Emile Stouff was Chief of the Chitimachas of Charenton, Louisiana, from
1948 to 1968. After Chief Stouff died in 1978, his widow, Faye Roger
Stouff, discovered two notebooks in which he had recorded some of the
things about the Chitimachas that he had learned from oral tradition.
The two manuscripts were written in Emile Stouff’s handwriting. Though
Chief Stouff had no formal education, Mrs. Stouff, who is not a Native
American, taught him to read and write after they were married and she
came to live with him on the Chitimacha land.
Mrs. Stouff said that her husband told her he had learned most of the
legends, stories, and myths that he knew from an aunt who would sit him
down and beat him with a cane to make him listen. She would tell him,
“You’ve got to learn this.” Learning the history, religious beliefs,
legends, and traditions of the tribe was apparently a very important
part of the education and development of the Chitimachas.
There are two separate notebooks with writings by Emile Stouff. One
begins with the story of creation and deals with the beliefs of the
Chitimachas. The other deals more with the history since the white man
came. Previous publications about the Chitimachas have presented parts
of the legend about the cypress tree in Lake Dauterive and the legend
about the little bird of the Chitimachas. Since Chief Stouff’s version
of the history is from the perspective of the Chitimachas, it differs
somewhat from previously published accounts. This is particularly
evident in a comparison of the Chitimacha account of the murder of St.
Cosme with accounts that rely on French historical sources.
Chief Stouff’s notebooks give an account of the Chitimacha beliefs and
history as they were passed down by oral tradition. He recognized that
this tradition would perhaps not be maintained, and he attempted to
record some of his knowledge of the people and their culture. As such,
his writings are of value and interest to anyone who would like to know
more about the Chitimachas.
In editing the notebooks, I have made as few changes as possible in
order to maintain the style and tone of Chief Stouff’s writing. The
changes from his original manuscript have been mainly to standardize
spelling and punctuation for clarity. For example, Chief Stouff spelled
Chitimacha several different ways (Chetamacha, Chetimacha, Chitamacha)
in his writing, and he usually used no punctuation at all. Thus, he was
writing just as he would have told these stories orally to the next
generation of Chitimachas.