History: Early Bayou Scie History, Sabine Parish
Source:  Sabine Index, Many, La., Apr 21, 1999
Submitted by: Carl Dilbeck
              carlrad@earthlink.net

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  (Editor's Note: The following article was found in the Sabine Parish
Library's vertical files, and was written by Blaise C. D'Antonio.)

  Sabine Parish, Louisiana, is full of winding streams, all of which
work their way westward and empty into the Sabine River. Bayou Scie
forms part of a larger waterway. Bayou San Miguel. The sources of
Bayou Scie have their origin in the area known formerly as the "Las
Ormigas Grant". Bayou Scie begins as three separate and winding
streams. Bayou Brushy Creek, the easternmost fork, passes just west
of Belmont. Its mouth flows into Sneed Creek, which in turn flows into
White Lick Creek and then becomes Bayou Scie.

  Bayou Scie works its way in a southwestward direction, flowing west
and south of present Zwolle until it empties into the larger Bayou San
Miguel. The present census deals with families living in the Bayou
Scie area as the stream makes its way through Townships 7 and 8 of
Range 12 in Sabine Parish.

  The census of Bayou Scie was made in 1881 by Pere Jean Marie
Ledreaux, the newly appointed pastor of Bayou Scie's Church of
Nuestra Senora del Sagrada Corazon.

  Exactly when Pere Ledreux moved to Bayou Scie as resident pastor is
uncertain, but it was presumably sometime in the fall of 1881. Also
uncertain is the exact date of the census which he took. Most
probably the census was compiled during his first months of residence
on Bayou Scie. Since the census is merely a church census, it should
be assumed that it registers only the names of the members of the
Sagrada Corazon congregation. The census merely lists the names of
the communicants, and the fact of their baptisms, their first
communions, their confirmations, and their marriages.

  The census gives no dates, other than the year 1881, nor does it
attempt to list the ages of its members. However, the compiler did
indicate marriage partners, and to some extent, family groups. No
attempt was made by Pere Ledreux to put the list in alphabetical order.
This indicates that either the order in which he visited each family,
or the arrangement of families according to where they lived or
possibly both.

  No changes have been made in the original list of Ledreux. A few
observations, however, are in order regarding information on the title
page of the document.

  First, there has been a constant variation of spellings for the name
of the area. The title page of the census reads: "Register of Baptisms,
Confirmations, Burials of the Parish of Bayou Cye, Las Hormigas and
Grand Cane." The word "Bayou Cye" are scratched through in Pere
Ledreux's handwriting, and the word "Vallecillo" is inscribed above
the original. A note refers the reader to the bottom of the page where
the following information appears: "Bayou Cie (sic) is a corruption
from the Spanish word Vallecillo (va-ya-ce-yo) which means Little
Valley."

  Another early name for the area was "Las Cabezas." During his
visitation of the Louisiana Mission San Miguel as Los Adaes in 1767,
Fray Jose de Solis refers to the Bayou Scie area as "Cabezas" when on
May 7, 1767, he mentions that "Later we came to the Sabine ... Having
crossed the river on a raft, we traveled on as far as Cabezas ... "Las
Cabezas" was also given as the location on Bayou Scie for the first
church in present Sabine Parish by Bishop Luis Penalver y Cardenas.

  Early map makers prefer the spelling "Bayou Scie" and also accepting
this spelling are the editors of the annual The National Catholic
Directory. Pere Ledreux prefers Bayou Cie as the official spelling,
and uses this throughout his census. Other writers accept "Bayou Cye"
as their standard spelling. Another variant spelling is "Bayou City."

  It should be noted that Bayou Scie was considered more as a
geographic area than as one specific hamlet. In its earliest days, the
area included both Bayou San Miguel map of 1804 shows a "Grand Bayou
Scie" (present Bayou San Miguel) and "Bayou Scie" the present stream.
According to oldtimers in the area, present day Zwolle was also called
"Bayou Scie."

  All of the old churches were listed as being "at Bayou Scie" even
though the actual location of these structures was moved from time to
time. The "Bayou Scie Methodist Church" which was built around 1848,
was located "three miles west of Zwolle." A school was also established
"at Bayou Scie" prior to the Civil War, but we have no exact location
for this institution. The first Catholic church of the area was built
about one and a half miles southeast of present Zwolle, while the
second structure, built in 1856, was located one mile south of the
town. Both structures were listed as being "at Bayou Scie." Fortier
refers to Bayou Scie as a definite town, located about 9 miles
northwest of Many. In so doing, Fortier locates Bayou Scie as
present-day Zwolle.

  When the ecclesiastical parish of Bayou Scie was officially erected
in 1881, it was at best a general area. It was only around the turn of
the century that the area became firmly localized around present-day
Zwolle. Pere Ladreuz's Register attests to this fact; "Register ... of
the Parish of Bayou Cie, Las Hormigas and Grand Cane." The territory
of the Sagrada Corazon congregation would have included the areas of
Las Hormigas and Grand Cane in addition to Bayou Scie. The census,
however, deals with members of the congregation who resided along
Bayou Scie as the first page of the actual census says: "Census of
the Catholic Population of Bayou Scie (Vallecillo), August 1881."
Whether Pere Ledreux ever completed a census for Las Hormigas and
Grand Cane is not known.

  The Bayou Scie congregation developed into an independent
congregation only after a century of existence as a "Mission station"
served by the clergy of some other church. During this century Bayou
Scie fell into the general category of the "Spanish Missions" -- a term
used to describe all churches and chapels west of Natchitoches to the
Sabine River. The central church of the vast area was the original
Mission of San Miguel at Los Adaes, originally built in 1717, and
served by the Franciscan Fathers from Zacatecas College in Mexico. By
the 1840's that congregation was simply known as the "Church of the
Adayes." Another old church congregation was at Spanish Lake, where the
church's title continually changed with the title "Our Lady of Mount
Carmel" seemingly the oldest title.

  During the early decades of the nineteenth century all of the
"Spanish Missions" depended upon the clergy of Nacogdoches, Texas,
Louisiana, the church of St. Francis at Natchitoches. One explanation
for this arrangement lies in the fact that the majority of the people
residing within the Sabine region considered themselves more a part of
Spanish Texas than of Louisiana. From the 1840's on, Bayou Scie
received the continual ministry of the Natchitoches clergy. In his
annual report to the Bishop of New Orleans in 1843, the Natchitoches
pastor, T. Guistiniani, reports that a chapel was under construction
"at Bayou Scie" and that it would be served by the Natchitoches clergy.

  The first mention of Bayou Scie in the National Catholic Directory,
an official listing of all churches in the United States, appears in
1856 with the notation that the church of the Adayes and Bayou City
(sic) were being served by clergy of Natchitoches. In 1857, the Bayou
Scie church was being served by Reverend Andre Cauvin, "who has charge
of all the Spanish Missions." The next year, Bishop Auguste Martin of
Natchitoches purchased a tract of land on Bayou Scie from Theodore
Kentaro to enlarge the Catholic cemetery. In 1859 the Sabine missions,
including Bayou Scie, were transferred to the clergy of Nacogdoches,
Texas, under the Rev. J. Neraz.

  After the Civil War, Francoise Le Vezouet, former president of Saint
Joseph's College, Natchitoches, took a personal interest in the Bayou
Scie community. His work of reorganizing the people of Many and Bayou
Scie eventually led to the establishment of St. John the Baptist
Church at Many in 1871. First pastor for the new congregation was the
Rev. Joseph Aubree.

  It was during Aubree's pastorate at Many that the third church was
built on Bayou Scie. During the summer of 1881, Bishop Francis Laray
visited the community of Bayou Scie and determined the need for a
resident pastor. Shortly thereafter, Bishop Leray assigned Jean Marie
Ledreux as first resident pastor of Bayou Scie, Ledreux's pastorate
was a hard one. When he arrived at Bayou Scie, the new church was
nearing completion, but financial support fell far short of the amount
needed. A crop failure put a strain on the people. Pledges of
contributions for the new building did not reach two thirds of the
construction cost, and even those who had pledged support were not
able to pay. Ledreux tried to make a success of the new parish,
visiting the people and organizing the congregation. It was during
this period of organization that the census of the Bayou Scie
congregation was taken. In 1884, Pere Ledreux left the Bayou Scie
congregation and the church reverted to the status of mission under
the care of the priest at Many. It was not until 1899 that the second
resident pastor was named for the Bayou Scie congregation in the
person of the Rev. Francis Van Haver. With improved condition, Van
Haver succeeded in building a permanent congregation in what stands
today as St. Joseph's Church of Zwolle, Louisiana.

  The Bayou Scie Census was entered into a record book evidently begun
by Ledreux, who intended to use the book to record the membership of
his congregation as well as the official ministrations of the
newly-established parish. All that remains of the book today are the
title page together with pages one and two, which contain the Bayou
Scie Census.

  In parenthesis below the book's title is a notice that "Baptisms and
confirmations of this parish previous to this date are to be found in
the Registers of the parish of Natchitoches up to 1871 and from 1871
to 1881 in the registers of the parish of Many." The last inscription
on the title page is "A.M.D.G." an abbreviation for the Latin phrase
"Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam" which translated means "For the Greater Glory
of God."