What you are looking at is the little book that started the wild tale about how West Monroe got started. I have written a summary about the Trent brothers legend before. I won’t rehash it again. (Link to a cartoon drawn and published in the News-Star about the legend: http://www.usgwarchives.net/la/ouachita/photos/wesmon.htm ) I will say, not a bit of it is true! It all springs from the imagination of Andrew Jackson Navard, who was born in south Louisiana but lived for a time in West Monroe. He penned several eloquent letters to the editor in the News Star while he was here. From his imagination sprang the idea of how West Monroe started. Locals accepted it as fact. What brought it to mind was finding a report on the history of West Monroe in our files compiled by a society matron many years ago. The lady recited Andrew’s tale as fact. I just gritted my teeth.
I found a copy of the above book on Amazon and bought it. If you would like to see a copy, the Special Collections Department at the library has a couple.
I will give Mr. Navard this…written on the copyright page was the following little disclaimer:
Ouachita Parish History Tidbits 