AMA TOWN HISTORY

The origins of ama lay with the fortunes of the Sellers family, still promient in the area. 

The name of Ama itself is of undertimined origin. One source states it was named for the daughter of an  earlier owner of Alice Plantation.� Another says Ama is Greek for 'to love.'��� Ama itself grew up around the plantations and the population in 1891, when the post office was established, was between 450 and 500.� The post office was founded on April 27, 1891.���

St. Mark Catholic Church was spawned as a chapel of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary in 1898.� While the present structure was built in 1946, mass was celebrated in the Ama School.� St. Mark's became a mission church in 1961, and established as a parish in 1974.�Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church dates back to 1898 when the Reverend Joseph Thomas founded it.� In the early 1990's, the present church was completed.���

In 1772, Matthew Sellers was born in North Carolina.� He, his wife, Marie Reinne Aucoin, and their 10 children migrated to Lafayette with the Louisiana Purchase of 1803.�� One son, John sellers, married in 1837, but with the 1849 California gold rush, John dashed to the West Coast to 'strike it rich,' leaving his wife and children behind.� Reportedly, he was murdered and his wife died within a year of the news.� The children were raised by Duvhiel Peyroux at Myrtle Land Plantation (once known as the Trepagnier Plantation near present-day Norco).����

One son was Thomas Joseph Sellers. Sellers, born in St. Tammany Parish in 1846, worked on the riverboats as a 'mud clerk,' or an assistant to the purser.� A lifelong friend was Samuel Clemens, later known to the world as Mark Twain.��� During the Civil War, Sellers served in Ogden's Regiment and was discharged as a private.� However, due to his association with Twain, he was nicknamed 'Colonel Mulberry' Sellers for the rest of his life.���

In 1871, he married Louise Marie Pyramid Wiser of Swiss origin and, five years later, the couple moved back to Myrtle Land, renaming it Diamond Plantation.� The Bonnet Carre Crevasse wrecked his plantation.��The persistent Colonel Sellers, by 1885, was operating Sellers and Company, in charge of demolition of structures after the World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition in New Orleans.� By 1889, he was back in St. Charles Parish, having bought the Lone Star Plantation near present-day Luling.� The Davis Crevasse washed away his rice crop and, in 1893, he bought Alice Plantation in present-day Ama, and named it for their daughter, Alice Augusta Sellers.���

With forethought, he and his sons, Thomas (born 1872), Robert Sr. (born 1875) and John (born 1888) built Sellers Canal, as a short cut to Grand Isle, where he would take the family every summer on his steam launch.� When the Hymelia Crevasse struck in 1912, he and his family rode to safety in the launch.� He died in 1915.�� His Daughters included Marie Higgins, Alice Sellers Grazan, Louise Sellers, and Florence Sellers Walton.�� His grandson, Julius B. Sellers Sr., son of Thomas, earned a degree at Loyola University in New Orleans, and was a teacher and coach at his alma mater, Hahnville High School.��� Julius Sr. won a state representative seat in 1940 and served four years.� In 1948, he was elected Clerk of Court for St. Charles Parish and served 12 years, and then was elected Assessor, where he served until his death in July 1966.� His son, Julius B. 'Duck' Sellers Jr, succeeded him in office.���

Duck was then elected Sheriff in 1972, served four years, and retired from public office.� Reputedly, he personally removed his official portrait from the courthouse lobby where it was displayed with other past sheriffs saying he didn't want to have it hang with such 'unsavory' company.�� Edwin Trellue Jr., 80, remembers well those early days of the town of Ama. Born in New Orleans in 1918, he attended school there two years before moving to Alice Plantation to be closer to relatives. His father, Edwin Sr., was originally from Patterson, where the family ran Trellue Cypress Lumber.� His mother was Eugenie Sellers Trellue, one of the daughters of Thomas Joseph Sellers.� His mother also taught three grades and was principal at the old Ama School, which was demolished in 1980's.� She also served for a time as postmistress.�� Life on Alice Plantation was a bit lonely, despite being surrounded by so many relatives.� One of his friends, a classmate at Hahnville High, has remained a lifelong friend, Mary Robert, who later taught at HHS and still lives in Ama.� Edwin Jr. developed a lifelong fascination with radio. As a child, he built his own crystal radio and entertained passing riverboats with music he broadcast from and old Victrola he spun with his finger.� His interest in radio led to College-level studies at Delgado.��� During World War II, Edwin Jr. taught electronics classes to thousands of servicemen. He later went to work for Frigidaire in 1949, and retired in 1979. After retirement, he worked for a time at Lakeside Camera in Metairie.��

Trellue recalled that Alice Plantation, which once stood near the present-day Ama Airport, had a massive front porch 60 feet in length and which had roll-down canvas shades to create and additional room in inclement weather.� Two of his aunts held their weddings on that porch.��� He commented on his grandfather's inventive skill, such as in the erection of a windmill on the river batture, which pumped water to a 75-foot-tall cistern filtration tower to supply the plantation with indoor plumbing throughout the house.� In later years, after the river levee was relocated, a one-cylinder 'bulldog' motor replaced the windmill.� 'My job was to start the pump every morning,' he said.���

He met his wife, Hilda Viola of Cedar Grove Plantation in St. Rose, and a Destrehan High School graduate, when she came to stay with her sister, Ellen sellers, and wife of Julius Sr..� Edwin Jr.'s mother, Eugenie, was also an aunt to Julius Sr?� They married in 1940.� Hilda's family, the Crespo family of St. Rose, was descended from Juaquim Joseph Crespo, originally from Barcelona, Spain.� Edwin and Hilda had one son, Edwin Jr. 'Butch,' three grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.� Hilda later attended Dominican College and taught special education for years and retired at the age of 69.�� Alice Plantation was moved back once to avoid the encroaching levee but in 1938, a fire of mysterious origin leveled the old place.��� Nowadays, Alice Plantation is long gone but as evidenced by the construction of a brand-new post office due to open this fall, the town of Ama will endure and prosper.