by: Belinda Brooks
Butte Indians are an inimitable blend of indigenous blooded people who settled in the present-day location of Natchitoches Parish on Bayou Bourbeaux beginning in the 17th century. Through the centuries, these clans blended through unions of a mixture of Texas (Mission) and Chitimacha Indian bloodline and became the unique, one-blooded line of Native Americans called Butte Indians.
The blend of Native American blood within the Butte line includes the following documented lines of ancestors that lived, made their homes, raised their families and died in the Butte Community: Chitimacha, American Indians of Texas Spanish Colonial Missions (AITSCM) aka Mission Indians (documented, Apache, Hasani and Adai.) Other bloodlines of the Natchitoches Nation flow but can not be documented because no records exist for that nation.
Note: As a researcher, I have not found an ancestor that I would actually call a blooded Natchitoches Indian. The only ancestor that I have documented as a Natchitoches Indian was born Hasani and buried Natchitoches. This person was Angelique wife of Charles Dumont. For that reason, I strongly hesitate in naming Angelique as a Natchitoches Indian.