LEDOUX FAMILY - Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana BY: NOLA MAE ROSS American Press Writer Publication: American Press Publication Date: 11/25/1990 Page and Section: 35 CT Title: The LeDouxs put down roots in West Calcasieu Submitted by Kathy Tell ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ Joseph Pierre LeDoux was a changed man when he came home to Vincent's Settlement at the close of the Civil War. According to a family story, Joseph's widow, Marceline Vincent LeDoux, welcomed her husband to their home west of the Calcasieu River. But after only a short while, Joseph took up his pistol and announced he was going back to war. He left, and was never heard from again. The LeDoux family, which had already put down deep roots in the area, stayed and continued to grow. The name LeDoux is French and means a spring of water, and there are several towns in France named LeDoux. The branch of the LeDoux family that settled in West Calcasieu had ancestors born in Varennes, Canada. Traveling to Louisiana as early as 1765, they settled along the ''Acadian Coast'' in St. James and Ascension parishes, on the Mississippi River near Pointe Coupee. Charles Alexander LeDoux, father of Joseph Pierre LeDoux, was the first known LeDoux to settle in West Calcasieu. He settled here sometime before 1838 near Nibblet's Bluff, where he operated a ferry crossing the Sabine River. An early schoolteacher, Thomas Rigmaiden, who lived near his father- in-law, Jacob Ryan Sr., at Bayou d'Inde, recorded the pioneer families west of the river in his diary. On Aug. 9, 1838, Rigmaiden wrote: ''Went to Sabine. Stopped at Alexander LeDoux's". Alexander may have lived there for several years prior to 1838. He is buried in a cemetery once called LeDoux Cemetery and now known as Toomey Cemetery. Joseph Pierre LeDoux, son of Charles Alexander LeDoux, was also mentioned by Thomas Rigmaiden as living in West Calcasieu. On Jan. 6, 1839, Rigmaiden wrote: ''Went to Shoepeak and brought Joe LeDoux's trunk and bed.'' On Dec. 10, 1839, he wrote: ''Joe LeDoux went to the wedding (of Azelia Duhon and Cormillien Farque)." Joseph Pierre LeDoux became the patriarch of the LeDoux family in West Calcasieu, even though he did not live a long life. At 19, Joseph fell in love with and married Marceline Vincent, whose father, Pierre Vincent, had come to Bayou d'Inde in 1817 from St. Martinville. Among their neighbors were Jacob Ryan Sr., Louis Reon, Austin Clifton, Olevia Benoit, Alexander Courmier, Leathern Broussard, Alcendor Elender, Henry Moss, William Bilbo, David Lyons, Pontal Landry, Richard Coward and families named Trahan and Granger. Tabitha LeDoux, daughter of Joseph Pierre LeDoux, married Nathan Clifton of Clifton Ridge in Vincent's Settlement. Nathan was a war hero, and his father had died in the Civil War. Nathan Clifton enlisted under Captain Albert Warren, who had been a sawyer at the Clifton sawmill. They went to Opelousas, where Captain Warren was shot by Captain James Bryan. Clifton was then sent to New Orleans, arriving shortly before Farragut's Fleet captured the town. The Confederate soldiers were quickly disbanded and told to get out of the city in any way they could, and report to the nearest army post. Clifton ended up in Co. B, Miles Legion, at Camp Moore and saw action at Port Gibson, Miss., as well as at Port Hudson and Alexandria, La. When Nathan Clifton left for the war, his father, Nathaniel Clifton, remained behind as a colonel of the Home Guard, which had been formed to protect Calcasieu residents. But a daring raid by a Lt. Crocker of the Union Navy completely frustrated the Home Guard. Crocker came steaming up the Calcasieu River to Lake Charles, then reached West Fork without being fired upon. Crocker stopped at each boat landing along the river, burning ferries and bridges. When he reached Clifton's landing, he captured Col. Nathaniel Clifton. Crocker managed to steal a new boat, The Dan, from Captain Daniel Goos. Crocker tied Colonel Clifton and about 12 other hostages to the helm of the boat to discourage anyone from firing at him and sailed back down the Calcasieu River. Before going on to the Gulf of Mexico, he released all the hostages except Clifton, who was taken to New Orleans as a prisoner. Nathaniel Clifton died in 1864 in New Orleans, still a captive. Two of Joseph LeDoux's daughters married Elenders. Odelia LeDoux married Clairville Elender, and Olivia LeDoux married Napoleon Elender. The two Elenders were sons of Levi Elender and Melissa Reon, and their grandfather, St. Germain Alcendor Elender, was an early settler who married Jacob Ryan's daughter, Rebecca. Levi Elender established the first cemetery, later named Farquhar Cemetery, and he is also remembered as one of the first horse jockeys in the area. His son, Napoleon Elender, who married Olivia LeDoux, operated a ferry, which was later replaced by Elender Bridge. Another of Joseph P. LeDoux's neighbors was Henry Moss, who came to Bayou d'Inde with Jacob Ryan Sr. His grandson, Henry Johnson Moss, married Mary Ella LeDoux. A brother of Henry Johnson Moss was Oliver Ryan Moss, who made a long trip to Baltimore, Md. on horseback in 1883 to get a land deed signed for Alcendor Elender. Joseph LeDoux's oldest daughter, Lovisa, married Anselm Sallier, grandson of the first Sallier, Charles, for whom ''Charley's Lake'' later Lake Charles was named. Joseph Narcisse LeDoux, son of Joseph Pierre, married Ellen Vincent. They had 13 children, who married members of the Berry, Lyons, Hebert, Baker, Beglis, Powers, Allen, Clark, Vincent, O'Quinn and Robinson families. Garlin Hebert of Lake Charles, grandson of Joseph Narcisse LeDoon of Oleva LeDoux and Narcisse Hebert, recalls, ''our family remained in Carlyss where we were raised.'' In fact, most of the LeDoux descendants stayed west of the Calcasieu until later years. Mark LeDoux, who lives in Sulphur, is the son of Tillie and Stella Lyons LeDoux and a grandson of Joseph Narcisse LeDoux. He is one of 10 children, nine of who are still living in the area. ''We have a certificate given to my grandfather that was signed by John McNeese,'' Mark said. ''It appointed Joseph N. LeDoux as a member of the School Board for Ward 4. He was also appointed to appraise the old Dugas school in 1912, when consolidation was approaching. ''We also have a letter written to Joseph Narcisse LeDoux, who farmed in Carlyss, from a storekeeper in Sulphur, ordering 100 barrels of potatoes when they were ready. ''Later, when the oil boom came to that area, Joseph N. LeDoux took his family to Edgerly, where they operated a boarding hotel.'' Joseph N. LeDoux's other children were Belezaire, who married Tabitha Lyonswho married Elodia Hebert and later married Diah Landry; Elexon LeDoux, who married Jennie Clark and later married Leah Beglis, then Mollie Powers; Joseph Mitchell, who married Christine Vincent; Valria, who married Dorothy Robinson; Francis, who married Mary Lyons; Merceline (Mrs. Henderson Berry); Mathilde, who married Fernace Hebert and later married Joe Baker; Allie (Mrs. Earl O'Quinn); and Maggie (Mrs. Drozan Hebert). Another son of Joseph Pierre LeDoux was J.D. (Judge) LeDoux, who married Josephine Landry and had four sons, Adam, Joseph, Oscar, Adolph and three daughters, Azema Whatley, Clarisse Thibodeaux and Alice Picard. Francois ''Frank'' LeDoux was the first of Joseph Pierre LeDoux's children to move to east Calcasieu. He married Mayah Benoit in 1853 and settled on a large tract of land south of Lake Charles near Black Bayou. One of Francois LeDoux's Homestead Certificates, in 1890 was signed by President Benjamin Harrison. At first, LeDoux farmed rice, then later switched to highland crops like corn and potatoes. Francois LeDoux was also chosen ''Director of a School District'' by John McNeese in 1894. Mrs. Ignace (Ida) Castille of Lake Charles, a granddaughter of Francois, and daughter of Ophelia and Oscar Granger, says, ''I stayed with my grandparents, Francois and Myah LeDoux quite a bit. I especially remember helping grandma wash her clothes in Black Bayou. ''She'd wrap the dirty clothes in a sheet, and then push them down to the bayou in a wheelbarrow. Grandpa had built a special levee for her to walk out on to wash the clothes. He also dug a small ditch and put a board across it where grandma could sit and paddle the clothes until they were clean. Then she'd hang them on a line to dry, right there on the bayou. ''Mrs. Ida Castille has three brothers living, Floyd, who married Rose Dougay, and Rhudell Granger, who married Toby Pilley, live in Lake Charles. Joseph Granger, who married Eva Moore, lives near Black Bayou. Brothers Leo, Willie and Harvey are deceased. Francois LeDoux's son, Joseph Mitchell LeDoux, married Amelia LeBleu, daughter of Fremont and Palmire LeBleu, who were prominent settlers of the Black Bayou community. They had four children, Henriette (Mrs. Deyhard Benoit); Joseph, who married Susie Ganser; Frank, who married Corrine Holland; and Estell (Mrs. Jasper Holland). Jasper Holland was a well-known Lake Charles businessman and he also drove a school bus for LaGrange School for many years. Other children of Francois were Ambrose LeDoux, who married Amelia Broussard; Hattie (Mrs. Bazile Benoit); John, who married Layan Benoit; Rose and Mattie LeDoux; and Albert, who married Ada Little. Albert's son, Leycester J. LeDoux, also spent much time with his grandparents, Francois and Mayah LeDoux, near Black Bay". I well remember the butchering in which they and their neighbors got their meat for the year,'' he said. ''They salted the meat down in barrels after smoking the bacon and ham and making cracklings. ''My grandparents never owned a car, but my dad, Albert, would take grandma for rides after grandpa died. She never liked cars very much because they were so much faster than her buggy. ''The LeDoux family members who came to West Calcasieu in the early 1800s started a family dynasty. They were a contributing and stabilizing asset to Southwest Louisiana, and their descendants still play an important part in this area.