The Fontenots form one of the largest family groups of French origin in Louisiana, most of the members living W the southwestern part of the state, especially in old St. Landry Parish where their ancestors settled in the mid-eighteenth century. Most of the Louisiana families Of that surname descend from Jean-Louis Fontenot dit Colin, a sergeant of the French forces stationed in Mobile During the early eighteenth century.* A native of Poitou Province, west-central France, Jean-Louis in 1726 married Louise-Angélique Henry at Mobile, the two producing eleven known children, seven of them sons.

Although most of the children were born in Mobile, they were reared at the frontier post of Ft. Toulouse (Poste des Alibamons) near present Montgomery, Alabama, where their father was transferred probably in the late 1730s and where he died in 1755.

of the seven sons married and began families, but after the transfer of West Florida Territory to England in 1763, the Fontenots, with many other French families of the Alabama-Mississippi Gulf Coast, elected to migrate to Louisiana. In 1764 they arrived in New Orleans, and six of the Fontenot brothers (four of them with families) proceeded upriver to Pointe Coupee and thence inland to the settlement of Opelousas on Bayou Courtableau at the prairie frontier. There they began the large and prolific Fontenot clan of old St. Landry Parish.

One of the seven Fontenot sons-Jean-Louis dit Cadet, his wife Marie-Françoise Lagrange, and children-failed to accompany his brothers to the Opelousas country, but rather settled along the Mississippi River above New Orleans.

One of his sons-Louis dit Grand Louis (m.

1786 Marie-Josephe Fontenot)-eventually joined his uncles and cousins in Opelousas,6 but four other sons (Maurice, m. 1778 Hélène Martin; François, m. Marianne Matherne; Auguste, m. 1781 Elizabeth Martin; Henri, m. 1783 Reine Kalsberger) remained on the Mississippi, establishing the Fontenot line of St. John and St. James parishes.

The descendants of Henri of St. John eventually settled as swampers along the lower Amite River near French Settlement and Whitehall in Livingston Parish, where several Fontenot families live today.

Most of the Mississippi River Fontenots, however, have left their original homes, many having moved into New Orleans probably during the past fifty years.

In contrast to their small representation in the river parishes, the Fontenots of old St. Landry developed into one of the most prolific and prominent family groups of French origin in southwestern Louisiana. As indicated above, the six Fontenot brothers of Alabama settled along Bayou Courtableau, near present Washington, and by 1766 all had obtained land grants from the Spanish officials.

The eldest, Philippe and wife Marie Brignac, having the largest family, received 14 arpents frontage, whereas his brothers obtained only 8 arpents each.

With his seven sons, Philippe was the forebear of the most numerous line of Fontenots in old St. Landry; by 1860 his male descendants consisted of 20 grandsons and nearly 40 great-grandsons, all married with families, some of which numbered from eight to fifteen children.

Philippe's eldest son, Louis, declined to stay with his family in St. Landry, wandering off to Natchitoches Post, where in 1779 he married Pélagie Grappe, beginning the small Fontenot line of the Red River country. Within a few years he had obtained a 20-arpent frontage tract at Grand Écore, north of the post, and by 1795 he had additional land with 26 slaves across the river near present Campti.

His three sons, Jean-Baptiste, Jean-Césaire, and François-Louis, carried on the Fontenot line of Red River through the first half of the nineteenth century.

Today the Fontenots of that area have nearly died out or have migrated to other parts of the state.

Though not as numerous as those of Philippe, the descendants of his brothers added to the growth and spread of Fontenots within the prairies of old St. Landry and adjacent areas. The four sons of Pierre Fontenot dit Bellevue (m. Louise Doucet) gave him only six married grandsons and five great-grandsons by 1860; the three sons of Joseph dit Belaire (m. ca. 1752 Marie-Jeanne Brignac), nine grandsons and ten great-grandsons; the three sons of Jean-Baptiste (m. Marie-Louise Lagrange), fifteen grandsons and eleven great-grandsons; the four sons of Henri dit Bellevue (m. ca. 1781 Marie-Louise Doucet), six grandsons and ten great-grandsons by 1860.

Most of the sons of the Fontenot brothers who first settled along Bayou Courtableau soon migrated inland to establish farms and cattle ranches within the St. Landry prairies. Because of incomplete records and the use of the same given names within the various families, the correlation of places of settlement and family lines among the Fontenots has proved to be uncertain at best. Available census data and documents concerning land claims indicate that by the late eighteenth century Fontenots were living as far west as Bayou Chicot and Prairie Mamou, north and southwest, respectively, from present Ville Platte. At that time other Fontenots were established around present Grand Coteau and Church Point, south of Opelousas.

However, the main late eighteenth- and early nineteeth-century center of the St. Landry clan appears to have been the Grande Prairie area north of Opelousas.

There, for example, "Grand Louis" Fontenot (son of Jean-Louis dit Cadet), who migrated to St. Landry in the 1780s, obtained large holdings, including the Ave Maria Plantation of some 1000 acres between Washington and Opelousas.

The raising and herding of cattle appears to have been the main occupation of most of the early Fontenots who settled the prairies of western old St. Landry (present Evangeline Parish). Between 1811 and 1822 nearly fifty members of various Fontenot families in St. Landry had registered cattle brands;18 during that same period one Fontenot of Prairie Mamou (probably Joseph dit Larose, son of Philippe) was considered to be one of the three leading stockmen of the southwestern prairies.

Although cattle were driven live to the New Orleans market, hides formed one of the main products of the St. Landry vacheries; one Fontenot (perhaps Joseph dit Larose) operated a tanyard near Bayou Chicot prior to the Civil War.

To herd cattle and cultivate foodcrops many Fontenots of antebellum days used slaves, some, such as "Grand Louis" and Joseph dit Larose having more than fifty each by 1820.

Today Fontenots are found throughout southwestern Louisiana, but nearly 40 percent of the households within the state still live in old St. Landry, 750 in Ville Platte alone. Several Fontenots of the area have attained political and professional prominence within the state.

Not until after 1900 did many family members migrate into Calcasieu Parish and southeastern Texas, drawn by opportunities in irrigated rice farming and in industry