Jim Bradshaw
South Louisiana has a long history of community newspapering, beginning with the Attakapas Gazette, one of the first newspapers published in Louisiana outside of New Orleans.
Its publisher was Theodore Jean Devalcourt, who was born in October 1796 in Baltimore, according to the book “Acadians in Maryland,” although Devalcourt is not an Acadian name.
The late Alton Broussard, who was my journalism prof umpteen years ago and who studied old Louisiana newspapers, speculated that the Devalcourts probably fled the Haitian revolution that broke out in 1791.
Theodore probably came to St. Martinville about 1820 and we know that he first published his newspaper in late 1824. A copy preserved in the state archives dated Nov. 27, 1824, carries the folio number of Vol. 1, No. 4.
According to Broussard, “The first St. Martinville newspaper set a standard that would have been hard for subsequent papers to follow if they had tried. Devalcourt was years ahead of his time in editorial judgment and probably could be classed as a very good printer for his day.”
He said that the Attakapas Gazette was one of the “most vigorous and enterprising of the newspapers published throughout the long and interesting history of … St. Martinville.”
The four-page newspaper was published weekly on Saturdays with two pages in French and two in English. Its news report reached beyond the community and, Broussard noted, “one of its unique features was its departmentalization of the news under four headings, ‘Parish of St. Martin,’ ‘Lafayette,’ ‘St. Mary,’ and ‘Miscellany.’”
Devalcourt may have spoken French better than English, as Broussard notes that the French section “seems to have had a higher literary quality than the English section.” That difference might also have been because of the Attakapas Gazette readership.
“The French section … was serving a highly literate and highly educated class of people,” Broussard said. “Many of the French residents of St. Martin [at that time] were first generation stock who had been educated in France. Their sons in turn were sent to France for their higher education.”
What the English section lacked in finesse, it made up in humor, Broussard found.
“How much of it was original is impossible to say, but at least one may recognize the editor’s ability to select the ridiculous for amusement. In some cases an entire column was devoted to short stories and jokes,” he said.
The English version also usually contained at least one poem. The edition of Nov. 27, 1824, for example, printed two of them, “The Maid of Abutina,” and “Napoleon’s Farewell to France.”
Advertisements gave some indication of the times. An 1830 edition listed prime pork selling for $9.74 a barrel, imported Bordeaux brandy at $1.12 a gallon, gunpowder at $4.50 a keg, and bacon and ham at seven cents a pound.
Advertisements in an 1841 edition listed a number of steamboats that regularly visited the town, including the Bayou Belle, Ajax, Zephyr, Fuselier and A. Porter.
Theodore Devalcourt married Marie Catherine Felonise Guidry in St. Martinville in 1827.
He died on Sept. 27, 1847, and was buried in St. Martin de Tours cemetery. The Attakapas Gazette was apparently published for at least another several years after his death, as it is named in the census of 1850.
A collection of Jim Bradshaw’s columns, Cajuns and Other Characters, is now available from Pelican Publishing. You can contact him at jimbradshaw4321@gmail.com or P.O. Box 1121, Washington LA 70589.