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FrancoGene: Genealogy of Louisiana

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Summary

• Origin of the State's name
• History of the colony at a glance
• History of the state at a glance
• Why Louisiana has parishes and not counties
• Some French pioneers
• Number of Franco-Americans in the State
• List of old French posts with records
• Principal genealogical sources

Origin of the State's name

History of the colony at a glance

In 1538, the Spaniard Hernando de Soto navigated along the Mississippi River, but the Spanish settlements were limited to the South.

The French, who settled the St.Lawrence Valley (Quebec City, 1608, then Montreal, 1642), explored the continent looking for furs. In 1673, Louis Jolliet and father Jacques Marquette discovered the Mississippi River.

The colony of Louisiana once covered an immense region extending from the Gulf of Mexico, north along the Mississippi river valley to the Great Lakes and west into the unexplored watershed of the Missouri and Arkansas rivers. However, the early French-speaking population of Louisiana was thinly spread among the numerous posts established along the colony's principal waterway, the Mississippi, and its lower tributaries.

The Louisiana colony claimed by La Salle remained a French colony until 1762. As the colony had become an excessive burden on the French treasurer, Louis XV, via the Treaty of Fontainebleau, happily ceded the entire region to Spain. It remained under Spanish rule until 1800 when it was retroceded to France in accordance with the Treaty of San Ildefonso.  Three years later, in 1803, the emperor Napoleon sold the region to the United States for sixty million francs (or about fifteen million US dollars). The present-day State of Louisiana, formed in 1812, is one of approximately twenty US states formed from the area  encompassed by the Louisiana Purchase.

History of the state at a glance

Early French colonists in Louisiana came from many different backgrounds.  The very earliest were Canadians (at that time, Canada was itself a French colony) and French-speaking Europeans. Then, immigration of German people was organized, giving St-Charles des Allemands (litterally, St-Charles of the German) on the German coast.  They were later joined by French Acadians expelled from Acadia by the British and by French colonists from Saint-Domingue (Haiti) fleeing the slave rebellion.  The Acadians were surprised to find that the area was Spanish, when they arrived, firstly about 1765 (from English colonies) and later about 1785 (from France).  Their Louisianese descendants took the name of Cajuns (Acadiens -> Acadjens -> Cadjens -> Cajuns).

In 1762, the area then called Louisiana and forming the inner part of USA was divided into 2 parts.  The part east of the Mississippi River was given to the British empire, forming later USA.  So, Illinois for example became British at that time.  In the south of the area, the east of Mississippi River formed the territory of Western Florida (this explains the many references to West Florida in early Louisiana records).  The west bank of the river became Spanish.  In 1800, the Spanish part was given back to France and in 1803, Napoleon sold it to USA.

Louisiana became the 18th American State in 1812.

Why Louisiana has parishes and not counties

It is the only State that is divided in parishes and not in counties.  Its French background is probably the reason.  France had a very irregular naming pattern at that time.  Some provinces were divided into "elections", other in "civil dioceses", some in "juridiction", etc.  The civil dioceses were divided into civil parishes (corresponding to towns, not to townships or counties).  The religious dioceses were also divided into religious parishes, not always similar to civil parishes.  It is quite possible that the regions of Louisiana were called parishes to use a similar naming pattern used in some French area.

Some French pioneers

[A-F] [G-Z]

Number of Franco-Americans in the State

List of old French posts with records

Principal genealogical sources

Note: in Louisiana, counties are called " parishes ". Thus, " New Orleans, Orleans Parish " means the New Orleans, county of Orleans and not the catholic parish of Orleans.

• Sacramental Records of the Roman Catholic Church of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, (BMS 1718-1818, 12 vol. and continues), published in New Orleans, by the Archdiocese of New Orleans. The price is $30.00 per vol, "postpaid", with appropriate tax charged to Louisiana residents. Available from: Archdiocese Historical Archives, 1100 Charters St., New Orleans, La. 70116-2596
• Bâton Rouge Diocese (BMS 1707-1888, 17 vol. and continues)
• Hébert, Donald J., South Louisiana (BMS 1794-1920, 12 vol. and continues)
• Hébert, Donald J., South-West Louisiana (BMS 1756-1910, 42 vol. and continues)
• Glenn Conrad, First Families of Louisiana, 2 vols. (Baton Rouge: Claitor's Publishing Co., 1970)
• Natchitoches
• Elizabeth Shown Mills, Natchitoches: Abstracts of the Catholic Church Regiters of the French and Spanish Post of St. Jean Baptiste des Natchitoches in Louisiana: 1729-1803 (New Orleans: Polyanthos, 1977). 507 pp., covering Registers 1 through 4-B, with 3,456 sacramental entries in original sequence.
• E. S. Mills, Natchitoches, 1800-1826: Translated Abstracts of Register Number Five of the Catholic Church Parish of St. François des Natchitoches in Louisiana (New Orleans: Polyanthos, 1980). 480 pp., with 2,936 sacramental entries in original sequence
• E. S. Mills, "Burials at Natchitoches, 1793-1796: Edited Translations from Register 15, Parish of St. François des Natchitoches," Natchitoches Genealogist 5 (October 1980): 1-12.
• E. S. Mills, "Natchitoches Baptisms, 1713-1776: A Supplement to Mills's Natchitoches, 1729-1803," The Natchitoches Genealogist 7 (April 1983): 6-11.
• As for censuses, the Natchitoches fort is also represented by one of the best collections of censuses available for any of these colonial posts. These have been published as: E. S. Mills, Natchitoches Colonials: Censuses, Military Rolls, and Tax Lists, 1722-1803. Chicago: Adams Press, 1981.
• Many other books covers some towns for shorter periods