The Creation of Winn Parish (1852). Act # 8; Winn, Louisiana Contributed by Greggory E. Davies. ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** No. 85 AN ACT To create the parish of Winn Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Louisiana, in General Assembly convened, That, the parishes of Natchitoches, Catahoula and Rapides shall be divided as follows, to wit: Beginning at the line dividing township six and seven where said line crosses the Rigolet Bon Dieu, thence up the Bon Dieu to the mouth of the Saline Bayou, thence up said Bayou to the Saline Lake, thence up the Saline Lake and Bayou to the Bienville line, then due east on said line to the South east corner of township fourteen, North of Range one East; thence due South on the line dividing the ranges one and two East, to the Bayou Castor; thence down the said Castor to the line dividing townships nine and ten; thence due West on said line to the South East corner of township ten Range West to the South East corner of township seven Range three West; thence due West on the line dividing townships six and seven to the place of beginning. Sec. 2. Be it further enacted, &c., That the territory within the limits defined in the first section of this act, shall be erected into a new parish to be called the parish of Winn. Sec. 3. Be it further enacted, &c., That it shall be the duty of the Governor of this State, immediately after the passage of this act, to order an election in said new parish, for sheriff, coroner, clerk, parish recorder and all other officers that may be necessary therefor, whose powers and duties shall be the same as those of like parish officers throught this State; also for the election of five commissioners whose duty it shall be, immediately after their election, to divide the parish into not less than five nor more than seven police jury wards. Sec. 4. Be it further enacted , &c., That all justices of the peace and constables residing within the territory of said new parish who held commissions as justices and constables of the parishes of Natchitoches, Catahoula, or Rapides, shall continue to hold their said offices and perform the duties thereof, as justices and constables of said new parish until the next general election for said offices. Sec. 5. Be it further enacted, &c., That the Governor shall issue his writ of election for parish officers and commissioners to any justice of the peace aforesaid of the said new parish, and it shall be the duty of the justice to whom such writ shall be issued, to order and hold the election aforesaid and make returns thereof according to existing laws, in the same manner as is required of sheriffs in such cases, and the said election shall be held by the last commissioners of election who were appointed by the police juries of the parishes of Natchitoches, Catahouls, and Rapides within the boundaries of said new parish, or such others as may be chosen according to law and at the election precincts established by existing laws. Sec. 6. Be it further enacted, &c., That so soon as the commissioners elected in accordance with the provisions of the third section of this act, shall have divided said new parish into police jury wards, they shall, immediately thereafter order elections to be held in each of said wards and cause notices to be posted up in three public places therein, designating the time and places of holding said elections, also said commissioners shall appoint three persons residing in each ward, to hold said elections who shall make due return thereof to said commissioners according to law. Sec. 7. Be it further enacted, &c., That immediately after the election of police jury members as aforesaid, it shall be the duty of said members to meet at some place to be selected by themselves and to locate the seat of justice of said parish of Winn within six miles of the geographical centre of said parish and to levy a parish tax for the purpose of erecting a court house and jail which shall be built as soon as thereafter as practicable. Sec. 8. Be it further enacted, &c., That the police jury of the parish of Winn, shall have all the powers that are now possessed by and be subject to all the duties enjoined upon police juries in general, thorough out this State by existing laws. Sec. 9. Be it further enacted, &c., That the parish of Winn shall forma a part of and belong to the eleventh judicial district of this State, and the District court for said parish shall be held on the first Monday of January and the fourth Monday of June for the other terms, and it shall be the duty of the clerks of the District Courts of the parishes of Natchitoches, Catahoula, and Rapides to transmit immediately, after the election and qualification of the clerk of the parish of Winn, to said clerk, all petitions, answers, documents and papers of every kind , appertaining to suits pending, wherein the defendant of defendants reside in said parish of Winn. Sec. 10. Be it further enacted, &c., That immediately after the election and qualification of the recorder of the parish of Winn, it shall be the duty of the recorders of the parishes of Natchitoches, Catahoula, and Rapides to transmit to the recorder of the parish of Win, at the expense of the last named parish, the originals of all acts, deeds, titles and papers in their offices relative to or affecting landed property, or slaves situated in the parish of Winn; and it shall be the duty of the recorder of the parish of Winn to inscribe them in a well bound book. Sec. 11. Be it further enacted, &c., That immediately after the passage of this act, the sheriffs of the parishes of Natchitoches, Catahouls, and Rapides shall collect, in money, the taxes assessed for the year eighteen hundred and fifty one, and for all previous years which shall remain unpaid, against the citizens within the territory of their respective parishes which, by this act, shall compose the parish of Winn, and pay over, the State taxes to the State and the parish taxes, to their respective parishes; the said sheriffs previous to the collection of said taxes shall also furnish the sheriff of the parish of Winn with a certified list of the names of and the amount due by each citizen of said parish, and when the list shall have been furnished and the taxes paid in as above required, it shall be the duty of the parish treasurers of the parishes of Natchitoches, Catahoula and Rapides to pay over to the parish of Winn, the above described parish taxes collected within its limits, upon a requisition being made by the duly qualified treasurer of the same, less the commissions for collecting the same. Sec. 12. Be it further enacted, &c., That the organization of the free school system shall be the same in the parish of Winn as in the other parishes of the State; provided that with the consent of the district directors of the district concerned, it shall be lawful for any district which may be divided by the creation of said parish, to retain its integrity and identity and to draw the funds due such district from the school funds of the parishes of Natchitoches, Catahoula and Rapides, in proportion to the number of children that may be in each parish respectively. Sec. 13. Be it further enacted, &c., That the parish of Winn shall be entitled to one Representative in the Legislature and shall be attached to and form part of the enatorial and Congressional distric to which the parish of Natchitoches belongs. Sec. 14. Be it further enacted, &c., That the commissioners to be elected under the third section of this act, are hereby empowered to purchase from the United States Government (provided the seat of justice be located on public lands), one quarter of a section of land, and lay off the same into lots bo be sold at public sale, and the proceeds of said lands to be appropriated for the erection of the public buildings of the said parish of Winn. JOHN E. KING, Speaker of the House of Representatives J. B. PLAUCHE Lieutenant-Governor and President of the Senate, Approved, February 24th , 1852 JOSEPH WALKER Governor of the State of Louisiana (The above legislative act was furnished to the submitter by Mr. Lewis "Mercury" Morris, Assistant Director of the Louisiana State Archives, Office of the Louisiana Secretary of State, Baton Rouge, LA. The original act was written in English and French. Submitted by Greggory Ellis Davies.)