In a message dated 12/9/03 7:34:14 PM Central Standard Time, Tmmshu@aol.com writes: > Hi everyone, > can anyone tell me where the Bayou Mallet comes in? I can't find it on my > map. > Thank you, > ============= Following is what I found on Bayou Mallet: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- BAYOU MALLET Bayou Mallet was once called Bayou Catar. It was later named for Pierre Mallet. He and his brother Antoine were early French settlers of the Opelousas district. They were minors in 1768, when Jacques Courtableau acted as their guardian in a transaction involving a French land grant. The Mallet land was just west of the Maxie community, about eight miles north of Crowley. Early landowners in the Bayou Mallet area included Jacob Bihm, a native of Germany; Joseph C. Poiret, Chevalier de l'Ordre Royal et Militaire de St. Louis; Joseph Armand, who owned a large tract on Prairie Cottereau; Francois Rozas, who owned land on Bayou Catar; and Michel Prudhomme Sr. and Michel Prudhomme Jr., who together owned land on both sides of Bayou Mallet. The Prudhomme home, built in 1796, was identified in the Crowley newspaper of Aug. 25, 1888, as the oldest home still standing in the parish. Other early settlers in the area included Jean-Baptiste Young, who had land on the north side of the bayou about three miles East of Eunice; John Fruge, who owned land adjacent to the Young tract; Frederick Miller, whose land extended across the parish line into St. Landry Parish; John Miller, Frederick's brother; Jean-Baptiste Stelly Sr., who owned land on a small stream west of Frederick Miller's property; and Michel Carrier, who had 800 arpents extending into Prairie Faquetaïque and 1,000 arpents in "Woods Bayou Mallet." Bennet Jopling claimed a large tract "in the bayou of Mallet's woods," though the land was first owned by Joseph Chevalier Poiret. Adjacent to the Jopling tract was land owned by Thomas Bledsoe, which had originally been claimed by Jean Doucet. Father Louis Buhot, a French priest from Normandy, held land on the South side of the bayou about halfway between Eunice and Mowata. He was curate for the Opelousas church about 12 years, coming there in 1801, and remaining there until his death in 1813. He also claimed land in St. Landry Parish and in the Avoyelles District "for the use of the church." Patrick Gurnett's land was on the south bank of Bayou Mallet, just west of the Frey community. William Johnson held a large rectangle of land on Prairie Faquetaïque. Johnson's neighbors to the west were Fabien and Louis Richard, probably brothers, perhaps uncle and nephew. (Source: Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser, August 26, 1997 Acadia communities have colorful histories )by Jim Bradshaw