Bel Abbey bio, 1916 - 1991 , Jefferson Davis, Louisiana 
Submitted by: Kathy Tell 
Source: Louisiana Folklife Database maintained by the Louisiana Regional
Folklife Program, Region 2, at Northwestern State University of Louisiana. 
These biographies offer information to the general public. 
Submitted: July 2004
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************************************************Bel Abbey 
Blowgun Maker, Wood Carver, and Koasati Storyteller 

Bel Abbey was born April 10, 1916, in a Koasati settlement five 
miles north of Elton, Louisiana. Mr. Abbey was in the last 
generation to be raised in the traditional Koasati social and 
economic system. He was taught in the traditional manner by his 
grandmother, mother, and his maternal uncles. Mr. Abbey had only 
three years of formal education and learned to read and write 
during World War II. He passed away in 1991. 

Bel Abbey was a skilled hunter and had an astute knowledge of 
animal behavior. He had an extensive knowledge of natural history 
and knew the names of hundreds of plants and their uses. In 
addition, he was extremely well-schooled in the Koasati stories 
that he had listened to all his life. Mr. Abbey had a great 
interest in preserving traditional crafts and was skilled in 
making blowguns, darts, bows, arrows, whistles, Spanish moss 
spinners, and other items. He preserved many baskets made by 
his mother, a master of traditional basket weaving.
 
Mr. Abbey grew up speaking Koasati, a language related to Creek, 
Alibamu, and Seminole. He had to master English on his own. Later 
in life he learned to speak Alibamu, Choctaw, Mobilian, and Cajun 
French. His amazing linguistic and teaching skill was what attracted 
ethnologists and linguists to him. Bel Abbey would soon become an 
invaluable resource for anthropologists and historians and as an 
interpreter for his mother, who only spoke Koasati. 

Mr. Abbey was active in his community and church. He sang in 
the choir and worked with the pastor on projects to benefit the 
community. His later life was spent working to preserve and 
share the language, skills, and traditions of Koasati culture. 
He helped translate the Bible into Koasati and recorded the 
Koasati language and traditional stories. 
In 1991, his hard work contributed to the publication of the Koasati 
Grammar. At the time of his death he was looking over drafts of the 
Koasati Dictionary. 

Mr. Bel Abbey was inducted into the Hall of Master Folk 
Artists in 1982. He represented the Koasati at the 
Natchitoches-NSU Folk Festival, The World's Fair in New Orleans, 
the Louisiana State Folk Festival, and the Smithsonian's National 
Folk Festival on the Mall.