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Sevan Broussard and his wife Belzire (Hebert) Broussard rode horseback from Vermillion Bayou Louisiana
with their three-year old son Simeon on the saddle behind his mother. Together, they carried high
hopes across the Sabine River into Texas where they built a one-room cabin with wooden shutters to keep
out the elements at a place on Hillebrandt Bayou known as Blanchetts Cove. Unfortunately Hillebrandt Bayou
flooded the one room building during a storm, and the Broussards looked to a safer spot as a place to
continue growing their family. On February 6, 1850, Sevan and Belzire bought 1340 acres of land from Elizabeth Smith,
the widow of William H. Smith.
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The 40 X 40 dimensions of the new house must have seemd spacious after the log cabin. The house
was a simple story-and-a-half structure with a straight gabled roof. There was a long hall or "dog trot" down
the center of the house, in typical Acadian style, with two rooms on either side of it. Along the front ran a long
porch with an outside stairway leading to the attic room. At the end of the house in the front room was a large
fireplace, the mantle place decorated with hand-painted flowers in bright colors. An outdoor well supplied water for
the family. The house was full of life. Sevan and Belzire had 8 children, and perhaps a ninth who died young.
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Mrs. Smith was the widow of the late Mr. William H. Smith, who lost his life with all other defenders in the battle
for the Alamo. He died fighting to gain independence for Texas from the Mexican Army. The Widow Smith inherited
the land granted to her husband Mr. Smith because he had been a citizen of Texas in 1836. Mrs. Smith re-married
after the death of William Smith, and became Mrs. Michael Green, the Greens lived out their lives on Mr. Greens
land, in the Hampshire-Fannett area.
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The 1860 census shows that he owned 1200 head of cattle, 30 sheep, 70 swine, 2 horses, 10 milk cow, 2 work oxen, and
many employees who lived in bunkhouses on his land. Sevan was the ramrod, or boss, of the cattle crews. He kept the records on calves
and horses branded and beef cattle sold. Assisting Sevan in his cattle business were his brothers Moise and Eloi and his cousins
Emil, Theophile and Deuneville. There were no fences then. The cattle ranged together throughout Jefferson, Liberty, and Chambers
counties, clear to the Gulf of Mexico.
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In 1857 a new house was begun. To build it, Sevan hired Augustus Mobray of Nome,
formerly a ships carpenter. That house, made of strong hand-planed Cypress, still stands. Three two-masted schooners
were sailed up Taylor's Bayou from Sabine Pass carrying rough cypress lumber from lake Arthur, Louisiana.
Mobray and crew hand planed it to a smooth finish.
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The Sevan Broussard Cattle Company (S.B.C.) built homes in the far reaching corners of his land.
The Northeast corner being where Tri-Supply is located today, near and including what is now Lamar University Campus. The Northwest
corner being what was/is Tarkington Prarie, Texas, and later thru what was to become Liberty/Dayton then due south to the Gulf of Mexico.
The southern boundry followed the beach east to Moise 3-story mansion in Sabine Pass then north thry what is now Port Arthur, north
back to the Tri-Supply company area. Sevan became a cattleman of great wealth. While, his decendents have been active in
business and government affairs of Jefferson County for over a century.
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