Judge Robert Dabney Calhoun states in his History of Concordia Parish, Louisiana, Historical Quarterly, V. 17, p. 458 that long before the Louisiana Purchase (1803) there was a plainly marked and usable road leading from Rodney, Mississippi, thence crossing the Mississippi River to St. Joseph and Waterproof in Tensas Parish, and westerly through Highland, crossing the Tensas River, Sicily Island, then meandering along the foothills to Harrisonburg and continuing westerly through the hills to Natchitoches, Louisiana and Nacadoches, Texas, which was called "The Texas Road".
In De Bow's Review there is the statement that this was merely a by-path, and until taken over by the Police Jury, it was not a pleasant road to travel unless in the fall or summer.
This "Texas Road" crossed at Kirk's Ferry Place on the Tensas River, through the swamp, coming out on Sicily Island on what is known as White House Plantation.
Mr. John Peniston recalls his mother telling of the wagons loaded with their families and their worldly possessions, on their way to Texas. Often times these wagons would get bogged down and some of the Sicily Island people would go help them out of their dilemma.
He said at one time a person could stand there where his father lived and look for about a mile down the road to where it rounded a curve, taking it out of sight.
About 1802, the Natchez Trace was marked out from Harrisonburg along the swamp, following it's meanderings to Lovelace's Lake or Lake Louis, crossing thence to the Tensas River at Robert Noble's ferry, and on to Vidalia.
The Police Jury
After the Louisiana Purchase, it seems there was no time lost setting up the territorial government. The origin of that important parish institution known today as the Police Jury is to be found in the act of April 6, 1807, although it is not designated in that act as a "Police Jury" or by any other name. It was at one time known as the "Police Assembly". This is found in the law referred to, as "An act relative to roads, levees, and the police of cattle".
The act of April 30, 1811, made the old parish meeting or police assembly elective instead of appointive by the parish judge as there-to-fore. This law also designated this body as a "Police Jury". Named jury because it was composed of the same number of men as a grand or petit jury. It was invested with the powers of "local police" of the parish.
From Judge Robert Dabney Calhoun's History of Concordia Parish, Louisiana, Historical Quarterly, V. 17, pp. 38-39, 71):
The act approved March 25, 1813, directed that each parish be divided into wards and provided for the election of police jury members from the respective wards.
An act approved March 18, 1816, is the first comprehensive levee and road law to be passed. It provided in part:
That every owner of lands situated on the banks of the river throughout this state, shall be held to give to the public, and to keep constantly in good repair, a highway at least twenty feet wide on the whole front of his property.
At times, especially in the spring and winter, the roads would become almost impassable due to the frequent rains. An act was approved March 12, 1818, in which all male residents between the ages of 15 and 45 years of age were subject to road duty for not exceeding twelve days per year (unless exempted by law). In default of any free person or slave serving as required, such person, or the master of the slave, was taxed one dollar per day for the use of the parish road fund. These boys or men were called 'hands' or 'road hands'.
By an act approved March 22, 1823, W. E. Parker, Samuel Lightner, William Blunt, James Dunlap and John D. Smith were appointed Commissioners for a road leading from the ferry in Concordia, opposite Natchez, to Sicily Island. Then by an act approved May 18, 1825, Samuel Davis, Richard King, James Miller, Jonathan Hagerty and James C. Caldwell were appointed Commissioners for opening a road from Vidalia to Harrisonburg, and $1,000 was appropriated for the purpose, to be drawn on certificate of the Commissioner, approved by the Parish Judge of Catahoula. This act was amended by an act approved March 13, 1830, naming George Spencer, Thomas Bryan, Jacob Humble, George W. Lovelace and David McClure as Commissioners, and appropriating an additional $2,000. This is the Doty Road.
Map with Plantation Names Underlined
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| Map from Sicily Island: A Partial History, compiled by Mickie Smith |
Map of Roads that ran from one Plantation to Another
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| Map from Sicily Island: A Partial History, compiled by Mickie Smith |
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