FOREWORD
(To the First Edition)

It is difficult to write a complete history of St. Charles Parish. The parish was not gifted with an early newspaper and the St. Charles Herald can only count complete issues from 1917 to the present. However, the Herald, founded by ex-Governor Michael Hahn in 1873, does give a historian a good base.

And, of course, all historians tend to be controversial, if only in a limited sphere. A difference of one year in a date will send some people scurrying up the wall. The omission of a name or its misspelling will reduce others to tears. The summary of a relatively recent political battle will evoke contempt from its participants who want the matter forgotten. And, even with these disadvantages in writing this book, I still feel that there is a need for a history of St. Charles Parish.

The greatest part of my original research took place at the L.S.U. Library in Baton Rouge. The Tulane Library collection, while not as extensive as L.S.U.'s, further contributed to the book.

Many thanks to John J. Growl, President of the school board, who spent a few late hours after school board meetings, filling in between the lines of historical episodes.

Gene Yoes, Jr., was a persistent help in the final two chapters. He didn't always win the arguments about what should be in the book, but his suggestions were helpful, and I thank him for them.

I received much help from Mrs. John M. Sellers Walton, who was reared in this parish but takes up residence in New Orleans and in Jackson, Mississippi. The Sellers history came almost entirely from her.

Mr. Leon C. Vial, Jr., gave me the honor of an interview, as did Mrs. Beatrice Triche Troxler. I spent hours with Mr. Richard L. Keller discussing Keller Home Place Plantation. Faye Walker Loupe was also gracious enough to let me look at some of her research.

I must also thank L.S.U. for my education and a little man named Dr. Edwin A. Davis, who has always come to mind when my interest in writing this book waned.

And, finally, my deepest thanks to my wife, Melody, who corrected my English and spelling, who gave her unsolicited comments, and who spent countless hours originally typing this book.

Henry E. "Gene" Yoes III
1973

FOREWORD
(To the Second Edition)

Almost thirty years after I wrote the first edition of my history of St. Charles Parish, I was doing some genealogical research and was struck with how many times my book showed up in various genealogical collections, not only in Louisiana but as far away as Michigan. Somehow one of the genealogical librarians in Calcasieu Parish realized that I was the author of the St. Charles Parish history book, and she spent a great deal of time suggesting that I reissue it. I had moved from the parish in 1979 to attend LSU law school and have only returned to the parish to visit family and occasionally appear in court.

After some thought, I took advantage of the Internet to search various library collections. Much of the revision research took place at the McNeese State University Library. I also used the Calcasieu Parish Library genealogical collection as well as the genealogical collection in East Baton Rouge Parish Library and was amazed as the breath and type of local history materials now available that were not available when I first researched the book as an undergraduate at LSU. Some source materials had not yet been discovered when I first undertook the project in the late 1960s and early 1970's. There was a wealth of new material.

In addition, I was fortunate, as associate editor of the St. Charles Herald and the editor of the River Parish Focus, to have interviewed many prominent and not so prominent citizens of the parish after I had written my first book. I had a wealth of old interviews to weave into this revision. I hadn't touched those notes for three decades.

I thank all who graciously agreed to be interviewed back in the 1970's, though many are no longer with us. As with the first edition, I have been able to count on my wife, Melody Walker Yoes, my wife of now thirty-five years and a descendant from some of the earliest German settlers in the parish, for her proofreading and editing prowess and my daughter-in-law, Taylor Wohleber Yoes, who helped with both those tasks. I have also been able to rely on help from some of my siblings- Michael, Pam, Patrick and Becky to run down or do some remedial work on photographs.

The result is this effort. I hope you will enjoy this effort.

Henry E. "Gene" Yoes III
2005