It was the custom at this time for Kings to issue certificates to men of the medical profession, designating them as Docteur du Roi, Doctor of the King. Doctors who would accept such a commission for frontier duty would receive a year’s salary in advance, clothing, a chest of medicine, an allotment of paper, note books and the personal best wishes of the King. The physician would then in turn be obliged to render his services free to the militia and others connected with the service of a post and the Indians of the surrounding area. The post of his designated-location would place at the doctor’s disposal, an office, lodging and food at the officers’ table. Transportation was obligingly supplied by the King, “a one way ticket.”
To the young Doctor who had thus qualified himself this would seem to be a golden opportunity. Dr. Le Beau was the first to arrive at the Natchitoches post. He was the first Doctor to realize that this golden opportunity did not supply medium-of-exchange. The post personnel, their wives and children were exempt from payment for his services. All of the inhabitants and their families supplied the post with food and produce, so they were also exempt as were the Indians. The doctor knew that he would have to wait two years before he would receive his next salary from the King. He could receive payment for his services to the Spanish at Los Adais, but traffic with the Spanish was forbidden. He was soon to realize that the first year’s pay that had been issued would only buy three pairs of pants at Rambin’s Tailor shop ... and that Rambin was making his livelihood by redoing old clothing rather than tailoring new garments. Too, he was duty bound to stay one year in the service to fulfill his obligation to the Crown. By not doing so he was subject to arrest. Needless to say, after his year was up Dr. Le Beau resigned his commission and struck out on his own.
In 1727 Dr. Alexander was the next “Docteur du Roi” to arrive in Natchitoches. He was killed in a duel by Captain Jentzen, a Swedish officer in the service of the King of France.
In 1730 Dr. Godeau arrived with a King’s Commission. He wed the Widow Brossilier, and adopted his two-year-old stepdaughter. The Widow Brossilier had land, and so this doctor became a farmer and notary, with his medical profession becoming a sideline.
The people of the Natchitoches area did not like the idea of having to pay for doctor’s services. Doctor Godeau had, after his first year resigned his commission, and now could charge legally for his services. They waited but no new Docteur du Roi arrived.
Dr. Godeau was at the Natchitoches Post at the time of the Natchez Indian attack. In this two-months war on the Natchitoches frontier the Doctor won the friendship of the fifteen Spaniards who assisted in the defense of the French Post. In 1733 Dr. Godeau travelled to the Adais Post on Saturdays and Sundays to render his services to the Spanish, and to attend mass on Sunday. Thus, in the Robeline area was set up the first form of medical clinic in all the territory later comprised in the Louisiana Purchase. The Spanish had money to pay for professional services which naturally attracted men of any profession.
The people’s voice must have been heard, for the Good King Louis XV sent in 1737 Dr. Tontin. By this time King Louis must have decided that it was easier to send new doctors each year as soon as they were qualified medecins. He realized that the “one way ticket” was just another way to populate Louisiana with learned men. Doctor Pain (or Payne) was sent in 1738, Doctor Jaubaer in 1739, and Doctor Bonnafons in 1740.
So now it was Dr. Bonnafons’ turn to match his wits with this French frontier. In sizing up his predicament Dr. Bonnafons found that the recognized occupations listed on the post roster as ones that were to obtain free medical service were: Trappers, Traders, Commercial Hunters and Fishermen, Druggists, Farmers, Blacksmiths, Store owners, Tailors, Bakers, Carpenters, Gunsmiths, Butchers, Soldiers and the Indians. The good commandante, Louis Juchereau de St. Denis, saw to it that all of these men obtained their just share of the Post business. I feel sure, too, that the doctors, Pain, Jambare and Tontin advised Doctor Bonnafons what to expect. This doctor, however, had the wits to fit the occasion. He demanded of St. Denis that because the office space inside the fort was too small, that a building be erected outside the fort for his home and office. He showed the commandante that according to the rights enumerated in his commission that the Post Commander must furnish him with these suitable conveniences. St. Denis complied with the doctor’s demands.
Dr. Bonnafons became a barber and for this privilege he paid a license. Being a barber he was allowed to sell drugs. The druggist was part of the Grocery Guild, so that he was now qualified to sell “stuffs” (bolts of uncut cloth). Sieur Ignace Antee, a farmer and part-time cobbler, was encouraged to erect a lean-to on the opposite side of the doctor’s building. Because he had assisted Laignon and Antee to erect their lean-tos, Dr. Bonnafons considered himself a carpenter. He informed Jacques Turpeax, a soldier and baker at the Natchitoches Post, that he would purchase the surplus bread which was baked and not used by the militia, thus furnishing quick lunches for weary, hungry travelers. Because the Doctor was in the grocery business, he could sell wine which went well with the cheese brought to the French Post by the inhabitants of Campti.
One must realize that we are at a time between the dates 1740 and 1744, because St. Denis died in 1744, and that the location of Dr. Bonnafons’ building would have been near the new fort which had been erected by St. Denis “one pistol shot to the west” from the location of the Fort St. Jean Baptiste as shown on Breutin’s Map of 1722. This placed the new fort in the environs of what was later the American cemetery. As to the location of Dr. Bonnafons’ building we have this clue. In his ledger he states that he obtained land adjoining his from Duplessis. On Breutin’s map the Duplessis land would have been in the vicinity of the south bank of Bayou Amulet near G. W. Black’s Grocery and Market. Also, in this same area along Bayou Amulet the traders coming to Natchitoches tethered their mules.