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Subject: The missing minutes of the town council
Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2000 20:43:23 EDT

"On May 6, 1872, the courthouse was 'recognized' as Abbeville's City
Hall. Apparently, the courthouse continued to be used for this purpose until
at least April 7, 1885, when it was destroyed by fire. On April 11th, the
town council met and voted to meet at the law offices of R. C. Smedes and W.
B. White, due to the fact that the courthouse had been destroyed by fire."


Above is an item from my article on the courthouses in Abbeville. It
shows that the town council had been using the courthouse since 1872, and was
still meeting there in 1885 at the time of the fire.
In reference to that puzzle I sent to you all recently about the first
volume of the town council's minutes, I thank Brady Broussard for his
statement: "The missing data is another mystery than perhaps you can solve
one day." It made me look at the evidence, and to come up with these
conclusions.
We know that the town council was using courthouse. Therefore, the
minutes were probably stored there too. The records from 1866 onward were
rescued from the fire, but not those before that time. Therefore, once the
volumes of the minutes were bound, the Meridional's ledger, which was then
used to record the minutes, was the oldest and became Volume 1, and the
following volumes were numbered accordingly. However, the surviving minutes,
as far as my memory serves me, show no signs of scorching, so they must have
been saved before the fire got near to them.
Until someone can come up with a better theory about the missing
minutes--1850 to 1866--this one will probably stand.

Charlene, please show this theory to the mayor.
Ken Dupuy

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