0* JfllUt ffifftcco of Weeks s; Weeks J27 Jit. /Built ,§>t. New Iberia, La. Jenu Harold Ayres, Pres., Old Spanish Trail, The Gunter Hotel, Sfik San Antonio, Texas. Dear Sir: Yours of January 14th, ad Public Library, New Iberia, La., has me for reply. You ask for informati Iberia was founded and under what cir *s you a redoubtless aware been under three flags, Spanish, Fren The first settlements in this section the Spanish. In Fortier's History o page 60, he says: "In 1779, under Galvez, t Louisiana, New Iberia’s settlement we men under the command of Bouligny. T from Canary Islands, possibly from 1: received grants of land. Some heads ceived in rations, cattle, pecuinary between three and four thousand dolls However, I think that Fo; ^ in his statement that 499 men were se the first settlement . These men were tributed between several settlements, " ■ " have a number of Spanish names here, Viator, Lopez, Miguez, Romero, etc., been 499 families in the settlement, been a larger number of Spanish names probably have been a much larger sett The name, Iberia, comes fi Peninsula, which hE2 as you know, is a part of Spam and probably some of the early settlers came from that part pf Spain. In Martin's History of Louisiana, on page 29 (published by James Gresham in 1882) is the following: "The Spaniards made an abortive attempt to establish a town called New Iberia, about sixteen miles below St. Martinville."Just above New Iberia, that is about a mile from the main part of the town is a Lake / I (Xvi r f, / ('* ’