by Anita R. Campeau1 & Donald J. Sharp2
Lacombe,
Louisiana, located in the Parish of St. Tammany, lies halfway between
Mandeville and Slidell. From Highway 190, it is about four miles directly south
on Highway 434 to Lake Pontchartrain. From the end of the road you can see the
tall buildings of New Orleans (including the Superdome). The view is gorgeous
as you look back on Lacombe. One finds an open space for about two miles to the
trees to the north, and the turns in the bayou that come right to the road. The
bayou leads into the Lake and ten miles to the east is the Rigolets and the
Gulf. The population of Lacombe was estimated at 8,000 in 2005 and growing
since the area is being developed from both directions, Mandeville and Slidell.
In 1976, the
people of Lacombe celebrated their bicentennial with a festival in which the
local schools, churches, clubs, organizations and dignitaries participated. A
commemorative booklet giving information about Lacombe, past and present, was
published. The cover illustrates the "Bayou Lacombe, Louisiana" crest
that reflected the community's crabbing, logging and recreational industries
and showed flags of the various nations that have flown over the area.3
The John Henry Davis, a two-room schoolhouse, built in 1912, was dedicated as a
museum during the celebration of 1976, and opened to the public in 1981.4
This is an
attempt to put together, with as much accuracy as possible, information about the families who
lived at Bayou Lacombe in the area of what is now St. Tammany Parish. Along
with the lumber, fur pelts, meat, the pitch and tar industry, bricks, the area
furnished New Orleans with valuable exports while the Choctaws brought herbs
and colorful baskets to sell at the French Market.
Vital to the
history is that no story of Lacombe would be complete without details of Pere
Adrien Rouquette. Reared as a youth in his Creole parents' home on Bayou St.
John (near Bayou Sauvage), this missionary priest, naturalist, poet and
romanticist, crossed the lake from New Orleans in the late 1850s to work among
his Choctaws whom he considered as his blood brothers. He became their
Chahta-Ima, "like a Choctaw," by living with them and ministering to
them from his hermitage on the northern shore of Lake Pontchartrain.
Numerous tribes
originally inhabited St. Tammany parish, but our interest lies with the Choctaw
and the Acolapissa. The first direct contact recorded between the Choctaw and
the French was with Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville in 1699. They came early into
friendly relations with the French and were their allies in their wars against other
tribes. In the French war on the Natchez, a large group of Choctaw warriors
served under a French officer. Bayou Castin, whose word "caste" meant
fleas, was once the home of Choctaw Indians, (thus Bayou Castin was originally
the Bayou of Fleas.) The Choctaws were the most numerous and kept their
identity the longest. They lived in palmetto-hut villages and hunted wild game
for their daily food. They were nomadic, following hunting and fishing seasons
parish-wide. By 1903, the Choctaws were displaced to Oklahoma.
The Acolapissa,
whose name in the Choctaw language means guardian or sentinels, were a border
tribe and probably served as watchers for hostile parties about Lake
Pontchartrain and the coasted lagoons.5 They lived along the Pearl
River to the mouth, but after 1700 they moved to Lake Pontchartrain on Bayou
Castin and Chinchuba Creek (Alligator Creek) to escape British backed
Chickasaw. After 1718, disease forced them to relocate just above New Orleans
on the Mississippi River. Father Charlevoix visited them in 1722. By 1725, they
returned to the north shore and the Bayou Castin area. This ties in with the
handful of settlers like Pierre Brou dit Belledot whose petition to the
Superior Council dated August 2, 1725, states that he is "at present residing
at the Colapissa, and he asks for justice in the case of La Liberte who
rented his pirogue to carry lumber for the Company." Constant warfare by the Chickasaw against
the French and their Indian allies took its toll on the once powerful tribe. Later
the Acolapissa faded away, mixing into the Houma tribe.
As we take a trip
back in time to the early eighteenth century, the area that is now known as
Lacombe was sparsely settled, if at all. The French entrepreneurs shortly after
the settling of New Orleans were eager to promote trade with the Indians who
lived on the north shore wilderness, referred to as "as the other side of
the lake" ( 'autre cote du lac).
Claude Vignon dit
Lacombe frequented the rivers and the bayous, especially the central one that
now bears his name. He visited the several Indian villages there, such as the
Tangiphoa, twenty-five miles up the river of that name. He traded with the
Indians across the Lake and Gulf Coast bringing in seventeen hundred or more
deerskins from the Choctraw trade to New Orleans. In 1725, Bienville attested
to the supply of fresh meat that the Acolapissa Indians were supplying.6
Other hunters listed in the 1726 Census were: Reboul, Thomas Anulin, Gilles,
Grace, and Etienne Beaucour.
A Statue of Jean Baptiste Le Moyne Sieur de Bienville (1680-1768) located in downtown Bay St. Louis, MS. He explored the Bay of Saint Louis on August 25, 1699, and named it for Louis IX of France
François Rillieux was born 1698 in Lyon,
France and died in 1760 in a hunting accident. Rillieux purchased from the
Biloxi Indians a large area around present day Bayou Bonfouca. It possibly took
in the headwaters (west to east) of Bonfouca and then down to their mouths at Lake
Pontchartrain. He extended his domain through the swamps and forests, as far as
the Pearl River. In later years it was estimated in Court Cases as over 100,000
acres.
Beginning of Tar Factories
The present day
area of Lacombe was once covered with huge long-leaf pine trees. From the pines
and firs emerged a flourishing industry, the production of tar and pitch. Tar,
a dark brown or black odorous viscous liquid is obtained by the destructive
distillation of organic material such as wood, coal or peat. Pitch is obtained
as a residue of organic materials, especially tars from various conifers. As
described by Le Page du Pratz, "the best tar is obtained from trees that
are old and are beginning to decay, because the older they are the greater quantities
they contain of that fat bituminous substance which yields tar. It is even
proper that the trees should be felled a long time before they use them for
that purpose. It is usually towards the mouth of the river and along the
sea-coasts that they made tar, because it is in those places that the pines
usually grow."
It was the
decision of Pontchartrain, the Minister of the Marine, who gave preference to
Gulf Coast pitch and tar, turpentine and resin from the forests, which helped
to develop the north shore for an ample supply of tar was an important factor
in maritime growth. Tar was used in large quantities on the wooden sailing
ships of the time to make them watertight and it also protected their ropes
from deterioration. Claude Vignon dit Lacombe, an entrepreneur circa
1734, started an enterprise in the pitch industry with the help of slaves and
indentured servants supplied by the Company.
Claude Vignon dit Lacombe and his Factory at Bayou Lacombe
Claude Vignon dit Lacombe originated from St.
Alban des Roches, diocese of Vienne in Dauphinė, France. He arrived in
Louisiana on the ship Marie, on May 23, 1718. His first status was that
of a concessionaire with the company. New Orleans was his base of operations,
but he was busy on the North Shore trading with the Indians from the first
mention in 1724 until his death at the Surgeon's house in 1747.
Lacombe, interested in the production of tar and pitch,
began to operate on a site located along the waterway west of Bonfouca on high
land near the head of the bayou.7 He encountered the presence of
small bands of Choctaws, and used their labor in his operation.8
. The business
enterprise was successful indicated by another trade agreement in October,
1739, when Lacombe ceded to his partner Chavannes the "sum total of his
interest in the output of a certain tar pit (or oven) in process of
construction." In return Chavannes ceded to Lacombe the like output of tar
and pitch from the second oven in course of construction." 9
Lacombe, at 611 livres, purchased the boat whose dimensions
were 100 by 7 and a half by 3 and a half feet, capable of holding ten tons.10 His
business thrived and his schooner was seen plying up and down bayou Buchuwaw,
the Indian name for "squeezing bayou with its turns." The Indians
thought it had the shape of a snake near its mouth. One understands, if you
take a drive down Lake Road near its mouth. Lacombe used it so many times that
people began to refer to it "le bayou de Monsieur Lacombe"
(the bayou used by Monsieur Lacombe). In 1742, Lacombe varied his business
interests, and put cattle on Pearl Island, much to the displeasure of one Chauvin
and Carriere (tar workers at Bayou Bonfouca) who had received a grant for the
island for the shells.
Lacombe made a
Nuncupative Testament, on August 16, 1747, at the Surgeon's house on Bourbon
Street, in New Orleans. He died there a few weeks later and was buried in the
original St. Louis Cemetery near the present French Quarter. The Will mentions
no immediate family either in New Orleans or on the north shore.
By 1748, the name
of Lacombe's Bayou remained as reported by slaves, Indians, and travelers.
Surveyors and mapmakers called the area Bayou Lacombe, and it was later named
the Village of Lacombe. It became known as a refuge for runaway slaves. The
Gilberto Guillemard map of 1797/98 shows Bayou Lacombe included and named.
The Hertel de Rouville-Soumande Land Grant at Bayou Lacombe
Jacques-Michel
Hertel de Rouville probably received the earliest land grant on the
North Shore that we know of, and it appears to be the largest given in what is
now the Lacombe area. The exact date and the description of the grant recorded
by the French government are not known. It was described, in a sales document after
his death, as "A tract of land lying and being on the Bayou Lacombe, alias
Bayou Rouville, on the right hand, or easternmost side going up from Lake
Pontchartrain, commencing by estimation about half a league from the said lake,
containing fourteen square leagues fronting on the said bayou by a straight
line of the distances of seven leagues with two leagues in depth, making in all
the above named quantity fourteen square leagues. The land was in the shape of
a rectangle as pictured in the Tobin map. Francis Cousin later laid claim to
this land in 1806 and 1813.
The Rouquette-Cousin family
Dominique Rouquette (1772-1819), son of Bernard
and Marie St. Antonina, (the French name reads "St. Antoine" and
"St. Antonina" in Spanish records), was born at Fleurance on the
Gers, a river that flows into the Garonne a little north of Toulouse. Rouquette
arrived in New Orleans circa 1800, set up a wine-importing business and
acquired considerable wealth.11 He married Louise Cousin, a native
of Bayou Bonfouca, the daughter of François Cousin, Sr., and Catherine Peche
(Peuche) Carriere.12 The maternal relatives owned large tracts of
land from Bayou Lacombe to Bonfouca. The first Carriere came to Mobile with the
Baudreau dit Graveline expedition in 1708.13
Francois-Dominique
Rouquette was born on January 2, 1810, at Bayou Lacombe. Because of their literary
activities, he and his brother, Adrien, and their uncle Anatole Cousin were
called "The Bards of Bonfouca."
He died on May 10, 1890, at the age of 80 years. He is best known as a master
of lyric poetry and for his narrative history of the Choctaws, followed with a
history of the Chickasaws. 14
Felix Rouquette was born on November 29, 1814, in New
Orleans, and baptized on August 24, 1815. In 1836, he married his Indian
cousin, Delphine Cousin, and they had five children. On February 1, 1847, Felix
Rouquette decided to sell his one-half interest in the land he had acquired
from his wife, Delphine. The borders of this land were Bayou Melon on the north
running east to Bayou Lacombe. To the south was Barry Branch or Squirrel Branch
running from the Bayou Lacombe to Hwy 434. On the north border running along
Bayou Melon was the favorite area of Pere Rouquette. Across Bayou Melon,
Pere Rouquette established his "Nook", where he lived and said
Mass, and also a gathering place for the Choctaws. Felix died in 1873.
Adrien-Emmanuel Rouquette was born on February 13, 1813
in the family residence on Royal Street, in New Orleans. After his father's
death, the family moved to the banks of Bayou St. John. He was sent north in
1824 "to divert his mind from his savage associates" and in 1829 he
was sent to France where he completed his collegiate studies in Paris, Nantes,
and Rennes, and obtained his baccalaureate in 1833. He returned to New Orleans
and spent much time alone or among his Indian friends. Later he returned to
Paris to study law, but preferred literature and returned to Louisiana where he
led a "desultory life," marked by no definite plans for his future
until 1842. On a third voyage to Paris, he published his first poetic essay
"Les Savannes," a literary work well received. He returned to
Louisiana to become editor of "Le
Propagateur Catholique."
Eventually,
Rouquette found his true vocation, entered the Seminary at Plattenville,
Louisiana, in 1842 to prepare for the priesthood. He was ordained on July 2,
1845, by Monseigneur Antoine Blanc. Of particular interest, he was the first
Creole to have embraced the ecclesiastical state since the cession of Louisiana
to the federal union. When Rouquette refers to himself as "Creole,"
he meant "American"15 and he distinguishes Creole from
French, meaning "native, of the soil, not foreign." 16
Père Rouquette was assigned to duty at the Cathedral of St. Louis, at New
Orleans, where his eloquence crowded the pews and "his holy life commanded
the love and respect of all denominations." After serving the community
for fourteen years, he severed his connections with the diocese and made his
home among the Choctaw Indians on the banks of Bayou Lacombe.
Missal and Altar Cards of Father Rouquette
Between the years
1845-1887, Père Rouquette's life was woven around the five hermitage
chapels that he built in St. Tammany Parish. The great passion beginning with
his youth had been the devotion to his Choctaw whom he served in a small chapel
built of pine logs near the Tom Spell memorial family cemetery on the east banks
of the Chinchuba Creek, a thousand feet south of Highway 190. Spell was the
owner of 500 acres in 1790 that included present day Chinchuba Gardens as well
as the church property. Père Rouquette's log cabin was located on the
present "Little Terry" or "Little Tory" property off
Highway 190.
As a result of
his patient labors, Père Rouquette converted many Choctaws to the Faith.
He was known as their "Chahta-Ima" and when dressed in his usual
Indian garb a stranger could mistakenly have taken him as one. As their
"Ima" Père Rouquette gave them twenty-nine years of faithful
services. In regard to the dead Christian Indians under his care, oral
tradition is that he buried his dead on high knolls on both sides of the creek.
According to Edgar Sharp, in an article written under the pseudonym of
"The Old Pelican" no markers have ever been found to show their last
resting place.17
Cabin Chapels built by Père Rouquette
These included (1) Our Lady of Solitude on Ravinne aux
Cannes (Cane Bayou) overlooking Lake Pontchartrain; (2) The Nook on Bayou Lacombe; (3)
Buchawa Village chapel at the headwaters of Bayou Lacombe; (4) Chuka-chaba or
The Night Cabin on Bayou Castine near the lake. (5) He built his fifth and last
Chapel on the north side of Bayou Chinchuba and called it Kildara or The Cabin
in the Oak on Chinchuba Creek.84
Donald Sharp,
co-author of this article, in his quest for knowledge, met Edgar Sharp in the
1960s. They continued their friendship and association for many years. On one
visit, Edgar took him to his garage where the old altar of Kildara Chapel was
stored.
Edgar's daughter,
Marilyn Sharp, said recently that she was a young girl when her father obtained
the altar, years ago; at a time the people were breaking up the little wooden
building. When her father visited the area in the late 1940s, the Chapel had
fallen into disrepair and there were sheep inside the small building. The door
was hanging by its hinges, and the land was used as a grazing area. Edgar Sharp
called the Archbishop in New Orleans and told him of the situation. The reply
was that Father Rouquette was dead, done his thing and, no, they were not
interested in the old Chapel. So he and his son, Daryl, brought the altar to
their garage.
Marilyn remembers
the altar being in their home for a long, long time, and that her father used
it as a wood saw table and work bench for many years. "Ah! So that is why
the altar has saw marks and drill holes in it," exclaimed Father Dominic
Braud when Donald Sharp recently told him the story. [Father Braud, a monk of
St. Joseph Abbey, wrote the introduction to Blaise C. D'Antoni's Chahta-Ima].
About 1985, Edgar Sharp donated the altar to the monks at St. Joseph's Abbey,
in Covington, where it remains today in display in the Rouquette Library. 17
Due to progress,
today the large oaks are gone and the small wooden chapel has disappeared (along
with the Chinchuba Deaf Institute). Marilyn remembers from her childhood
Rouquette's old oak tree where he preached. She said that "as a child, she
would hide from schoolmates behind that tree and it was where she took the
school bus. A fruit and vegetable stand stood there for many years." About
thirty years ago, Marilyn related that it was decided to run a modern highway
through the area due to the rapid development of Mandeville.
The Mardi Gras Day Massacre
There was a
public outcry but when everyone was off guard, the State Department of
Transportation came to the area with chain saws and bulldozers, cut down
Rouquette's oak and cleared the land one Mardi Gras Day when everyone was gone
across the lake. No word was given and there was a public outcry but, the
damage being complete, nothing could be done. It was called the Mardi Gras Day Massacre, in a published
article by her father. Modem Highway 190, with all the traffic and business
runs today through the land where Père Rouquette had his Chapel and
close by is the Sharp, Spell, Strain Cemetery enclosed by a fence because of
encroaching new homes.
Père
Adrien-Emmanuel Rouquette died on July 15, 1887 at Hotel-Dieu Hospital in New
Orleans. Newspaper headlines announced the priest's demise: "Chahta-Ima
No More." 19 He "died of general debility.. . due to a
violent fever which prostrated him about two years ago...caused by his having
drunk impure water while within the forest." He was buried on July 16,
1887 in St. Louis Cemetery No. 2. His beloved Choctaws mourned his death. His
wish had been to die in his chapel in the woods, and to be buried there. His
wish was not granted!
Footnotes:
Footnotes:
1 Anita
R. Campeau, M.A., historian, author, lecturer. Graduated from the University of
Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba.
2
Donald J. Sharp graduated from Loyola U. of the South (New Orleans) with an
M.A., also known as a colonial historian and lecturer on Maritime history.
3 In
1975, Mr.Tom Aicklen served as Heritage Chairman for the Bayou Lacombe
Bicentennial Community project with Gloria LeFrere as secretary. Since that
time to the present day, Mr. Aicklen has collaborated on several historical and
cultural projects concerning the Choctaws and the Creoles. His aim is to
preserve the unique Lacombe historical and cultural heritage through the
Lacombe Heritage Center.
4 At
first the St. Tammany School Board had no connection with this school, but
later took over. I.W. Harper was the first principal and Lucille Dubourg, his
assistant, was later named principal. Thanks to Tom Aicklen who obtained the
information for us.
5
Crouse, Nellis, Lemoine d'Iberville: Soldier of New France, The Ryerson Press,
Toronto, 1954,178.
6
Ellis, Steven F., St. Tammany Parish: L 'Autre Cote du Lac, Gretna Pelican
Press, 1981, 31.
7
D'Antoni, Blaise C, Chahta-Ima and St. Tammany's Choctaws, The St. Tammany
Historical Society, 1986,2, 10, 12.
8 LHQ,
Volume 3, No. 4, October 1920, 567-568.
9 LHQ,
Volume 11,494.
10
Records of the Superior Council of Louisiana: Petition to Sell Longboat,
October 17, 1739, and Sale of Longboat, October 20,1739.
11
Lebreton, Dagmar-Renshaw, Chahta-Ima, Louisiana State University Press, Baton
Rouge, 1947, 1.
12 There
is no marriage record listed in the SLC Sacramental Records.
13 ANQM,
19 February 1708.
14
D'Antoni, Blaise, Chahta-Ima and St. Tammany's Choctaws, Covington, Louisiana,
1986, 20
15 Sharp,
Edgar, "On Chinchuba history," published in News-Banner, Mandeville.
16
Lebreton, Dagmar-Renshaw, Chahta-Ima, 71.
17
Sharp, Edgar, News-Banner, Sunday, July 28, 1991.
18 Oral
interview by Donald Sharp with Marilyn, daughter of Edgar Sharp, Mandeville,
Louisiana, 17 May 2007.
19
"Chahta-Ima No More," The Daily States, edition of July 15, 1887, 1.
Cited by D'Antoni, Chahta-Ima, 27.
