From Proud Heritage, Vol. 1 by DCPA, not currently in print.
On May 10, 1856 my grandparents, Athanase and Justine Marie Guillios Cretien of Mannes, France arrived at La Reunion, the old French colony just a few miles west of the then small settlement of Dallas, Texas.
The colony was composed of about 500 French, Belgian and Swiss settlers, who arrived in 1855-56. The ox-team caravan of the first contingent was greeted by the entire population of Dallas. Only one Dallasite, Maxime Guillot, could speak French and thereafter served as interpreter. The French Colony, La Reunion, was formed by Victor Prosper Considerant. The idea was to establish a communal, socialistic society in an “Utopian” atmosphere. Everyone was to pitch in to produce; everything was to be shared by all. Things didn’t work out as planned, and after a few years the colony gradually disintegrated arid the project was abandoned. Some of the colonists returned to France, but many remained to become good citizens of the United States.
The colony land consisted of some 2000 acres, part of which lay north of the West Fork of the Trinity River, the remainder being south and west of the river. Included were the limestone hills and cliffs which faced a northeasterly direction toward the site which later became the metropolis of Dallas.
It was a hard life for the settlers as they had to be almost entirely self-supporting. They made lime for the stone buildings and rough-hewn planks for lumber. They made their own clothes and tanned hides to make boots and shoes. They also fashioned their own tools, some of which are in the collections of the Dallas Historical Society in the Hall of State at Fair Park.
There were also bands of Indians still in the area. They were generally peaceful, but there had been a fairly recent raid in the area of what is now Garland, and several settlers had been killed. The Indians were never trusted and were closely watched. A few raids were made on the colony while the men were in the fields and some poultry, cattle and horses were taken. The Indians were repulsed by the older men while the women and children repaired to the fort. One of the older men, Jean Baptiste Lagouge, had served in the French army under Napoleon I.
My father, George Cretien, was the first child born in the colony. He arrived in August 1856 and sometimes joked that he had crossed the Atlantic, but didn’t remember too much about it. His brother, Emile, came along the following year. As youngsters these two boys helped with chores in the colony, and with their dog herded sheep in the nearby hills. Occasionally they came across the bones of the last buffalo killed in the Mountain Creek Area. On his twelfth birthday George was presented with a double-barrel, muzzle-loading shotgun with which he hunted game, especially prairie chickens, in the area of what is now Fair Park. This gun is now in the Dallas Historical Society Museum.
It wasn’t long before dissatisfaction and discord surfaced in the colony. Toward the end of 1857 disintegration was evident. A receiver was appointed; the land and property were sold to appease the shareholders back in Europe, and by early 1858 only a few of the original settlers remained. The Cretiens were among those who stayed. In 1866, shortly after the close of the Civil War, a baby girl, Eugenia, arrived to join the family.
About 1868, in order to improve living conditions and to obtain better schooling for the children, the Cretiens left La Reunion and moved into Dallas. Their first home was a few blocks north of the courthouse square. In 1870 Louise was born. Sometime later the Cretiens acquired a lot for a home at the northwest corner of Young and Lamar. They purchased the lot for a man’s suit and a wagon among other considerations. The suit was made by Mere Cretien. The Cretiens later lived in Irving and in Oak Cliff.
George, a barber by trade and a horticul turist by preference, worked at the Imperial Hotel Barber Shop owned by his friend Emil Fretz. The hotel was on Main Street a few doors west of Akard. A porter worked at the barbershop. His name was Jack Johnson, and he later defeated James J. Jeffries for the World’s Heavyweight Boxing Championship.
There was an arch built across the four corners of Main and Akard Streets by the Elk’s Lodge for a convention. At that time the people did occasionally take the law into their own hands, and in the early 1900’s a mob hanged a man from that arch!
Athanase and Justine Cretien are buried in the Old Oak Cliff Cemetery on Eighth Street just east of 1-35. George Cretien married Elizabeth Gramatky; children were Charles F., Paul and Eugenia. Emile Cretien married Louise Joffre; no issue. Eugenia Cretien married C. C. Roessler, a Dallas businessman: children were Ernest, Richard, Louise, and Babette. Louise Cretien married Han Kreissing, the organizer and first director o the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Their children were Margarite Louise (Daisy) and Alfred.
Bibliography:
The White Cliffs of Dallas – George Santerre
Early Days in Dallas and Oak Cliff – Chas. F Cretien
Dallas, An Illustrated History – Darwin Payne
By Paul Cretien, Sr., Pottsboro
