Cabanocey : The History, Customs, and Folklore of St. James Parish

Louisiana has sixty-four parishes, and many ofthem are as individual and different as the state itself is different fromothers in the Union. St. James Parish, a small parish of 249 square miles, isnot only one of the oldest settlements in the state, but it isdifferent in its population make-up and is important historically.Cabanocey . . . is a splendid history of the Parish of St.James. . . . Lillian C. Bourgeois captured the spirit that animates thepopulation, which is descended from French, Spanish, Acadian, German, andCreole peoples. Bourgeois writes of the population's customs, beliefs, languagedifferences, and folklore. Cabanocey is not a collection of dry facts anddates; rather, it vividly describes how, more than one hundred years ago, thepeople of St. James Parish lived, who they were, and what they contributed totheir parish and their state.Before the Civil War, St. James Parish was the educational center ofLouisiana, and Jefferson College was the first important college in the state.Founded in 1830, it had fine buildings, a well-equipped laboratory, and animpressive library. The Convent of the Sacred Heart (1835) for girls waswell-known by prominent families in Louisiana, Mexico, and Central America, whosent their daughters there.Cabanocey contains St. James genealogies and thousands ofnames of early settlers, including the soldiers, taxpayers, officials,prominent families, and the first settlers and their children. From the earlycensuses and church and court records, descent is traced for many names. Thecensuses of 1766, 1769, and 1777 are complete and were obtained from thearchives in Seville, Spain.