Society President, Estelle Perrault, called the meeting to order at 10:00 AM.  She announced that the scheduled speaker, Margaret Dunbar Wright, was unable to  come.  Mrs. Wright, who lives in New York, is the granddaughter of Bobby Dunbar, the little boy from Opelousas, who was kidnapped in the early 1900’s.  The mystery surrounding the return of “Little Bobby” to the Dunbar family has been the subject of Mrs. Wright’s research, and she has agreed to allow the Opelousas Museum and Interpretive Center to display her collection of artifacts related to the kidnapping.

Her address to the Imperial St. Landry Genealogical and Historical Society has been re-scheduled for February 8, 2003.  Miss Perrault will try to make arrangements for the Society to meet at the Opelousas Museum and Interpretive Center, to allow Society members to view Mrs. Wright’s extensive collection, after  hearing her presentation.

The St. Landry Parish Office of Tourism has received $7500.00 from the State of Louisiana, to be used in the celebration of the Louisiana Purchase Bicentennial in 2003.  In conjunction with the promotion of the celebration, The Opelousas Museum of Art will exhibit “The Audubon Bird Collection”, featuring some of the work of John J. Audubon.  The Opelousas Museum and Interpretive Center will feature photographs by Freddie Herpin, as part of an exhibit which is devoted to the “forgotten” cemeteries of St. Landry Parish.  Coordinated by Mr. Herpin and Sue Deville, director of the Interpretive Center, the exhibit will also feature customs of mourning in 1803. 

 Several Society members own private collections of printed funeral announcements, which were widely used in the early to mid-1900’s.  Miss Perrault asked members to consider allowing the Society to publish those announcements in a future edition of N’OUBLIEZ PAS.

 Continuing with the list of planned “Louisiana Purchase” activities, Miss Perrault stated that the tourism committee is planning tours of area cemeteries which were in existence in 1803.  Another presentation will be a series of puppet shows by Nicole Buller’s Westminster Academy French students.  It was announced that the Washington Garden Club will stage a play, “Toujours Suzette”.

 A “Show and Tell” session followed, in which Society members spoke briefly about the articles which they had brought to the meeting.  Included were:  old letters written in 1918, with information about prominent local families; collections of old birth certificates, greeting cards, an old memorandum book, a prayer book which was published in 1817, crock bowls, rolling pins, a local newspaper article about four area women who served in the U. S. Military in World War II, and the certificate of induction into the WACS.  Dot Siegel displayed her paternal grandfather’s naturalization papers, dated 1886, and she commented that she was very grateful that her Jewish grandfather had come to America.  Her paternal grandmother’s surname was “Frank”, and Dot wonders if she might be “connected” to “the” Anne Frank, the young Jewish girl whose diary told of her final days of life as a victim of the holocaust under Nazi occupation.

 Catherine Goulas stated that the librarian in Marksville wants to remind genealogists that Roman Catholic priests traveled from New Orleans to Natchitoches in Louisiana in the early days.  Marriage records were often left in Rapides Parish while those priests made their way north.  In those cases, marriages which had been performed in the southern portion of the state might be recorded in Rapides Parish, and not in the parish where the ceremony took place.

Joan Nacoste, who is compiling information on local musicians who were popular in the early days of the city of Opelousas, asked for suggestions from members.  It was suggested that she contact someone at Runyon Products, a local company which produces mouth pieces for musical instruments.  Another society member stated that the Winbush family of Opelousas might be able to help her.  Miss Perrault stated that, in the early 1900’s, a gazebo on the courthouse square regularly featured music by a band which was under the direction of a Mr. Lachapelle, a man of color.

 JoAnne Savoie has purchased LOUISIANA TROOPS 1720-1770, by Winston Deville, which she has donated to the Society.  This book also lists officers and some maps.

Miss Perrault showed two books, which she purchased on the internet.  One, published by the grandson of one of the Perrault brothers who originally settled in  Canada, includes information about Joseph Francois Perrault.  The other book also traces her Perrault family lines.  She showed a beautiful china saucer, another internet purchase, in the “Darwin” pattern, a tangible “connection” to that ancestral line.

 James St. Cyr suggested that Society members volunteer to assist tourists who might inquire about specific surnames at the local tourist center.  Members who are willing to share their research then signed the list.  Mr. St. Cyr then presented a video of the talk which was presented by the late Father Donald Hebert to the St. Pierre Genealogical Society of Carencro, in 1999.

Society members were reminded that the featured speaker on February 8^th will be Margaret Dunbar Wright.  Mrs. Edwin (Jody) Smith, Jr.  of Baton Rouge will be the speaker on March 8^th. 

 Mrs. Irma Catherine Goulas, of Bunkie, won the door prize, a heavy “book-carrying bag”. 

Meeting adjourned at 11:40 AM.

Submitted by Sylvia David Morel, Recording Secretary