Treme : Imperial Calcasieu Parish Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana Submitted by Kathy Tell Publication: American Press Publication Date: 04/05/1992 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 ************************************************ Treme family: A bad start ends in a good life The Nueces Strip, also known as the Badlands, was an area between the Rio Grande and the Nueces River. It was claimed by both Mexico and Texas in 1800, so neither could enforce laws or harness the marauding Commanches and outlaws operating in the region. It was here that Francisco Treme also spelled Tremi, Trimingo and Tremirs was born in 1816 to Julien and Mathilde Roub Treme of Rio Grande City, which was then part of Mexico and later became part of Texas. There were many settlers along the Rio Grande of Spanish origin who had come, not from Spain, but from the Yucatan, Havana, Canary Islands and New Spain (Mexico) to settle in the fertile valley. Francisco Treme was barely past childhood when he was captured by a vicious raiding Indian band, who took him to their camp where he was badly mistreated. Treme bore a lifelong scar around his waist where the Indians had tied him to a tree with a piece of rawhide. He was rescued from the torture by an old Indian woman, known as Grandma Klauve, who bought the young boy from the Indians for a barrel of corn and a slab of bacon. She took him on a wild flight across Texas, carefully skirting the many isolated skirmishes between Mexicans and Indians and also avoiding small military bands led by two devious Americans named James Wilkinson and Philip Nolen. Wilkinson and Nolen in conjunction with Aaron Burr had a secret plan to take over Texas for themselves but that never happened. Grandma Klauve and young Treme finally reached east Texas and continued through No Man's Land, a strip along the Sabine and Calcasieu rivers infested with outlaws, including murderers. The pair slipped into Louisiana and traveled to Indian Village southwest of Kinder on the Calcasieu, where there was an Indian camp. Coushatta tribes were also nearby in the Elton area. Francisco and Grandma Klauve lived as well as they could with the help of the Indians and early settlers. Finally Francisco accumulated a few cattle the beginning of his large ranching business of later years. Grandma Klauve was thought to have raised several other children, too, before her death and burial in an unmarked grave in an area cemetery. In 1838 Treme married Euphrosine Guillory, daughter of a well known family in Belair Cove near Ville Platt. The young couple settled in the Elton area, which at that time was in the old St. Landry Parish. They went to a wild and desolate region then known as China. Letting his cattle and horses roam the open range, Treme settled on a land grant, where he also planted cotton, corn and all the vegetables needed to feed his growing family. He planted Providence rice in small garden patches because there was no elaborate farm equipment. What little money Treme had was in gold coins, which most settlers kept in strong cypress boxes. There were very few settlers in the area but they came a few at a time and settled around China, Cheno, Three Pines, Pine Island and Hathaway. Their names included Marcantel, Buller, Hargrove, Bertrand, Fontenot, Hebert, Durio, Bureaux, Bordelon, Hayes and LeDoux. By the Civil War, Francisco and Euphrosine had 13 children. The four war years brought fear, anguish and constant worry about the separation of their children, Jayhawkers and lack of food. They also kept a constant vigil for Union soldiers in their area. After the war the Tremes faced uncertain years under the rule of the Carpetbaggers. Meanwhile the Gabarinos had come to the China area, followed in 1880-1910 by families with such names as Jackson, Aylsworth, Tupper, his son, Watt, Tietje, Bruchhaus, Groth, Heinen, Naebors, Henderson, Hoisnell, Scott, Bryan, Gardner, Powell, Phegley, Parker, Ritter, Wickett, Dunham, Anderson, Putnam, Jenkins, Christian, Miner, McKagues, Jones, Prosser, Butler, Eaton, Walton, Bolles, Simmons, Flint, Partridge, Lincomb, Brown, Shoesmith and Buckles. French, British, Irish, Danish, Welsh and Germansall made this a land of many traditions and unique customs. The following years, when the north was worrying about slums and the south was worrying about educating the children, Francis Tillou Nicholls was elected Louisiana's governor. In 1890 he appointed Francisco's son, Antoine Treme, constable of Ward 1, which by then was in Imperial Calcasieu Parish. At the time, constables and captain of patrol were the only form of government. Every able-bodied man between 18 and 45 had to spend two days a month on patrol and two days on road building, with no compensation. Johnson Moss of Moss Bluff was the first sheriff of the parish. The parish seat was in Opelousas but it is doubtful that he made many trips to Opelousas or to China because of the great distance. After the railroad came though four miles north of China in the place later called Elton, the post office was moved from China to Elton, and China almost ceased to exist. In 1913 there were 4,192 passenger cars sold in the United Stats but Elton had yet to get its first one. Luther Egbert Hall was Louisiana's governor and Jeff Davis was created out of Imperial Calcasieu Parish. Elton became a part of Jeff Davis and was incorporated. It is said to have been named by Mrs. S. Fuselier for a town in New York. Elton's first mayor was Stephen Guillory and the first school teacher is thought to have been Ida Green. At that time there were five sawmills in the town and rice had become the primary farm crop. Once a year cattlemen from English Bayou, Lake Arthur, Bayou Nezpique, Ville Platt and Opelousas would round up their cattle from the open range and drive them to the Treme Corral, north of Welsh at Pine Island. There they would brand, sort out and return to the range the ones they wanted to keep. Then they drove the remaining herds to market. Of the Tremes' 13 children, eight lived in Elton; Mathilde Treme Hargrove, Euphrosine Treme Bertrand Marcantel, Antoine with wife Genevieve LeDoux Treme, Margaret Treme Fontenot, Louis Soule with wife Olive Bertrand Treme, Elenor Treme Marcantel, Joseph and wife Mathilda Durio Treme and Irma Treme Bureau. Francois, who married Jeanne Hayes and later Celeste Augustine Treme, lived in Evadale, Texas; Leonard and Celeste Bordelon Treme lived in Ville Platt where many of their descendants have played a prominent role in that area; Genevieve Treme Neugent lived in Kinder; Alice Treme Hebert and Elizabeth Treme Hebert lived in Hecker. Today their descendants live in Calcasieu as well as parishes to the east. The Treme family spawned a long line of descendants who served in wars. Among them Robert Lee Treme was killed in Europe during World War II. Others have served in government, on school boards, as teachers and school principals as well as church leaders and in civic organizations. Francisco's grandson Joseph Sidney Treme was elected the first police juror of Ward 4 in Elton and served 1913-1934. He was also president of the police jury. After operating a meat market in Kinder for a few years, he opened a country store in the Three Pines area west of Elton. It was in this store that all the neighbors gathered on election days because it had the first telephone in the areaa hand-cranked kind, on which the election returns were called in. Francisco's great-grandson Walter Treme was also a police juror in Elton for 20 years, retiring in 1968. He was on the Jeff Davis Parish Democratic Committee for 30 years. Among Francisco's great-great-grandsons were Cursey Marcantel who was Elton's mayor at one time; Allen Treme, who served as Elton mayor from 1962-1974; Elin Pitre, who served as Evangeline Parish sheriff; and Dr. Alvin Bertrand of Baton Rouge, formerly of DeQuincy, who retired from LSU after a distinguished career in rural sociology. Great-great- granddaughter Elizabeth LaFleur serves on the Evangeline Parish Police Jury and Mrs. Herman (Sandy) Treme of DeQuincy, a great-great- granddaughter-in-law, is a Calcasieu Parish police juror. Other family members are or have been engaged in a variety of fields. John Treme has been president of the Jeff Davis Farm Bureau since 1976; the Rev. Eugene Treme is pastor of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Rayne; Sister Bernadette Treme was killed in Europe during World War II while leading children to an air raid shelter during a bombing raid. Mrs. Ernest (Agnes Treme) Loftin is retired from Calcasieu Parish Library system; Mrs. Neva Treme Young is a registered nurse at St. Patrick Hospital; Earline Treme Guillory is a retired RN; Robbie and Cindy Gehron Treme are in education in DeRidder; Kaki Treme is in the Jeff Davis educational system; Helen Treme Manuel taught in Evangeline, Calcasieu and Cameron parishes for 32 years and her husband Robert Manuel was principal of Grand Chenier School; other descendants in education include Felicia Treme Burgess, Virginia Young Bertrand, Peggy Young Cormier, Rachal Anne Manuel and Anthony Treme. Today there are still quite a few Tremes who are ranchers and cattlement around DeQuincy, Elton, Ville Platt and in Jeff Davis Parish while many more are in other occupations. A family tradition of community involvement has made the Tremes a vital part of the history of Southwest Louisiana for more than 160 years.