Joyeux 300ème anniversaire, Natchitoches!

2014 marks the 300th anniversary of the founding of a French colonial outpost in the wilderness of what is now northwestern Louisiana.  Originally founded as the settlement of Fort St. Jean Baptiste des Natchitoches, the city of Natchitoches predates the founding of New Orleans by six years, making it the oldest city in the state of Louisiana.  One of my 2014 genealogy resolutions is to make it back to Natchitoches to help celebrate the tri-centennial!

Kate Chopin House, Cloutierville 2002
Destroyed by fire, 2008

Natchitoches and its French Creole history have been a huge part of my research for years now.  My maternal grandmother would tell me about her own maternal grandmother, a first-generation Texas native who died a Presbyterian but still had the habit of saying a French rosary around the house.  Great-great grandma Emma no doubt learned it from her own mother Esilla, a Rachal from Cloutierville.  Through that family line, I can trace my roots back to the earliest history of the parish, and can even claim a connection to the writer Kate Chopin, who made her home at Cloutierville in the 1890s.  Her husband Oscar was a cousin through our shared ancestors, Julien Rachal and his wife Marie Louise Brevel.

My 5th great-grandfather
Pierre Sebastien Compere

For the genealogist with roots in Natchitoches Parish, there are abundant resources in the town to help you with your research.  Your first stop might be the Natchitoches Genealogy Library, located on the second floor of the Old Natchitoches Courthouse and operated by the Natchitoches Genealogical & Historical Association.  Or it might be the Cammie G. Henry Research Center, located on the campus of Northwestern State University of Louisiana.  Either location will provide you with a wealth of local history resources.  If you're not afraid of having to dig, the Natchitoches Parish Clerk's office contains records dating back to approximately 1732.  The last time I was there, about 12 years ago, the majority of those older records were not indexed so you had to have a pretty good idea of what you were looking for before you went.  You can also visit some of your ancestors directly in either the American Cemetery or the Catholic Cemetery, the oldest cemeteries in town.  Cemetery listings have been published and should be available at either of the research libraries listed above.  Whatever your course of action, I highly recommend checking out the bibliography I've created of books that have ranged from helpful to absolutely indispensable in doing my own research.  The more groundwork you've done ahead of time with those resources, the more time you can devote to those available only in Natchitoches.

Chapel altar, Fort St. Jean Baptiste

If you're more into experiencing the history rather than looking it up in books and documents, a trip to the Fort St. Jean Baptiste State Historic Site gives you a taste of what frontier life was like for the earliest French settlers.  Volunteers in period costume guide visitors on a tour around the site, featuring reproduction barracks, a chapel and even a large outdoor oven where the French baked their bread.  Another important historic site near Natchitoches is Melrose Plantation, which was built by the Metoyers, former slaves who became a founding family of the Cane River colony.  Today Melrose is a museum and a National Historic Landmark.  Also in the area is Oakland Plantation, now part of the Cane River Creole National Historic Park, which film buffs might recognize as the filming location of The Horse Soldiers, starring John Wayne and William Holden.  Check out the Cane River National Heritage Area website as well, for even more sites to visit and downloadable maps and a travel guide.

All photos by the author.