The Weekly Messenger (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.)

• 1886–1919
• Newspaper

Historic newspapers carry the language, views and graphic reporting of their time, including racist content. They are shown to teen and adult profiles.

1,766 issues from 1886 to 1919, published in Parks, Louisiana, digitised for Chronicling America.

St. Martinville, incorporated in 1843, is the seat of St. Martin Parish in south-central Louisiana. Settlement of the area began in the late 18th century by French-speaking families exiled from Acadia (Nova Scotia) by the British. Still celebrated today for its distinctive culture, St. Martin Parish is the setting of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s famous poem “Evangeline.” In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the parish’s most important crops were sugar, corn, and cotton. Oil was discovered at Breaux Bridge in 1899, but the mainstay of the local economy has always been agriculture. Located on Bayou Teche, St. Martinville is in the heart of “Cajun country,” and the French language was widely spoken there until recent times. A cultural center, the town won for itself the name “Petit Paris” or “Little Paris.” In the 19th century, it was a fashionable summer resort for affluent Creole families and members of the New Orleans French opera company.

The Messenger (published after its fourth issue as the Weekly Messenger) was founded in 1886 by Albert Bienvenu (1856-1930) and George S. Eastin. Its first printer was Bienvenu’s 12-year-old brother, Laizaire Bienvenu (1874-1953), who later became editor. Published under the motto “Justice to All,” the four-page Democratic weekly was the official journal of the town of St. Martinville and St. Martin Parish. As such, it contained reports on parish schools as well as the minutes of the parish police jury (the equivalent of county…

Genres

News

Published in

Parks, Louisiana, United States

Language

English

Collection

Chronicling America

Licence or status

None stated by the archive

Rights

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety.

Credit

Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities

Who can read it

Teens profiles and older (placed by Invisible Network from what the archive says; archives give no ratings)

Archive

Library of Congress