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Louisiana State...
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Louisiana Parishes
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Louisiana Parishes
Louisiana is divided into 64 parishes in the same way that 48 of the other states of the United
States are divided into counties (Alaska is divided into boroughs and census areas).
On March 31, 1807, the territorial legislature divided the state into 19 parishes, without getting rid of the
old counties (which continued to exist until 1845).
In 1811, a
constitutional convention organized the state into seven judicial districts, each consisting of groups of
parishes. In 1816, the first official map of the state used the term, as did the 1845 constitution. Since then,
the official term has been parishes. |
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Assumption Parish, Louisiana
Assumption Parish History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education
County Seat: Napoleonville
Year Organized: 1807
Square Miles: 339
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Court House: P.O. Box 520
Parish Courthouse
Napoleonville, LA 70390-0520
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Etymology - Origin of Parish Name
The parish was named in honor of the Assumption Roman Catholic Church, the oldest in the state.
Demographics:
County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick
Facts
History
Assumption Parish was created on 1807, as an Original Parish and the parish was named in honor of the Assumption
Roman Catholic Church, the oldest in the state. The Parish seat is Napoleonville.
Prior to 1750, the French, proceeding south along Bayou Lafourche from where that stream forks with the Mississippi,
settled on both sides of "the river of the Chitimacha." They were followed by the Spanish who penetrated as far as
Napoleonville which, by the time the exiled Acadians arrived in the 1760's, had become a prosperous little colony. Upon
acquisition of the territory by the United States in 1803, English speaking land seekers came and at Napoleonville,
named by a soldier who had served under the Little Colonel, they found a thriving market place. Yet another group, the
Canary Islanders or Islenos, added to the nationalities entering the area. The Islenos were sent in 1779 and 1780 by
Governor Bernardo de GALVEZ to the locality near Plattenville called Valenzuela Post. The post was about at the site of
Belle Alliance, where today stands a plantation home bearing the latter name and built in 1846 by Charles KOCK. Nearby
are ruins of Belle Alliance Sugarhouse, once one of the most important west of the Mississippi River, and around which a
Negro community has grown. South of the parish seat, the area around Labadieville was taken up by French and Spanish,
joined by Acadians and a sprinkling of Germans from the Cote des Allemands or German Coast to the east on the
Mississippi River. This was during the two decades after 1750. Labadieville takes its name from a pioneer resident, Jean
Louis LABADIE.
Descendants of these settlers comprise a very considerable part of Assumption's present population. Upon the cession to
Spain in the 1760's the first commandant was Nicolas VERRET. He was succeeded by VILLANEUVA. The story is told that the
transfer to the Spanish did not meet the approval of all Assumption men. One, DASPIT ST. AMANT, loudly opposed the new
government and his arrest was ordered. ST. AMANT placed a keg of gunpowder in the door of his home and defied officers;
the latter retreated on his threat to explode the powder. Friends of ST. AMANT met them during the withdrawal and
persuaded the officers that the belligerent citizen should be left strictly alone, which was apparently done.
Following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the first Lafourche Parish Judge appointed by Governor W. C. C. CLAIBORNE was
James MATHER. He ws succeeded by Bela HUBBARD who in turn ws made Parish Judge, and followed by COURVOISIER, Wincelas
PICHOT (who was killed in a duel), and lastly Alexander COVILLIER.
Neighboring Parishes:
- Northeast: Ascension Parish; St. James Parish
- Southeast: Lafourche Parish; Terrebonne Parish
- Southwest: St. Mary Parish
- West: Iberia Parish
- Northwest: St. Martin Parish; Iberville Parish
Cities and Towns:
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- Napoleonville
(County
Seat) |
village |
Incorporated Area |
Parish Resources:
Enter County Resources and Information Here
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County Resource Guide
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The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic
features of our country!"
But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.
Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally,
act locally." |
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