DUFOUR
The DUFOURS of Avoyelles trace their ancestory to Jean DuFour dit Brindamour, known as a bourgeois, a voyager who was at the Arkansas Post in 1741.
Brindamour was a French leader of the French outlaws who supplied guns to the Indians in exchange for horses, mules, and slaves. If traders were not licensed by the French government, they were considered to be outlaws.
Jean DuFour dit Brindamour married Marie Philippe de Coux at the Arkansas Post, he being her second husband. They had two children in this marriage, Charles and Henriette.
Misfortune overtook them and Jean was murdered by one of his own men, a Francois Morvan dit Bernard.
Jean's body was never found, however, a funeral mass was said for him at Pointe Coupee in 1759. The trial for his murder took place in Natchitoches about May 1770, many years after his death because of the fact that his murderer fled into the woods and lived with the Indians until he was discovered and near his death.
Marie Philippe DeCoux returned to Pointe Coupee in 1759 after the death of Jean and remarried, having two children from this marriage. From Pointe Coupee, Jean Dufour's descendants migrated to the Avoyelles prairies in the early 1800's because of the continued floodings and erosions of their lands.
Marie Philippe DeCoux was born around 1725, the daughter of Jacques DeCoux and Ann Catherine DeCuir. In the year 1770, the name of Charles Dufour appears on the Roster of Soldiers at Post de Pointe Coupee under the command of Bernardo Galvez. Charles was listed as "garcon" at the age of 14 years. His name appears again on the roster of 1777 at the Pointe Coupee Post under Galvez and he is then listed as a soldier.
Charles married at Pointe Coupee on November 28, 1778, Adrienne Deshotel, daughter of Jacques Deshotels and Anne Stephans. There was eleven children from this marriage. Some of his children died as infants and it was only two sons, Charles II and Valery I, that produced the Avoyelles clan of Dufours.
Charles Dufour I died at Pointe Coupee on March 30, 1809. Adrienne died about ten years later on December 18, 1819, at Pointe Coupee.