Josserand

Josserand is off U. S. Highway 287 three miles southeast of Groveton in south central Trinity County. It was named for Peter and Frank Josserand, who built a sawmill at the site in 1882. Between 1880 and 1900 the Josserands acquired 60,000 acres of virgin forest in the area to supply lumber for their sawmill. The community grew rapidly during the 1880s and early 1890s. A post office opened there in 1887, and by 1892 Josserand had two churches, White and Black schools, a store, and an estimated population of 550. After the death of Peter Josserand in 1905, the community began to decline. The mill closed in 1909; many of the residents moved away. The schools were consolidated with Groveton schools in the 1930s. The post office, however, continued to operate until 1948. In the early 1990s only a few scattered houses remained in the area. In 2000 the population was twenty-nine.