Staff Picks: Genealogy Websites

Afro-Louisiana History and Genealogy, 1719-1820. Slave database that has information concerning the slave and the slave’s owner.
Amistad Research Center. Their mission is collecting, preserving, and providing open access to original materials that reference the social and cultural importance of America's ethnic and racial history, the African Diaspora, human relations, and civil rights.
Black Family Research – Records of Post-Civil War Federal Agencies at the National Archives. Washington, Reginald. Reference Information Paper 108. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 2010.

The Advocate Obituary Project. A database containing obituary indexes for The Advocate and The State-Times pre-1991.
Find a Grave. Includes burial information for millions of people. May include photos of headstones and family members, obituaries, and links to others in the database.
Louisiana Biography/Obituary Index. A database that references obituaries and death notices published in New Orleans newspapers from 1804-1972 and biographical information published in older Louisiana collective biographies.
Louisiana Cemeteries. Alphabetical listing of many Louisiana cemeteries, which includes location, directions to the cemetery and may include cemetery transcriptions.
Louisiana Cemeteries Wiki Page at Family Search. A Family Search Wiki guide on researching Louisiana Cemeteries.
Louisiana Cemetery Board Database. A searchable database of Louisiana cemeteries with contact information.

Acadian-Cajun Genealogy Periodical Article Index: An index of more than 5,000 articles from 21 genealogy journals for Acadian-Cajun research.

Family Search – Forms. Free genealogy-related forms
BYU Family History Library. Free genealogy-related forms
Genealogy Help Network. Free genealogy-related forms to record family history.

Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System. A National Parks Service database that offers military information for Confederate and Union soldiers and sailors.
Records of Louisiana Confederate Soldiers & Louisiana Confederate Commands. Booth, Andrew B. Spartanburg, SC: The Reprint Company, Publishers. A three-volume set arranged alphabetically by soldier’s surname with a summary of the soldier’s service record. Also available online.

A Guide to Tracing American Indian & Alaska Native Ancestry – a Federal Government publication
Search the Dawes Rolls, 1898-1914. A database offered by the Oklahoma Historical Society.

Chronicling America. Searchable database of America's historic newspaper pages from 1756-1963.
Louisiana Newspapers. The State Library of Louisiana LibGuide for Louisiana newspaper resources.
The Louisiana Newspaper Project. LSU Libraries, Louisiana State University. Searchable index of Louisiana newspapers.

Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild. A Searchable database of passenger lists that have been transcribed to the Internet. Includes the Port of New Orleans.
National Archives. Resources for Immigration and Naturalization research at the National Archives

Census Online. Online searchable census.
Family Search. A nonprofit organization and website offering genealogical records, education, and software. It is operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and is closely connected with the church's Family History Department.
Gen Forum. A site to check multiple queries by surname, offering a way to locate ancestral information and living relatives.
Google Books. A great place to locate possible ancestors in books; such as state annual reports, historical reports, etc.
Louisiana Archives (USGenWeb Project). Part of a nationwide online database, but is specific to Louisiana. It is arranged by parish, has some searchable databases, transcribed information and lookup volunteers.
Louisiana Digital Media Archive. This is the home of home of the Louisiana Public Broadcasting Digital Collection and the Louisiana State Archives Multimedia Collection with thousands of hours of media recorded over the past half-century.
Membership in the Louisiana House, 1812-Present. List of state representatives by parish, in date order. Includes date served and party affiliation.
Membership in the Louisiana Senate, 1880-Present. List of state senators by parish. Includes dates served and party affiliation.
National Archives Census. Online searchable census.
United States Census, Factfinder for the Nation. An excellent explanation of the United States census and what is available on the different censuses from 1790 to 2000.
USGenweb.org. A nationwide online database, but is specific to Louisiana. It is arranged by parish, has some searchable databases, transcribed information and lookup volunteers.

Atlas of Historical County Boundaries. Maps and text covering the historical boundaries, names, organization, and attachments of every county, extinct county and unsuccessful county proposal from the creation of the first county through 2000.
Find A County. National Association of Counties (NACO). Locate counties, cities, zip codes, and profiles.
Louisiana Digital Library. Database of 84,000+ photographs and documents from 32 libraries, archives, museums and other facilities. Keyword searchable.
Louisiana Digital Map Library. Historic Louisiana maps online.
Louisiana Directory of Cities, Towns and Villages. Lori L. Smith. An alphabetical list of cities, towns, and villages showing population and post offices, and alphabetical list of parishes showing cities, towns, and villages, and tabulation by parish of 1990 and 2000 population figures.
Louisiana National Register of Historic Places. Louisiana Division of Historic Preservation. Online database of Louisiana buildings, structures, objects and districts deemed worthy of preservation because they illustrate something about Louisiana’s history or culture. Searchable by place, name, type of building, etc.
Louisiana State Museum Historical Map Collection. Digitized maps are available via the Louisiana Digital Library.
The Official Land Patent Records Site. A searchable land record database of land patents for many states.
State Land Office. Information on Louisiana state owned lands.

Archdiocese of New Orleans — Digitized Sacramental Records in the Archives.
Louisiana Parish Clerks of Court. Parish listing of contact information for Louisiana Clerks of Court, which has marriage and divorce records, land records, probate, etc.
Louisiana Vital Records Index Searchable database of Death Records over 50 years and Birth Records over 100 years.
Vital Records Information, United States . Where to locate vital records by state and parish/county. Lists towns that have vital records before they were kept statewide.
Social Security Death Index. A database containing an index to the Social Security records of deceased persons whose deaths were reported to the Social Security Administration. Searchable by name or Social Security Number, can generate a letter to the SSA, etc.
State Registry & Vital Records The Louisiana Vital Records Registry only maintains birth and death records that occurred in Louisiana. If you need a certified copy of a birth or death certificate from another state, you must contact that state's vital records office.
Under Louisiana law, birth records are strictly confidential until 100 years after the year of birth and death records are strictly confidential until 50 years after the year of the death. Birth records older than 100 years and death records older than 50 years are available at the Louisiana State Archives.

64 Parishes Encyclopedia. Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. An online interactive encyclopedia of Louisiana that includes images, text, video and audio in a searchable format.
Bayou State Periodical Index. Lafayette: University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Annual. Subject index to articles in Louisiana journals. Also available online. Searchable by keyword.
Louisiana: A Guide to the State. (American Guide Series) Originally published in 1941 as part of the WPA Writer’s Program, includes tours of state and an excellent index to locate plantation homes (some no longer in existence) and towns. Good historical information. No longer in print.
Louisiana Department of Education Statistical Reports. This publication offers Education statistics for state, and parish, and school levels: 1857-1979 and 1979-current

African-American Resources

Cemetery/Obituary Resources

Colonial Louisiana Resources

Forms

Military Resources

Native-American Resources

Newspapers

Passenger and Immigration Resources

People

Places/Land Records

Sacramental Records/Vital Records

Additional Resources