In 1950, the Times Picayune ran the following news item that had appeared in its pages from 100 years earlier. The news on September 3, 1850 (some one hundred and seventy two years ago), included the following.
Choctaws In Madisonville
In the neighborhood of Madisonville, on the beautiful Tchefuncte, Indian name for "deep water," a large number of Choctaws still resided, though the tribe was diminishing very fast.
Its hunting grounds were west of the Mississippi near Fort Smith, beyond the boundary of Arkansas, up to the source of the Canadian and as far south as Red river on the Arkansas line.
Many were citizens, and many who received schooling from the Government, under the 1830 treaty of Dancing Rabbit creek, were acquainted with all the arts of husbandry. The tribe received annually $6,000.
The Lesassier House In Madisonville
In Madisonville, which in 1820 was the most fashionable watering place on the lake, Mr. Louis Lesassier, New Orleans, had a most beautiful country residence, with a highly cultivated parterre in front and two immense forest oaks, the shade of one of which covered nearly one thousand square yards.
