a ST. LANDRY PARISH article

Cultures of Acadiana
a look at the French, Cajun, Creole, and Native American cultures of south Louisiana
(a project of Carencro High School (721 West Butcher Switch Road, Lafayette, LA 70507)

Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser, September 30, 1997

Cankton named for early doctor

by Jim Bradshaw

Cankton was named for Dr. Cank Guidry, born Louis Aristide Guidry. As a boy, growing up in the Coulée Croche section of St. Landry Parish, Louis was an avid duck hunter. That is where he got his nickname.

According to the old account, "After each hunt as he neared his home, he would give the signal that he was back by using the duck call: 'Cank, cank, cank.' His folks would say, 'Cank est revenu,' and soon he had the nickname."

When Guidry finished high school at St. Stanislaus in Bay St. Louis, Miss., he went to Tulane University in New Orleans to study medicine. After receiving his medical degree, he married the former Cecile Durio of Opelousas, and returned to Coulee Croche to practice.

Besides the doctor's home, there were several other houses and a one-room school at the settlement when he began there. A church was built later.

"As the little hamlet grew," says the account, "someone suggested giving it another name than Coulee Creche, as Coulee Creche comprised such a large territory that was still not yet inhabited. Different names were suggested, but none seemed more suitable than Cankton, for 'Dr. Cank' whom everyone turned to for counsel."

This article is copyrighted © by the Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser and is used with permission. This web site was originated through a grant awarded to Carencro High School (Joel Hilbun/Bobbi Marino, Grant Administrators) by the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education from the Louisiana Quality Education Support Fund - 8(g).