14 Handsome Bachelors Arrive in Wooden Shoes

On April 26, 1854, the vanguard of French settlers arrive in Dallas

"Their arrival had created a lot of commotion and excitement all over the village.Was it due to the fact that they were quite strangely dressed in their linen blousesand wearing those strange shoes? I would have to say probably not since it was the middle of the afternoon and most of the men would not have been in the cabins during that time of day. It was more likely due to the fact that there was an extreme shortage of bachelors in the area and now for the first time in a long time all of those young, and I’m sure many of the older, ladies had a chance to view fourteen young bachelors all together in one location. The vanguard soon departed the tiny village."

[Foster also disputes that the La Reunion colonists stuck out because of their shoes. According to him, half of the Dallas settlers wore wooden shoes.]

La Reunion Remembered, 150th Anniversary, 1855 — 2005, by Jim Forster