Local historians to speak at Louisiana Purchase symposium on March 22, 2003 Authors will discuss Pointe Coupee, Avoyelles, Natchitoches, Rapides genealogy Three preeminent Louisiana author/historians are scheduled to present papers at the Louisiana Purchase Bicentennial symposium set for Saturday, March 22, 2003 at the Mansura Pavilion, L’Eglise Street in Mansura, Louisiana. With the theme “The Creole Trail: Home of Louisiana’s First Families,” this program will feature presentations on the interconnected histories and genealogies of Pointe Coupee, Avoyelles and Natchitoches Parishes, three of the oldest settlements in the Mississippi Valley. The symposium, open to the public without charge, is being coordinated by La Commission des Avoyelles, and participants will be welcomed by the La Commission executive committee consisting of Carlos Mayeux, president; Faye E. Treux, vice president; Marilyn B. Coco, secretary-treasurer; Dan Michel, historian; Clyde M. Neck, executive officer; and Wayne L. Coco, architectural advisor. Registration will open on the morning of the event at 9 a.m., and pre-registration may be made by contacting the Avoyelles Commission of Tourism at 1-800-833-4195. The program, consisting of three presentations and a refreshment recess, will last from 9:30 until 12:30. The three speakers will be Brian Costello of New Roads, Robert “Bobby DeBlieux of Natchitoches and Randy DeCuir of Marksville, all of whom are descended from Louisiana’s earliest French settlers and have published extensively since their earliest professional careers. Brian Costello, former editor of the Pointe Coupee Banner, has published 11 books on Louisiana history and culture since 1993, with his 12th anticipated for release this summer. He has compiled tens of  thousands of entries on the Creole families of Pointe Coupee, St. James, St. Martin, St. Landry, Iberia, St. Mary, Natchitoches and Rapides Parishes. President of Le Cercle Historique in New Roads and chairman of the famous New Roads Lions Carnival parade, it was Brian Costello who formulated the concept of a Louisiana “ Creole Trail.” “The river parishes from Baton Rouge to New Orleans are commercially touted as the Great River Road, Southwest Louisiana is widely promoted as Acadiana and Bayou Lafourche has existed as another, self-proclaimed segment of French Louisiana,” Costello stated. “But what about Pointe Coupee, Avoyelles, Rapides and Natchitoches Parishes? They were not areas of Acadian immigration but bastions of an older Creole society that included European, African and racially mixed peoples, predating the “Cajun” communities by several generations. Indeed, a ‘Creole Trail” runs through our four subject parishes, and it is my genuine hope that we come to be acknowledged as such,” Costello continued. Costello, one of the youngest, and last, speakers of Pointe Coupee Parish’s unique Creole dialect, will offer as his presentation at the Louisiana Purchase Bicentennial symposium a paper entitled “Genealogical ties along the Creole Trail.” Robert DeBlieux, former mayor of Natchitoches, is the author of The Garden Club (fiction) as well as numerous tour guides on his native parish. A nationally recognized authority on Louisiana vernacular architecture, he is also an accomplished landscape painter. Founder of the Natchitoches Historic Landmark District, DeBlieux is the owner and operator of a bed and breakfast establishment in the historic Tante Huppe House on Natchitoches’ Front Street, which is filled with vintage 19th century family furnishings, portraits and rare books. DeBlieux’ presentation will be entitled “A European Creole finds his roots in France, and the European Creoles of Natchitoches and the Cane River Country.” Randy DeCuir has published six books since his teenage years and is the publisher of three Avoyelles Parish newspapers: The Weekly News, The Bunkie Record and The Avoyelles Journal. For several years, he published the Louisiana Roots periodical, while continuing his genealogical and historical calling. DeCuir, who has traveled extensively in the home communities of his French ancestors, was the coordinator of the huge DeCuir family reunion in New Roads in 1995, which attracted descendants of pioneer Albert DeCuir from across the nation. Randy DeCuir’s paper will be entitled “Origins of the French Families of Avoyelles.” All historians, genealogists and students of Louisiana history and culture are encouraged to attend this event, which will form one of the highlights of the yearlong, statewide observance of the bicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase. Thank you! bjcpca@bellsouth.net