Guillory 1851 Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana Submitted by Kathy Tell Publication: American Press Publication Date: 02/17/1991 Page and Section: 1 IM BY: NOLA MAE ROSS American Press Writer ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ The Guillorys were French, but not Acadians. In 1851, there were few Guillory families in Imperial Calcasieu. Jean Baptist Guillory lived on the Mermentau River, Eleis Guillory lived near Hayes, and Joseph and Louis Guillory had settled along Bayou Nezpique on the Calcasieu frontier. Today, there are more than 500 Guillory families in Lake Charles alone. All can trace their lineage back to Francois and Jeanne Monfort Guillory, the first known Guillorys in America. The Guillorys did not come to America as Acadians, but as soldiers, some sent from Montreal and some others sent from France to the Mobile, Alabama, area. By 1710, the Guillorys were living on the eastern end of Dauphine Island, Alabama, on ''Pointe a Guillory.'' But after the West Florida area was transferred to England in 1763, Gregoire (Joseph) Guillory began the family's odyssey to the old Post of Opelousas and further west to Imperial Calcasieu. Gregoire must have felt that he had no further reason to stay in Alabama. Not only had he lost his property when the British signed the Treaty of Paris in 1763, but his young wife, Marie Jeanne, had died. The couple also lost a child, Marie Louise, when she was 10 months old. Later, Gregoire talked about the child's death. ''The child died in my absence,'' he said, ''Only my wife and an old man named Dauphin (probably a slave) was there. They had to bury her because they could not carry her body to the fort.'' In Opelousas, Gregoire looked for land, and the commandant there gave him permission to choose his own site. He received a tract with 16 arpents of water frontage and 40 arpents deepabout 575 acres. Ten arpents fronted on Bayou Courtableau and six arpents fronted Bayou Cocodrie. The 1766 Census of Opelousas showed Gregoire Guillory as a single man with five sons and two daughters. Gregoire Guillory served in the Opelousas militia, but he doesn't appear in their records after 1771 and he was not on the 1777 census. He must have died between 1771 and 1777. His sixth son, named Joseph Gregoire, married Marie Claire Fontenot, daughter of Joseph and Marie Brignac Fontenot. The Fontenots had come from France, much the same way as the Guillorys had, and thus two of the most powerful French families in the area were brought together. Joseph Guillory acquired two sections of land on the northwest side of Bayou Belaire, near the point where it joins Bayou Carron. He progressed rapidly in the cattle business following the Louisiana Purchase. By 1807, he owned 1,800 acres of land, 400 head of cattle and 20 horses. He grazed his cattle in the Mamou-Chataignier areas and acquired property there, even though he lived in Grand Prairie. By 1900, many of Joseph Guillory's grandsons had moved to the western part of old St. Landry Parish, and it seemed that they dealt almost exclusively in raising cattle and cultivating of corn, sweet potatoes and rice. Ellis Guillory of Lake Charles is descended from the Jean Baptiste Guillory family branch that moved to Avoyelles Parish. As a sergeant in the local militia and a substantial landowner, Jean Baptiste Guillory became a respected citizen of Avoyelles. He and sons Joseph, August, Jean Baptiste Jr. and Cyprien Guillory settled in the western part of the Avoyelles prairies in the vicinity of present day Hessmer and Belldeau. ''My father, Robert Guillory, was brought up in Hessmer,'' recalls Ellis Guillory. ''After school, he'd go into the local station of the Little Rock-Nashville Railroad Company, where he learned Morse Code. When he was 16, he was offered a job in Bordelonville which required the use of Morse Code, and so my family lived there. ''I remember that during the 1927 flood, we went to stay with my grandparents, the Remy Guillorys, near Hessmer, because the prairie where they lived was well above sea level.'' In 1844, Elise Guillory of Lacassine held an auction to sell over 800 head of cattle and horses belonging to his father, Eli, of Grand Prairie. Eli was such a wealthy landowner and livestock raiser that his succession required two sales, one of which was held at Lacassine. Elise Guillory lived on ''Lacapsic'' (Lacassine) Island. At that time, most of the wealthy cattlemen on the east side of the Mermentau considered the ''island'' as the area encompassing Roanoke, the area below Hayes, and all of the communities south of, and adjacent to, Bayou Lacassine. Several descendants livein the vicinity today. Octave Guillory, son of Onezime and Euphime Fusilier Guillory, married Irma Foret, and their grandchildren live in the Bell City area. The grandchildren are Mrs. Harold (Irma Fay) Granger, Mrs. Casey (Jnora) Shaw, and J. C. Guillory, who lives in south Lake Charles. Some of the Guillorys acquired considerable wealth between 1843 and 1859. At the beginning of this period, cattle could be bought for $5 per head, and at the end they were selling for $25 per head. But cattle rustlers and bandits caused the cattlemen much trouble. There was almost no criminal justice system at that time, so many of the cattlemen joinedor formedvigilante groups. Once convinced of the criminal's guilt, the vigilantes confronted him with the verdict, cow- whipped him, and threatened hanging unless he left the state never to return. The cattle owners also began grouping their cattle nearer to their homes where they could keep a closer eye on them, and they reduced their herds. Jean Baptiste Guillory, son of the patriarch Gregoire Guillory, is also the direct ancestor of several other Lake Charles residents, among them Wilmer ''Frenchie'' Guillory, John L. and Mrs. John (Coreze Doyle) Watkins. ''My Guillory ancestors did not move into Lake Charles until my uncle, Dr. A.W. Guillory, came here and established his dental practice about 1927,'' said Mrs. Watkins. ''But my father and mother were married in Lake Charles in 1909 because my mother, Mary Elizabeth Scott, lived here. Her parents had lived near the Atchafalaya until my grandfather died. Then grandmother Ada Maud Winstead Scott sold their plantation and moved to Lake Charles. My father, John Shaw Guillory, was a businessman in Kinder.'' Mrs. Watkin's grandfather, Aurelian Guillory, was in the Civil War with the E.M. Fuller Company of the St. Martin Rangers from 1862 until he was released in 1865. Another ancestor of some area Guillorys was Emile Guillory, who served in Co. C of the 2nd Battalion of the Louisiana Cavalry. Still another ancestor was Louis Guillory, a member of Camp 62, which was made up of Confederate veterans. Dr. A. W. Guillory was one of the best known of the early dentists. He was also a charter member of the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis and was an accomplished violinist. A member of the first Lake Charles Civic Symphony, Dr. Guillory also played with the Lake Charles Symphony Orchestra when it was formally organized.ent. ''My father said that they loaded freight cars with rice,'' says Harry Guillory of Lake Charles, son of Isaac. ''They shipped the rice to the government but never received payment for the rice. Instead, they got a bill from the U.S. Government demanding the farmers pay the freight bill.'' Isaac and his brother, Estule Guillory, are sons of Theophile and grandsons of Emile Guillory. They are both living in Lake Charles. Isaac's children are Harry, Horace and Allen of Lake Charles, and Bonnie, who lives in Baton Rouge. Children of Estule and Vurley Guillory include Ronald Guillory of Lake Charles, Connie Sonnier of Atlanta, and Dwane of LaPorte. Felix Guillory, who left Eunice at the same time as his cousin, Isaac, is the grandson of Augustin and the son of Benjamin and Clara Granger Guillory. His children living in Lake Charles are Marie Perrin, Alice Stevens, Vinice Cradeur, Emily Campbell and Ethel Lee Fontenot, while Odette Sparkman lives in Vidor, Texas, and Jeffory lives in Houston. Joe Guillory and Mrs. Amaria Fuselier of Lake Charles, and their sister Paulin Doise of Elton, are the children of a Guillory family originally called Guilleau. ''My grandfather Archibald Guillory first came to Canada from France,'' says Joe Guillory, ''Archibald made his way south to Lake Arthur, where he married a Landry and stayed.'' Other grandchildren of this man were Paul Calice, Bruce and Arestele Guillory, Mary Conner and Amelia Lyons. Steve Guillory of Lake Charles, who traces his family back to Joseph Gregoire Guillory, says, ''My ancestors, Vallery and Aliba, lived around Eunice. Times got bad by the time my grandfather, A.B. (Ab), began farming in the 1930s, so he and my grandmother, Tizzie, who lives in Lake Charles today, went to Leesville and then Lake Charles, where he at first did carpentry work. ''Later, my grandparents owned the 'Silver King Roza,' 'The Night Cap' and 'Tizzie's Cafe' on Broad, as well as the 'Busy Bee' on Ryan Street and the 'Shamrock Cafe' on Highway 171.'' Steve Guillory has a sister, Barbara Abshire, in Lake Charles; another sister, Donna Taylor, in Lacassine; and a brother, Daniel Guillory, in California.Although the Guillorys were not the first settlers in Calcasieu Parish, they did put down roots around Chataignier as early as the 1780s. As they moved westward, they added much to the definite French flavor of Calcasieu Parish today.