However, in 1995, Jean Desobry discovered in the diocesan archives of Amiens evidence that Antoine Jacques Désiré Mégret was born on May 23, 1797, in Abbeville, France, thus confirming the first hypothesis.

[9] Dr Mary-Theresa MacCarthy wrote in her article Un Autre Abbeville in the 1996 edition of Bulletin de la Société des Antiquaires de Picardie (translation by Father Herbert), On February 12, 1844, the pastor gave to his American town the name of the town of his birth.

[8] There were two people living on the land at the time, Joseph LeBlanc and his wife Isabelle Broussard, whose former home Father Megret converted into a chapel.

It typically experiences long, hot and very humid summers and brief, cool but quite windy winters, and mild to warm temperatures during spring and autumn.

Precipitation is relatively heavy by world standards and falls throughout the year, but peaks between June and September which see twice the amount of rainy days than winter.

June to September is also, while hot, cloudier than the rest of year with clear and sunny skies being most common in the autumn.

[20] Abbeville is an agricultural trade and processing center for rice, sugarcane, dairy products, locally sold corn, cotton, and seafood, in particular crawfish, alligator, and crab.

[21][22] The oil and natural gas fields off the coast in the Gulf of Mexico are serviced by companies throughout the region including Abbeville.

Avery Island, which contains a bird sanctuary, salt dome, and world-famous Tabasco factory is 15 miles southeast of the city.

Starting in 1987, the Abbeville Commercial Historic District, in the area surrounded by Concord, State, Lafayette, and Jefferson Streets, was added to the register.

That same year, the Abbeville Residential Historic District was created between W. Oak, State, Cherry, and the Vermilion River.

Finally, just before the turn of the century, the Richard Cattle Auction Barn and the St. Mary Congregational Church were both added.

The Louisiana & Delta Railroad has a route through the city, which helped bring freight produced locally to market.

[8] The Freshwater Bayou Deepwater Channel connects Abbeville to the Gulf of Mexico,[5] and the Intracoastal Waterway runs south of the city.