Martin Duralde, commandant at Opelousas Post from 1795 to 1803, was the leading political figure in southwestern LA during the last years of the Spanish Era. By 1781, he occupied and developed a 1423 acre tract along the Upper Teche. He later served as senator for the Attakapas in 1812, and his daughter Clarissa married W.C.C. Claiborne in 1806.