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Louisiana Public Records
| How
To Search Public and Vital Records -
Vital records are records of life events important enough that
some level of government acquires, organizes, and preserves
them. While the term "vital records" is often applied
to a wide variety of life events... Read
more |
Louisiana Vital Records
As of 1990, the state archive stores all birth records over 100 years
old and death and marriage records over fifty years old. Some parish
health departments have alphabetical birth and death indexes for their
areas; they are not, however, complete listings of all births and
deaths of that parish. Those records more recent are housed at the
Office of Public Health. The Catholic churches throughout the state
kept registers of christenings, marriages, and burials and were the
recorders of Louisiana's early vital records. Many have been published.
For marriage records for parishes other than Orleans, contact the
Office of the Clerk of Court for that parish.
For birth records within the last 100 years and marriage
and death records within the last fifty years, write:
Louisiana Department of Health
Vital Records Registry
Office of Public Health
325 Loyola Avenue
P.O. Box 60630
New Orleans, LA 70160
Tel: 504-568-5150 504- 568-5152 (automated)
Fax: 504-568-5391 (To order copies by fax)
http://www.dhh.state.la.us/OPH/vrinfo.htm
(This site gives current fees, restrictions, requirements, and downloadable
forms to submit by fax or mail.)
For earlier records, write:
Louisiana State Archives
P.O. Box 94125
Baton Rouge, LA 70804-9125
Louisiana Land Records
Louisiana is a federal-land state. Lands were generally acquired
from the foreign sovereigns of Spain and France, from the U.S. government,
or from other individuals. The papers of several federal land offices
are now in the Louisiana State Land Office, Box 44124, Baton Rouge,
LA 70804. Obtain patents from the BLM Eastern States Office, which
also has copies of the tract books and township plats. Federal patents
are indexed in the GLO Automated Records System, from which a CD-ROM
of Louisiana land patents is available. The National Archives has
the land entry case files for most federal lands in Louisiana, and
a card index to Louisiana patentees to 30 June 1908 (excluding private
land claims) is also available there.
The Spanish Louisiana Cabildo judicial records (1769–1804)
at the Louisiana Historical Center in New Orleans are on microfilm
and are rich in land transactions. The Historical Records Survey
(HRS) transcribed the records from the District of Baton Rouge in
Spanish West Florida. They are indexed in Stanley Clisby Arthur,
Index to the Archives of Spanish West Florida, 1782–1810 (New
Orleans: Polyanthos, 1975). The National Archives also has the HRS
typescripts of the "Archives of the Spanish Government of West
Florida, 1789 to 1816," available on microfilm. The HRS issued
A Survey of Federal Archives in Louisiana: Land Claims and Other
Documents (Baton Rouge: Historical Records Survey, 1940). The private
land claims (reclaiming of lands held prior to U.S. possession)
to 1837 are in the American State Papers, Public Lands as indexed
in McMullin's Grassroots of America. See also Frances P. Burns,
"The Spanish Land Laws of Louisiana," Louisiana Historical
Quarterly 11 (1928): 557–81 and Harry L. Coles, Jr., "The
Confirmation of Foreign Land Titles in Louisiana," Louisiana
Historical Quarterly 38 (1955): 1–22.
Land transactions between individuals are recorded
in each individual parish, Louisiana's equivalent of counties. For
further information on land record research, see:
Hone, E. Wade. Land and Property Research in the
United States. Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1997.
Louisiana Court Records
Court records include probate records (which include wills), guardianship,
naturalization, and a wide variety of other sources, ranging from
criminal trials to simple road orders. All contain information about
individuals within the area. It should be remembered that there
are different levels of jurisdiction for courts in the United States,
all of which should be considered for research under various circumstances.
Court of Common Pleas, Orphan's Court, Probate Court, District Court,
Superior Court, Supreme Court, and other titles are among those
encountered. To study more about court records in general, see "Research
in Court Records," by Arlene H. Eakle, in:
Szucs, Loretto Dennis, and Sandra Hargreaves Luebking,
eds. The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy. Rev. ed. Salt
Lake City: Ancestry, 1997.
Louisiana Military Records
Many military records exist for Louisiana soldiers. For the colonial
period a valuable collection is at the General Military Archives,
Segovia, Spain. This voluminous archive has service records on all
soldiers of the Spanish military from 1680–1920 listing much
genealogical data, such as the soldier's name, rank, sometimes a
description, the names of his parents, etc. Two compiled lists of
Louisiana soldiers serving in the American Revolution are:
Churchill, E. Robert, comp. Soldiers of the American
Revolution Under Bernardo De Galvez. (Five copies of this book were
originally printed: one was placed in the SAR Library housed in
the Howard-Tilton Library at Tulane University, Louisiana; one was
deposited in the DAR Library in Washington, D.C.; a third copy can
be found in the Library of Congress.)
Mills, Elizabeth Shown. Natchitoches Colonials: Censuses,
Military Rolls, and Tax Lists, 1722–1803. Tuscaloosa, Ala.:
Mills Historical Press, 1981.
The National Archives has many original military
records for Louisiana, many of which have been microfilmed—for
example: War of 1812—M229, 3 rolls; Florida War of 1836—M239;
War of 1836–38—M241; Confederate War Index—M378,
31 rolls; Military Service Records—M320, 414 rolls. For further
information, also see the following:
Mills, Gary B. Civil War Claims. Vol. 1, An Index
to Cases Filed With the Southern Claims Commission. Laguna Hills,
Calif.: Aegean Park Press, 1980.
Neagles, James C. U.S. Military Records: A Guide
to Federal and State Sources. Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1994.
Additional Sources
Holmes, Jack D. L. A Guide to Spanish Louisiana, 1762–1806.
New Orleans: Louisiana Collection Series, 1970.
Leland, Waldo G. Guide to Materials for American
History in the Libraries and Archives of France. Washington, D.C.:
Carnegie Institute, 1932.
DeVille, Winston. "Louisiana." In Kenn
Stryker-Rodda, ed., Genealogical Research: Methods and Sources.
Vol. 2. Rev. ed. Washington, D.C.: American Society of Genealogists,
1983.
Louisiana Vital Records:
Event: Birth
Cost of copy: Long form: $15.00, Short form: $9.00
Address:
Vital Records Registry
Office of Public Health
325 Loyola Avenue
New Orleans, LA 70112
Remarks: State office has had records since July
1914. Birth records for city of New Orleans are available from 1892.
Death records are available since 1942. Older birth, death, and
marriage records are available through the Louisiana State Archives,
P.O. Box 94125, Baton Rouge, LA 70804.
Check or money order should be made payable to Vital
Records. Personal checks are accepted. To verify current fees, the
telephone number is (504) 568-5152.
Search All Louisiana Records
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Event: Death
Cost of copy: $5.00
Address:
Vital Records Registry
Office of Public Health
325 Loyola Avenue
New Orleans, LA 70112
Remarks: State office has had records since July
1914. Birth records for city of New Orleans are available from 1892.
Death records are available since 1942. Older birth, death, and
marriage records are available through the Louisiana State Archives,
P.O. Box 94125, Baton Rouge, LA 70804.
Check or money order should be made payable to Vital
Records. Personal checks are accepted. To verify current fees, the
telephone number is (504) 568-5152.
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Event: Marriage, Orleans Parish
Cost of copy: $5.00
Address:
Vital Records Registry
Office of Public Health
325 Loyola Avenue
New Orleans, LA 70112
Remarks: Certified copies are issued by Clerk of
Court in parish where license was issued.
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Event: Marriage, Other Parishes
Cost of copy: Varies
Address: See remarks
Remarks: Certified copies are issued by Clerk of
Court in parish where license was issued.
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Event: Divorce (parish)
Cost of copy: Varies
Address: See remarks
Remarks: Clerk of Court in parish where divorce was
granted.
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