LibGuides: Genealogy: Free Databases for Louisiana Genealogy

Free Databases for Louisiana Genealogy

The Louisiana Biography and Obituary Index
This index is a joint effort of the Historic New Orleans Collection and the New Orleans Public Library staff and volunteers. It was copied from the card index located in the Louisiana Division of the New Orleans Public Library Main Branch, and references obituaries and death notices published in various New Orleans newspapers from 1804 through 1972 and biographical information published in early Louisiana biographical compilations.
Louisiana State Archives Confederate Pension Applications Index Database
This database is made available by the Louisiana State Archives, a division of the Office of the Louisiana Secretary of State. It is a searchable database of Confederate veterans or their widows residing in Louisiana who applied for a Louisiana pension beginning in 1898.
Louisiana State Archives Vital Records Search.
These databases are made available by the Louisiana State Archives, a division of the Office of the Louisiana Secretary of State. These are searchable databases for Louisiana death records more than 50 years old, Orleans Parish birth records more than 100 years old, and Orleans Parish marriage records more than 50 years old.
The Lousiana Newspaper Project Titles by Parish
This site provides a list, by parish, of all newspapers known to have been published in Louisiana, beginning in 1794. The site is sponsored by the Louisiana State University Hill Memorial Library Special Collections
Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps for Louisiana through Library of Congress
A partial collection of Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps including 66 Louisiana locations as well as many other US cities and counties.
Digitizing Louisiana Newspapers Project
LSU Libraries received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress to digitize Louisiana newspapers. This page links to the Chronicling America website of the Library of Congress
The New Orleans Bee
These scanned images of the New Orleans Bee newspaper from September 1827 through August 1881 and September 1881 through December 1923 are made available by the Jefferson Parish Library. Users must have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on a computer to view the images.
Louisiana Online Historical Newspapers
LSU Digital Collections - Newspapers
New Orleans Genesis Research Guide
This is a searchable research tool to find articles published in the New Orleans Genesis from 1962 to the present issue
New Orleans Marriage Index from the Daily Picayune, 1837 through 1857
Prepared by the Louisiana Division of the New Orleans Public Library.
The Orleans Parish Civil and Criminal Court Finding Aids
This site links to valuable New Orleans genealogical records, including indexes to various court records, successions for the Louisiana Court of Probate (Orleans Parish) 1805-1846, Louisiana First, Third, Fourth and Fifth District Court (Orleans Parish) 1846-1853, and Louisiana Second District Court (Orleans Parish) 1846-1880, and a 1911 Enumeration of ex-Confederate soldiers and their widows for part of the state.
The USGenWeb Archives Project for Orleans Parish, Louisiana
Provides indexes to baptisms, birth record information, cemetery and burial information, census information, Charity Hospital records, church records, early city directories, death record information, divorces, maps, marrige records, military records, naturalizations, newspaper articles, obituaries, schools, ship and passenger lists, and other sources. Databases and content prepared by NOVA volunteers.
Obituary Indexing for the Times Picayune
beginning with 1880 through present. This database is in progress, and was compiled by NOVA volunteers.
Index to New Orleans Genesis
This is a text file; it provides an index to articles in the New Orleans Genesis from 1962 forward.
Obituary Notices from the Times Picayune,
January, 1972 through 1978. Provides the data of publication and page number for obituaries in the New Orleans Times Picayune. This database is made available by the Jefferson Parish Library.

St. Tammany Parish Library Genealogy Page

Diocese of Louisiana & The Floridas, 1576-1803
This is material is a Guide to the manuscript collection held at the University of Notre Dame Archives.
Tangipahoa Parish Index for USGenWeb Archives
The Advocate Obituary Index
"The Advocate Obituary Project indexes obituaries appearing in the State Times or Morning Advocate. Years covered to date: 1952-91. To use these files: Save the file(s) to the Computer's Desktop and then Open them for optimal viewing." From the East Baton Rouge Parish Library website.
Chronicling America
Louisiana Civil War Resources
St. Tammany Marriages
From Million Early Marriages in the Southern States LA AHGP, Louisiana History and Genealogy Project by C. W. Barnum.

Three important books for researching in New Orleans:

General Index of all Successions, Opened in the Parish of Orleans, From the Year 1805, to the Year 1846. Compiled by P. M. Bertin, 1849.

General Index of All Successions Opened in the Parish of Orleans, From the Year 1846 to the month of August 1880. Compiled by A. J Villere, New Orleans, 1881.

General Index of All Successions Opened in the Civil District Court, Parish of Orelans, Louisiana, From Its Organization, August 1st, 1880 to August 31st, 1894. Compiled by W. L McBee, New Orleans, 1895.

Digital copies of the successions are available in Ancestry.com, Louisiana, Wills and Probate Records, 1756-1984.

Digital copies of Successions up to 1846 are available for free at FamilySearch.org, Louisiana, Orleans Parish Estate Files, 1804-1846.

Digital copies of Wills up to 1920 are available for free at FamilySearch.org, Louisiana, Orleans Parish Will Books, 1805-1920.