Daily World from Opelousas, Louisiana • Page 83

Opelousas, Tuesday, February 28, 1984 DAILY WORLD 7 'The founders- Church Poiht French, English settlers gave new town its heritage Our Best To You Church Points beginnings are traced to 1800, when Etienne Aigle III, grandson of Jean d'Aigle, who arrived in Quebec from France in 1674, came to the area then known as Plaquemine Brulee. At the time Plaquemine Brulee was part of St. Landry Parish, which extended from the Atchafalaya in the east to the Sabine River in the west. In 1886, Acadia Parish was carved out of St. Landry.

"ame A'gle WaS an8licized Daigle in the According to a Pointe de l'Egiise: a history of Church written in 1972 by Anita Guidry Etienne d'Aigle was married to Marie Anne Taillon of St Acadiana for 37 years! We've been a part of Acadiana for thirty- seven years. In fact, we almost feel like a member of your family. Christmas, birth- days, your wedding day, special occasions our careful concern for quality and beauty has made us a part of your special occasion. There will always be special occasions, and there will always be the House of Flowers and Interiors. We choose our gifts, accessories and flowers carefully to insure that the joy of the occasion can be remembered.

We have been a part of your life. Our staff, Jule and Kenneth Smith, Sylvia Sibille, Sarah Wagley, Mary Ethel Davis and Joseph Charles enjoy making special 4 occasions special for you! 7 Louis. He apparently died within a few years of his arrival in the area. But at least three of their children settled in the area. At the time of the d'Aigle's arrival, the downtown section of what is today Church Point was owned by Sylvain Sonnier.

Louis Leger owned land to the east toward Lewisburg. Across Bayou Plaquemine was owned by Etienne d'Aigle and land to the east was owned by Leufroy Latiolais. At this time, there was hardly any agriculture. Roads were in poor condition and travel difficult. There were no railroads and the only link to the outside world was by boat out of the Port of Opelousas at Washington, down Bayou Courtableau to the Teche, then to the Atchafalaya, the Mississippi River and finally New Orleans.

Plaquemine Brulee was fronteer country and settlers were mainly cattlemen and horsebreeders. Cattlemen's brands were recorded at the parish courthouse and range wars frequently erupted over cattle claims. The grandsons of Etienne, Joseph and Theodule Daigle, married and built homes in 1843 in what is now Church Point. After they settled there, other families, mostly of French and French-Acadian descent, moved into the area. These settlers were named Guidry, Breaux, LeBleu, David, Barousse, Latiolais, Bergeron, Comeaux, Thibodeaux and Wimberley.

Just before and after the Civil War, English settlers named Elkins, Briscoe and McBride came. They intermarried with the French settlers. In 1848, the settlers asked Jesuit missionaries to establish a chapel at Plaquemine Brulee. The missionaries bought some land for a church for $120 and Joseph and Theodule Daigle bought a building and moved it to the site. This first chapel soon became too small.

In 1851, a larger chapel was built on the church property. In 1854, Joseph and Theodule Daigle donated more land for the church. Pierre Louis Guidry was Plaquemine Brulee's first merchant. He had a store located where Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Convent is today. In 1856, the community's first school, which was also the first school built in what is now Acadia Parish, was erected in the community.

It was a one room school adjoining the chapel. Twelve students attended. The school was semi-public, with teachers paid for two months by the parish and the rest of the school year with students' tuition. The school served the community through the Civil War and Reconstruction years. In 1875, a second school was built where the Methodist Church stands today.

In 1873, the first U.S. Post Office was built in the community and Plaquemine Brulee became Church Point. The name Church Point comes from the original Plaquemine Brulee and the first chapel built by the Daigle brothers. Jesuit missionaries visiting the mission chapel referred to it as "la chapelle de la pointe de Plaquemine the chapel on the point of Bayou Plaquemine i mUst IF1, oi 1 ouse lowers a ,1 I nteriors 1033 W. Vine Street Plume 942-5621 Mom, daughter team Stella Mayeux, owner of Michelle's dress shop in Vista Village, says she and her teenage daughter, Michelle, work together in buying clothes for the store.

"We go to market together in New Orleans, Dallas and Atlanta," Mrs. Mayeux said. "I weigh her opinion very highly when buying clothes. She knows what fashions young girls like." uruiee. When the post office was established, the community name was anglicized to Church Point, although for years after older residents continued to call it Plaquemine Brulee or Pointe de l'Eglise.

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