ESTILETTE, E. L., St. Landry Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by Mike Miller


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E. L. ESTILETTE, CARENCRO.--E. L. Estilette, parish assessor, was born at
Grand Coteau, St. Landry parish, August 7, 1842.  He is the son of Edward
Estilette, a native of St. Landry parish.  Edward Estilette was a merchant and
hotel proprietor at Grand Coteau.  He died at Grand Coteau in 1847, when E. L.
was but a boy.  His widow still survives him, and is now eighty-five years of
age.  E. L. Estilette's grandfather, Vital Estilette, was probably a native of
France, who came to America early in life.  He participated in the War of
1812.

The subject of this sketch is one of a family of nine children, seven brothers
and two sisters. He spent his school days at Grand Coteau, and received a
liberal education.  In June, 1861, Mr. Estilette joined the Confederate cause,
enlisting first for twelve months in the Eighth Louisiana Regiment, and served
through the whole war.  His field of operation was in Virginia, and he was a
participant in many hotly contested engagements of the campaigns in that
State.  In the Battle of the Wilderness he received a gunshot wound in the
hand which rendered him unfit for active service.  At his own request he was
detailed to anticipate deserters, with the rank of lieutenant.  He remained in
this service until the war closed.  He was taken prisoner near Winchester and
carried to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he was detained for a short while,
and afterward confined in prison at Fort Delaware for many months.

After the war Mr. Estilette opened a mercantile business in Grand Coteau.  In
1867, having been made deputy sheriff of St. Landry parish, he retired from
his business.  For several years subsequent to this he was engaged as salesman
in a mercantile house in Opelousas, and later he conducted a business there on
his own account.  He was also engaged for a short while in farming near
Opelousas.  After a brief period he was made justice of the peace, and later
appointed assessor of Lafayette parish, having removed to Carencro in 1887. 
Mr. Estilette was married, in 1869, to Miss Blanche Bernard, a native of
Lafayette.  To this union six children have been born.  Mr. Estilette is a
democrat in politics.

Southwest Louisiana Biographical and Historical, Biographical Section, p.
223. Edited by William Henry Perrin.  Published in 1891, by The Gulf Publishing
Company.