseph d'Aigle, the grandson of Etienne d'Aigle III. Their two eldest SEILER'S Since 1937 Western Accessory Store Bicycle Sales Service Sporting Goods jrner Liberty Bellevue Streets JjfJ WWW HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA bv iL.

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