Tensas Parish, Louisiana History

From the Tensas Story, used with permission from the authors, 
   Mary Alice Fontenot and Edith Ziegler

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THE PARISH:

     Tensas Parish was officially established by act of the 
Louisiana Legislature on March 17, 1843. Up until 1843, the area
now comprising Tensas Parish was the northern part of Concordia
Parish. Later in 1861 the Tensas area was increased by the annexa-
tion of a part of Madison Parish. In 1870, Tensas lost a small
portion of its land through an annexation by Franklin Parish.
Since then its boundaries, The Tensas River on the west, the Miss-
issippi on the east, Madison Parish on the north and Concordia on
the south.

     The name of the parish and of the river which forms its
western boundary preserves for all time the identity of the tribe
of Indians that once hunted and fished the forests and streams
of Tensas. Before the white settlers came it was Indian country  

     The parish of Tensas comprises a total of 413,440 acres, of
which 20,805 are lakes, bayous and rivers. Tensas has 398,720 of
some of the richest land in the continental United States.

There are 3 towns located in Tensas Parish:

ST.JOSEPH; A date for the beginning of the settlement, which became 
Tensas's parish seat cannot be determined. For a long number of 
years the place was known as Densmore's Landing, named after the 
first known settler, a riverboat man named John Densmore.  Densmore 
built a small house and a trading post at the site.
 
    At a later, but still unspecified time, a Jesuit priest, sent
to do missionary work among the Indians, visited the region. It
was he who renamed the settlement St. Joseph.

     Although St. Joseph eventually developed into an important
river port, it did not become incorporated until February 26, 1901
One of St. Joseph's distinctive features of years past was Plank
Road, a toll roadway made of wooden planks.
At the time of incorporation, the population numbered 735 people.
   
WATERPROOF; Located in the southern part of the parish was first
settled about 1830 and had to be moved several times.  Each move 
being dictated by the whim of the Mississippi River changing its
course. The first move was made in 1876 and the second in 1880.
The town of Waterproof was incorporated in 1872.

     The town also owes its name to the Mississippi River. The
story most often repeated about the origin of Waterproof's name
is as follows: A steamboat captain, waiting for his boat to be
refueled with cordwood, noticed that an early settler, Abner Smalley
was standing high and dry on a strip of land surrounded by water.
"Well, Abner," the captain called out, "I see your're waterproof!"
Smalley gave the name Waterproof to his plantation which became
the original site of the town, and Waterproof it has remained.
First settled about 1830, the village was forced by the river to
change locations twice in three years. The original location is
now underwater. The first move was made in 1876 after the river
bank began to cave in. The next move was made in 1880 to the 
present and third site.

     Waterproof was the first of the three towns in Tensas Parish
to incorporate. It was incorporated by Act 63, second session, 1872.

NEWELLTON; Newellton owes its settlement and name to a love story.
Edward Drumgould Newell, merchant of Grand Gulf, Mississippi, fell
in love with Celia Ann Dorsey, daughter of a wealthy planter at
Port Gibson, Mississippi.  Newell asked for her hand in marriage;
Celia Ann was willing, but her father said an emphatic "No."  He
based his refusal on the fact that young Newell was not a land-
owner and therefore was socially inferior to Miss Celia Ann.

     The resourceful Newell went across the river and bought him-
self a piece of land--10,000 acres. Newell named his place Cypress
Plantation. In 1834 he married Celia Ann and took her to Cypress
Plantation to live.
 
     In 1875, with two of his sons, Newell founded the town of
Newellton, about 5 miles east of Cypress Plantation.  The town was
incorporated June 3, 1904. The town is north of St. Joseph.

                       By: Mary Alice Fontenot and Edith Ziegler