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| The Following is an Exerpt of the Lombard Abstract, dealing with the Southern Boundary ..... about midway between Parcperdue Bayou and the village of Parcperdu, as shown on the St. Martinville quadrangle map; thence northwestwardly along a direct line that, on its way to the woods on Dalby's Coulee' in the northeast quarter of Section 52 of Township 11 South, Range 4 East. as shown on the Milton quadrangle map; thence down Dalby's Coulee' in a northwesterly direction to its junction with the Vermilion River in Section 50 of Township 11 South, Range 4 East; thence up the Vermilion River following the thread of its channel, in a northward direction to it 's junction with the Vermilion River following the thread of it's channel, in a northward direction, to it juntion with Grange's Coulee'' (shown on the Lafayette quadrangle map the eastern end of Section 83 of Township 10 South, Range 4 East): thence along said Granger's Coulee' to the point in Section 2 of Township 11 South, Range 3 East, shown on the Leroy quadrangle as the point of departure of a stretch of direct line extending to a point on Indian Bayou in the southwest quarter of Section 30 of Township 10 South, Range 3 East (as shown on the Duson Quadrangle); thence down Indian Bayou, following the sinuosity of the thread of its channel, in a westward direction, to its confluence with Bayou queue De Tortue in Section 29 of Township 11 South, Range 2 East................. |
| The Final Word ? Continued..2 |
| "....I mean it is just a whole messed up deal. Before computers, I guess if you knew the Sheriff or the Assessor or somebody you could change these lines around, you know." Hubert Faulk (June 26, 2000) Vermilion Parish Police Juror |
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| (Above) GLO State Map of Louisiana from 1879.This closeup is of Lafayette Parish. The small "M" added, indicate the location of the town of Maurice, LA. The boundary dips well into Township 11, Range 3 East. (Click on the Map to Enlarge) |
| In 1860 the environment changed in Louisiana just as it did throughout America with the onset of the Civil War. Many local men died in the war and afterwards there was a time of reconstruction which left the lives and economy of the south in disarray for many years. Maps, and other records were taken by Union troops and many courthouses were razed and the capitol at Baton Rouge was burned. This is in part reason for an absence of maps and land information in the region and the south. However, the GLO continued to operate out of Washington, D.C. and the work of surveying, though interupted was completed for much of the country by the end of the War. Resurveys continued and by the late a 1880's land in the Region was settled and grants awarded. The GLO produced annual reports which allow us today to track which areas were surveyed. These are difficult to find now, but several were located from map collectors. The General Land Office also produced State Maps from 1865 to 1879 after the data from the surveyors was recorded. A copy was found online (1879 Louisana Map-Right). This map reflects the location of the coulees in the GLO Maps in the Lafayette Parish Clerk's record and the Confederate Map presented to the LCG Council in December of 2003. It reflects the southwestern boundary line to extend into Township 11 South Range 3 East, and the intersection of the direct line from Granger's Coulee to Indian Point. |
| During the 1880's much of the emphasis of both the Lafayette and Vermilion Parish Police Jury involved developing the infrastructure for commerce. Both parishes built roads and bridges which crossed the political boundary lines of adjoining parishes. Many of the references to roads and bridges were denoted by bounding owners. This may have been in part due to a lack of maps and sufficient reference data. However, there are sufficient descriptions of natural boundaries with section, township and ranges in each parish in both Conveyance records, and Police Jury Minutes to identify the natural landmarks., These are the landmarks noted in the GLO Surveys and corresponding Legislative Act description of 1844. In 1885, the Vermilion Parish Courthouse burned to the ground and with it, all of the Vermilion Parish Records. This created a great deal of confusion with land ownership, as one might inagine. However, the Vermilion Police Jury Record has sufficient references after 1885 to conclude that the jurors were aware of the same natural boundaries. It is after the 1910's names of the coulees begin to change in descriptions and older descriptions are ignored. By 1929 in Vermilion Parish, references to Coulee des Noix and Isle des Cannes gave way to Granger's coulee, and by the time of the Merrill Bernard Survey, Coulee des Noix was vanishing from the Vermilion record and the Granger named began to creep up Coulee Noix in a north-eastern direction, foreshortening the southwestern boundary between Lafayette and Vermilion. In 1929, during the time of the Great Depression, Mr. Bernard presented a proposal to the Lafayette Parish Police Jury to prepare a Parish Map of Lafayette Parish. In the next juror meeting which followed, Bernard withdrew the proposal. Instead he proposed landowner maps for the Tax Assessor. The President of the Lafayette body approved a note of $700.00 with 5% interest for the following January in 1930. After reasearching the minutes through to 1941, I could find no mention of any landowner maps or an account showing Bernard was paid for the work. The current Tax Assessor, Mr. Conrad Comeaux, stated he could not find the maps in his records or in the Lafayette Parish Clerk's record. It can be contended the work was never done and Bernard was not paid. There was no record in the Lafayette Parish Clerk's record.. Later, in the fall of 1930, Bernard contracted with the Vermilion Parish Police Jury for a map of the boundary line between Lafayette Parish and Vermilion. Vermilion resolved to have a survey made, and to call it "The Boundary by the Louisiana Legislative Act No. 81 of 1884". They additionally resolved to meet on April 27th, 1931 at a predetermined location to adopt the findings. Vermilion Jurors stated they would notify Lafayette Parish formally to attend the next meeting to accept the Bernard findings. There is no mention or formal record of Vermilion contacting Lafayette Parish, and no mention in the Lafayette Juror minutes whatsoever referencing the attempt by Vermilion. The survey was to begin at Coulee Isle des Cannes and the Bayou Vermilion. After the April 27, 1931 date, Vermilion Parish Jurors met to adopt by ordinance, the Bernard findings. Lafayette Parish Juror minutes have no mention of the Vermilion ordinance or and no acceptance of the Bernard results, ever. In 1933, Vermilion once again met and stated they would contact Lafayette Parish at their next regularly scheduled meeting to have Vermilion's engineer or surveyor along with the Lafayette engineer to agree on the Bernard findings. Again there is no mention of a meeting in either Parishes Juror Meeting Minutes. Lafayette simply did not participate. In 1935, the Bernard survey was introduced in the case of Commercial Bank v. Meaux. Once again Bernard's work was not accepted. It was dismissed by the Appealate Court as "unsatifactory" in the decision by Judge Elliot. 1935 is the last the Bernard Survey is mentioned, until the discussion of the boundary rose again in 1999. The Bernard survey appears as though it was lost and miraculously resurrected in the office of a Vermilion Parish Surveyor and is touted as a legitimate attempt to re-establish the boundary between Lafayette and Vermilion Parish. LCG's Assistant Director of Public Works, Bill Campbell (no apparent relation of John Campbell) and the Engineer for Vermilion Parish, Eugene Sellers had correspondence with the State Land Office in 1999. According to correspondence in the Lafayette Public Works file, the intent was to establish a pre-determined line using the Gervis Lombard Abstract of 1944 and the Bernard Survey of the 1930's. It is incongruent to use only information from the 1930's and 1940's to determine a boundary line established in 1844. The only reference to the 1844 time period was the Legislative Act (1844). Officials complained of the vague nature of the description and references to the timber long since removed, without looking back in time to resolve their questions. In a meeting in 2000 with Mr. John Evans of the State Land Office, Mr. Charles St. Romain, it appeared only a matter of consequence that the Bernard line would be accepted, as local government and the State Land Office was satisfied with the Gervis Lombard Abstract and the findings in the Bernard Survey. As you will see, there was no evidence of Mr. Lombard, Mr. Bernard in 1929, or Mr.'s Campbell, Sellers and John Evans completing any real forensic research back to the time of 1844. Remember their objective? To RE-ESTABLISH the boundary line dividing Lafayette and Vermilion Parishes according to the Legislative Act of 1844! |
| (Below) Note that in Lombard's 1944 description, Isle des Cannes is completely omitted. Lombard uses quadrangle maps which should not be used as authoritative. Lombard places the departure point in Section 2, Bernard places it in Section 2 as well. My research places the departure point farther west in Section 9 of T. 11 S, R.3 E, just as the GLO map above. |
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