Archive Record
Metadata
Accession number |
2001.006 |
Catalog Number |
2001.006.001 |
Object Name |
Audiocassette |
Date |
20 Dec 2000 |
Title |
Oral History Interview with W.G. Beauregard, M.D. |
Scope & Content |
Original Tape. Interview: W. G. Beauregard, M.D. December 20, 2000 TAPE A [1-273] [Dr. Beauregard]: I am giving a brief historical description of Coleville, La, which was one of the early sites in the northern part of Bossier Parish, which was a stagecoach stop between Benton and Bellevue. What I am describing is the early site of Coleville, which is approximately four and one-half miles east of Benton on Highway 162, and going east at the top of the first large hill after Butler Hill. Butler Hill Road turns north off of the highway at Butler Hill and the next large hill after that is the site of old Coleville. It was on the right, headed east. Today it is marked by a sign, which shows where the old road went. And I have tried to delineate the old roadbed with plastic tape and with PVC pipe. Unfortunately, my parents sold the old site where our country store was at the very top of the hill a number of years ago. It goes right across where the old road was, so that there has been a good deal of disturbance of the original site. This property is now owned by a party named Yates, but we own the part of the road that goes to the east and to the west of that property. The old house, which now sits at the top of the hill, was the old house that we lived in at the time, and that house now probably is one hundred years old or more. It used to be lived in by an old "Dr. Cade" years ago as I understand, who was some sort of country doctor. I won't get in the middle of the history of Coleville because that's been so well described on record. What I would like to describe is how the site looked to me when I was young person. I lived there from approximately 1941 until 1950. We moved there when I was seven years old, and we had a country store on the top of that hill for a number of years, on the south side of the highway. The site that I am going to describe is directly behind and slightly to the west of that country store. The old roadbed could be easily seen at that time, and probably fifteen feet, I would estimate ten or fifteen feet, to the north of the roadbed, was the site of an old well. This was pointed out to me by my father at the time, and it had been filled in so that it was, by that time, only two or three feet deep. But, the well site was still visible. On the west side of the well, on the very edge of the well, (which must have been approximately four to five feet in diameter) was an oak tree which was probably eighteen to twenty-four inches in diameter. I don't know, I can't explain why that oak tree grew up to be that size on the very edge of the well, unless perhaps, they put the well under the tree as a site for watering the horses. (Obviously, the tree was much younger than the well and grew on the edge of the abandoned well.) The tree is still alive and twice the size I remembered it. The well was at the immediate foot of the tree on the east side of the tree. Digging would probably be difficult because of tree roots. (On February 9, 2001 Dr. Beauregard, his daughter and son-in-law located the tree on the Yates property.) The well became more filled in after that, and I had not looked at the property for a number of years, until I retired December 31, 1996 and became interested in working with it. When I went back there, I spoke to the people who live on the property now and asked them if they had ever seen any indication of where the well was, because I was having difficulty finding it. Apparently, it had been completely filled in, and Mr. Yates pointed out an area which was sinking in the back yard behind his house, which he said must have been the old well because it started there for no reason. I think that is probably right, because the area there is hard-packed clay, and there wouldn't be any other reason for an area sinking. The area of the sinking well that he pointed out to me was probably five or six feet in diameter, or even a little bit more. I recently found the true old well site which is about 20-30 feet away at the base of the large oak tree on the east side. The tree is on the west edge of the well. I believe the tree is a water oak and on February 9, 2001 the tree was at the very edge of the well. The site of old Coleville must have been at the very top of the hill, since this well was slightly to the north of the road, and was not at the exact top of the hill. Apparently, the watering station for stagecoach horses must have been slightly to the west of where the original building was for Coleville. I know about Coleville largely through a visit a long time ago, when I must have been only eight or nine years. Mr. Artis Manry came by for some reason to visit our store, and he was kind enough to take the time with a child my age to explain the significance of that old site at Coleville. I think it was exceptional that he would take the time to tell an eight or nine year old boy the history of the area and why it was important. The road itself has more of an excavated appearance because in those days instead of highways being built up, they just ran them over whatever ground was there. It got worn through, rather than built up, and of course, it was usually muddy in the wintertime. The sides of the road are as elevated four to five feet, which is still visible, but of course, it is so overgrown now that it is difficult to see the road unless one knew where it was before. But once the tape is laid out on this road, both on the eastern segment and the western segment, it is easy to see the old road there. It might be interesting to take a metal detector and cover this area to see if there are any old horseshoes or metal objects that could be found in this area. As I said, it's a shame that the actual site of Coleville itself is now occupied by other people (other than what we own) but the road is easily seen on either side of that property. All of the activity there has changed the site so much in recent years. If anyone wanted to investigate the old well site itself, I'm sure that Mr. Yates would be glad to point that out to them. To the north on the north side of the road is the old Sibley Cemetery, and there is a sign, (which is in need of replacement), but a green sign saying Sibley Cemetery across the road. The Sibley Cemetery used to be on our property also, but my father sold ten acres and it now belongs on property that was originally owned Mr. Arthur Jones. And I believe by Mr. W. L. Creamer who owns that property now, or if not him, his wife, who was the daughter of Arthur Jones. The Sibley Cemetery has the grave of a Revolutionary War soldier in it and also some progeny of John Sibley. He was the physician sent by Thomas Jefferson to this area originally, and who has relatives buried in that cemetery, including his third wife who died when she was at Coleville visiting, I believe, her son. And, there is also a grave in there of a son-in-law of John, some relative of John Sibley's who was a son-in-law, I believe, of Thomas Jefferson. I may be wrong in that, but it was some relationship there. Anyway, the cemetery has not been too well kept up until recent years, when some people have been out cleaning it and trying to make the old gravesites obvious. The last time I was there, trees had been cut out that were infringing on the cemetery, but the cemetery is almost visible from the highway being only maybe four or five hundred feet north of the highway. I mainly wanted to describe what I knew about the Coleville site, and this is mostly what I know. I had a friend speak with Mr. Clifford Jones, who is still alive and in his eighties, who described the old road. He worked for the Louisiana Highway Department for years and he remembers the old road before it was replaced by the present road in 1928. The old road cannot be seen in many areas between Benton and Bellevue, in fact, I don't know of any areas that it can be seen for sure, other than where I have demarcated it on this property. I tried to indicate it with PVC pipe and plastic tape as much as possible. [Dr. Beauregard]: Do you have any questions, Shanna? [Shanna]: Tell us about your parents and your grandparents. [Dr. Beauregard]: My parents were Wilbur George Beauregard, who was originally from Rapides Parish and was a full-blooded Frenchman. He taught school in Caddo Parish and that's where he met my mother, who was Ida Peyton Colquitt Beauregard. And they were original settlers in Caddo Parish in the Hosston area. Descendents are now in Shreveport, and me. My parents originally met at the Louisiana State Normal College. I was born April 19, 1934 at the old Schumpert Hospital in Shreveport. My mother's parents were Peyton Henry Colquitt, and Ida Lawton Colquitt. My father's parents were Octave Beauregard, and his wife, Florence Marchal Beauregard. My grandfather, the one from Echo, Louisiana near Marksville, was a descendent of General Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard. His wife, Florence Marchal, was from a different set of French people who came down the river from Illinois. They floated large rafts down the river to settle in Louisiana, and then sold the lumber from the rafts when they got to New Orleans. My grandfather, his descent was from the Beauregards in the New Orleans area, and they were originally sent directly from France by Louis, I think Louis XVI. They had a large plantation south of New Orleans. My mother's parents and grandparents came from Opelika, Alabama, where there are still some Colquitts in Alabama. The Lawton's, my grandmother's side of the family, maternal grandmother, I believe came originally from South Carolina, and they of course came over from the British Isles. So my mother was mostly Scotch-Irish. My mother taught school at Benton School for a number of years, and also taught in Vivian and in Hosston and in Doddridge, Arkansas. My father also taught school in the Vivian/Pine Island area, and Oil City area, and Hosston area. But, for a number of years they owned, between approximately1927 and 1942, a grocery store halfway between Bossier and Benton on the east side of the highway, about one mile south of Vanceville. We went from there to this farm that we bought, this three hundred acre farm, where Coleville was. I remember my father bought that three hundred acres for $6,000, and at the present, we still own 106 acres, or my daughters do, the site where Coleville is. I have given them copies of the sign that I put on the property and told them about where the road is, so they will know where it is. My phone number at West Monroe is (318) 396-8507. My address is: 1100 McMillan Road, West Monroe, LA 71291. My email address WBEAUREGARD@JAM.RR.COM and if there is any further information I can give about the property I would be glad to do so. The timber on the property is managed by a forester, Mr. Mike Merritt, of Taylor, Louisiana. [Shanna]: Tell us what you year you think your family bought the Coleville site? [Dr. Beauregard]: I think, I'm not sure of the exact year that my family bought the site, but I was just going into the third grade, and must have been about eight years old, which would make it 1942 approximately. But, I may be wrong, I don't know the exact date, but before then I believe the property was owned Mr. Padgett, who was later the Sheriff of Bossier Parish, L. H. Padgett. [Shanna]: And the house that the site is on? [Dr. Beauregard]: The house at the top of the hill is a very old brown house, which is apparently still occupied, and that is amazing to us, because it was it was built in a very old-fashioned manner. It is sitting on wooden sills on concrete blocks, and I'm astounded that the house is still standing (laughing). I'm not sure the year that house was built though, but we were told that it was built by some old doctor (ha), named "Dr. Cade," but I don't know anything really about the history of that either. [Shanna]: There were no other old buildings on the property? [Dr. Beauregard]: There were no old buildings there at the time other than the old house there. [Shanna]: You never found any old coins there, or anything like that? [Dr. Beauregard]: We never found any old coins. As far as I know the place has never been over with a metal detector. It's interesting that a barbed wire and hogwire fence that parallels this, the south side of that old original road that was there until 1928 is still there. The quality of the wire was such that when my Dad put it up, probably in 1942 or 1943, it's still good. I don't think you can get wire that good anymore (laughing). But you can still see the old fence there, and I remember my father puttting up that fence. [Shanna]: What was the name of the store that your family had? [Dr. Beauregard]: It was I think, back then, I think Beauregard Grocery. We later had a store in Benton for years called Benton Grocery. My mother ran that after my Dad died in 1954. She ran it for quite some time. My mother died in 1992, and I don't have any brothers or sisters, I'm an only child. A lifelong friend of mine, Mr. Robert M. Parker, is a descendant of the Sibleys, the Hanks and the Wallaces -- all original settlers of Bossier Parish. He is more familiar with the graves in Sibley Cemetery, Rocky Mount Cemetery and Wallace Cemetery that I am. He lives on Smitherman Street in Shreveport. He is also related to the Fuliloves. Three year ago, I put signs on the property to try to keep people from dumping trash there. I put some signs saying "Coleville Hunting Club", an arbitrary name that I picked out, and it's interesting that some of the neighbors came up to me and asked me, "Where is Coleville?" and, I said, "Well, you live at Coleville". None of the people out there, until I told them, knew that Coleville was where they lived. I thought that was rather humorous. But then they couldn't imagine where Coleville Hunting Club came from, and I put the signs up just to try to prevent people from desecrating the property -- (laughing) leaving trash out there. [Shanna]: Well, we thank you, Dr. Beauregard for the information on Coleville. [Dr. Beauregard]: I am sure there are some small details that I'm forgetting right now. I wish that I had a lot more information about Coleville, but I think most of what I know is already on record. I do think it would be interesting though to go there with a metal detector, although there may be a possibility of finding old coins there, because I understand at one time there was a short time that a post office was there. Of course, there was nothing in the way of structures there. I don't know the precise site of the building of Coleville. It would show up in old pictures. But, it would probably be mostly finding old nails and horseshoes and things like that along the road like that I would imagine. And I will be glad to speak to anybody else about it, if they have any questions that come up about it later. Do you have any other questions? [Shanna]: No sir, I don't think so. [Dr. Beauregard]: I appreciate the opportunity to do this, I can't believe that after all these years I've taken an interest in that site, something that I should have investigated years ago when I was younger, but I just didn't seem to have time to do it, or have the inclination to do it. Thank you very much. END TAPE AT 273. |
People |
Beauregard, Wilbur George, Jr. (Dr.) |
Search Terms |
Coleville Stagecoach Oral history |
Lexicon category |
6: T&E For Communication |
Interview date |
2000-12-20 |
Recording media |
Cassette Tape |
Lexicon sub-category |
Sound Communication T&E |
Inventoried date |
2025-06-12 |