Editing Slidell, Louisiana (section)

===Beginning===
One of the earlier settlers to the area was Foster Willie. Along with a younger brother, Wesley Coke Asbury Gause, Judge Wingate, and several others, he left [[Shallotte, North Carolina]], on February 18, and arrived at [[Pearlington, Mississippi]], on April 14, 1836. Wesley and his family remained there, while John and family crossed the [[Pearl River (Mississippi–Louisiana)|Pearl River]] and built a log cabin on the west bank, a little further south. He then began a [[lumber mill]] in the fledgling town later known as Slidell. His traveling back and forth from lumber yard to home created a road known today as Gause Boulevard, a major east–west street in the town. The lumber yard was where Gause Boulevard crosses the railroad track. The log cabin was built at the east end of the road, just a few yards from the river. The house stood until the late 1990s, and a small family burial plot still remains where John is buried between his two wives, Lydia Russ and Johanna Frederica VanHeemskerk.

Slidell was founded on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain in 1882 and 1883 during construction of the [[New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad]] (N.O.N.E.).<ref name="history">[http://www.slidell.la.us/pdf/slidell_museum_brochure.pdf Slidell museum brochure] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080625203239/http://www.slidell.la.us/pdf/slidell_museum_brochure.pdf |date=2008-06-25 }}</ref><ref name="History of Slidell">{{Cite web| url=http://myslidell.com/history| title=History of Slidell | publisher=City of Slidell| access-date=June 7, 2019}}</ref> The N.O.N.E. line connected [[New Orleans]] to [[Meridian, Mississippi]]. The town was named in honor of American politician and Confederate ambassador to France [[John Slidell]], and officially chartered by the [[Louisiana State Legislature]] in 1888.<ref name="history"/>