Editing Opelousas, Louisiana (section)

===Early years===
[[File:St. Landry Catholic 1.JPG|thumb|Saint Landry Catholic Church]]
Opelousas takes its name from the Native American tribe [[Opelousa]] who had occupied the area before European contact.

French traders, called ''coureurs de bois'' (forest trappers and hunters), arrived in the Opelousas area in the early 1740s to trade with the Opelousas Indians.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harper |first=John N. |title=Mississippi Valley Mélange: A Collection of Notes and Documents for the Genealogy and History of the Province of Louisiana and the Territory of Orleans |publisher=Provincial Press |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-59804-201-6 |edition=1st |location=Baton Rouge |pages=12–16}}</ref> The French encouraged immigration to the Opelousas Post before they ceded Louisiana to Spain in 1762. Governor [[Jean-Jacques Blaise d'Abbadie|Jean-Jacques d’Abbadie]] opened the "Opelousas Country" to settlers in 1763. An official post was established in 1764; Frenchman Louis Gérard Pellerin was appointed as the first commandant on July 1, 1764.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Brasseaux |first=Carl A. |date=1980–1981 |title=Frontier Tyranny: The Case of Commandant Louis Pellerin, 1764–1767 |journal=[[The McNeese Review]] |volume=27 |pages=15–24}}</ref> By 1766, [[St. Landry Catholic Church|Saint Landry Catholic Church]] was built.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harper |first=John N. |title=The Mother Church of Acadiana: The History of the St. Landry Catholic Church in Opelousas, Louisiana |publisher=Hébert Publications |year=1993 |isbn=979-8-218-20664-2 |edition=1st |location=Rayne, LA |pages=5–9}}</ref>  In 1769, about 100 families, mostly French, were living in the post.  ''Don'' [[Alejandro O'Reilly]], Spanish governor of Louisiana, issued a land ordinance to allow settlers in the frontier of the Opelousas Territory to acquire land grants.  However, O’Reilly forbade [[Cajuns|Acadians]] from settling in the Opelousas area until his successor, [[Luis de Unzaga]], nullified that order and allowed Acadians to settle at the Opelousas.  The first official land grant was made in 1782. Numerous settlers: French, Spanish, [[Louisiana Creole people|Creoles]], and Acadians – mainly from the Attakapas Territory – came to the Opelousas Territory and acquired land grants. {{Citation needed|date=February 2014}} By the mid-1780s, land was granted at the site of contemporary Opelousas.  (Some people confuse the name of this Indian tribe and territory, Opelousas, with that of the [[Appaloosa]] horse. But there is no connection; the name for the Appaloosa breed is derived from ''[[Palouse River|Palouse]]'', a river named by the [[Nez Perce people|Nez Perce]] Northwestern Plains Indians.)

After the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 to France who had regained it in 1800, settlers continued to migrate here from [[St. Martinville, Louisiana|St. Martinville]]. LeBon, Prejean, Thibodaux, Esprit, Nezat, Hebert, Babineaux, Mouton, and Provost were some of the early Creole families. (This use of ''Creole'' meant ethnic French and Spanish people who were born in Louisiana. Later [[Louisiana Creole people|Louisiana Creole]] was a term applied to anyone with French, Spanish, and Canadian ancestry.  Creoles of color were mostly assigned to [[mixed-race]] people, descended primarily from Native Americans, African-Americans, and ethnic French, with other heritage in more recent years.) Other early French Creole families were Roy, Barre, Guenard, Decuir, and Bail. In 1820, Alex Charles Barre, also a French Creole, founded [[Port Barre]]. His ancestors came from the French West Indies, probably after the revolution in which [[Haiti]] ([[Saint-Domingue|St. Domingue]]) became independent. [[Jim Bowie]] and his family were said to have settled in the area ''circa'' 1813.

In 1805, Opelousas became the seat of the newly formed St. Landry Parish – named after the church located there and in honor of [[Landry of Paris|Saint Landry]] – the parish was also known as the Imperial Parish of Louisiana. The year 1806 marked the beginning of significant construction in Opelousas. The first courthouse was constructed in the middle of the town. Later in 1806, Louisiana Memorial United Methodist Church was founded. It was the first [[Methodist]] church in Louisiana. Five years later, the first St. Landry Parish Police Jury met in Opelousas, keeping minutes in the two official languages of English and French. The city was incorporated by legislative act on February 14, 1821. {{citation needed|date=February 2014}}