Subject Guides: Archives and Special Collections: Genealogy

Genealogy Information

Genealogy research in the Ellender Archives

The Ellender Archives Genealogy Collection holds many resources useful in researching family history in Louisiana, including vital record indexes for our newspaper microfilm collection, church and parish records, local genealogical journals, archival collections, and local histories. See below for tips on conducting genealogical research in our collection.

Come Prepared

Many of our records end in the early to mid-1900s, so it is a good idea to bring with you as much information as you have to get started. Find out the full names, birth dates, and birth places for older relatives whose ancestry you wish to trace, as well as any further information you can gather from family members on your genealogy. The names, dates of birth and death, and place of birth and death for your grandparents or great-grandparents are usually sufficient information to start compiling your family tree.

Focus on Louisiana

As a regional repository, the majority of our materials relate to family history in Louisiana (and specifically south Louisiana). We have a small number of materials relating to other regions that may help you start out-of-state genealogy, but for more extensive research you will need to contact libraries, archives, and records offices in those areas. We recommend contacting public libraries in your geographical areas of interest to see if they can put you in contact with a local genealogy group.

For questions and appointments, call the Archives at (985) 448-4620.

Genealogical Resources in the Archives Reading Room

Acadian and Creole Studies Institute Records

Contains vertical files of genealogical materials.

Daspit de St. Amant Family Genealogical Materials

Contains notes, genealogical charts, and other collected materials documenting the history of the Daspit de St. Amant family.

Olga Laurent Collection

Bound copies of genealogy charts from this collection are available in the Archives Reading Room.

Meyer Family Collection

Includes birth, death, and marriage records for Lafourche Parish. Bound copies of death notices pertaining to Lafourche Parish from this collection are available in the Archives Reading Room.

Doris Mae Naquin Ledet Collection

Includes information on local families, communities, schools, plantations, churches, and more.

Godfrey J. Olivier Genealogy Collection

Contains contains pedigree and lineage charts, family group sheets, family history excerpts, census and militia lists, newspaper clippings, and baptismal, marriage, and death certificates. See finding aid for a list of families included in this collection.

Celine Verret Collection

Bound copies of death notices pertaining to Lafourche and Assumption Parishes from this collection are available in the Archives Reading Room.

Newspaper holdings are grouped by publication location, and are retained in microfilm format unless otherwise indicated.

Lafourche Parish and Thibodaux

Thibodaux Minerva	June 11, 1853 - June 7, 1856
	June 11, 1853 - June 7, 1856 (online)
La Sentinelle de Thibodaux	Feb. 7, 1863 - June 2, 1866 (online)
Weekly Thibodaux Sentinel	Aug. 1865 - May 25, 1907 (Vital records index available in Archives Reading Room)
	Jan. 1, 1876 - Feb. 26, 1898 (online)
	Jan. 6, 1900 - Dec. 26, 1903 (online)
Thibodaux Sentinel	June 1, 1907 - Dec. 7, 1912 (Vital records index available in Archives Reading Room)
	Jan. 4, 1908 - Dec. 7, 1912 (online)
Commercial Journal	Mar. 9, 1910 - Feb. 8, 1911
Thibodaux Commercial Journal	Mar. 9, 1910 - Dec. 7, 1956
	Mar. 9, 1910 - Dec. 30, 1922 (online)
Lafourche Parish Press	Jan. 7, 1959 - Dec. 27, 1961
Lafourche Weekly Press	Jan. 3, 1962 - Dec. 21, 1965
Lafourche Comet	Jan. 7, 1892 - May 30, 1968
Daily Comet	Jun. 4, 1968 - present (recent issues retained in print) (Vital records indexes for 1950 - 2000 available in Archives Reading Room)

Terrebonne Parish and Houma

Houma Courier	Jan. 2, 1970 - Sept. 11, 1970
	Jan. 18, 1879 - Oct. 30, 1920 (online)
Houma Daily Courier and the Terrebonne Press	Sept. 14, 1970 - Oct. 31, 1982
Houma Daily Courier	Jan. 2, 1983 - Oct. 30, 1992
The Daily Courier (Houma, La.)	Nov. 1, 1992 - present (recent issues retained in print) (Vital records indexes for Houma newspapers from 1855- 2015 available in Archives Reading Room)

Assumption Parish

Le pionnier de l'Assomption	Sept. 8, 1850 - Dec. 10, 1855 (online)
Pioneer of Assumption	Sept. 8, 1850 - Dec. 10, 1855
	June 16, 1877 - Dec. 29, 1894
	June 16, 1877 - Dec. 27, 1879 (online)
Assumption Pioneer	Jan. 12, 1895 - present (recent issues retained in print) (Vital records index for Sept. 8, 1850 - Dec. 28, 1912 available in Archives Reading Room)

New Orleans

New Orleans Bee	Jan. 1, 1858 - Dec. 30, 1881
New Orleans Democrat	Dec. 19, 1875 - Aug. 31, 1876
	Dec. 19, 1875 - Aug. 31, 1876 (online)
New Orleans Evening Democrat	Sept. 1, 1876 - Jan. 31, 1877
New Orleans Daily Democrat	Feb. 1, 1877 - Mar. 31, 1880
New Orleans Democrat	Apr. 1, 1880 - Dec. 3, 1881
New Orleans Times	Jan. 1, 1881 - Dec. 3, 1881
Daily Picayune	Nov. 1, 1860 - Dec. 23, 1881
	Jan. 26, 1885 - Feb. 3, 1893
	Dec. 5, 1909 - May 11, 1914
Times-Picayune	May 13, 1914 - May 31, 1980
Times-Picayune, The States Item	June 1, 1980 - Sept. 30, 1986
Times Picayune	Oct. 1, 1986 - present (recent issues retained in print)
	Full text of Times-Picayune (1837-1922) available from America's Historical Newspapers

Baton Rouge

Morning Advocate	Jan. 1, 1939- Dec. 31 1991
Advocate	Jan. 1, 1992 - Oct. 11, 2013 (recent issues retained in print)

State of Louisiana

Progress

March 1930 - March 1940

Looking for a title, city, or parish you don't see here?

Check the full list of digitized Louisiana newspapers available online from the Library of Congress (1836-1922).

The Archives Genealogy Collection includes many publications that provide vital records, local history, and other information useful in genealogical research. This list represents a small selection of frequently used titles, and the search box below can be used to find additional resources. Publications on this list are located in the Archives Reading Room unless otherwise indicated.

Vital Records and Indexes

South Louisiana Records: Civil and Church Records (1794-1920) by Rev. Donald Hebert

Southwest Louisiana Records: Civil and Church Records (1756-1905) by Rev. Donald Hebert

Immigration files of Southwest Louisiana, 1840-1929 : Naturalization Records by Rev. Donald Hebert

Terrebonne Lifelines (bound newsletters 1982-2015; index for 1982 - 2001 available on CD-ROM)

U.S Census, Lafourche Parish, LA (1850-1900 available as bound copies in the Archives; all years available on microfilm in Government Information)

Diocese of Baton Rouge, Catholic Church records (1707-1905)

Passenger and Immigration Lists Index by P. William Filby. Guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries.

Printed Funeral Notices, Lafourche and Terrebonne Parish (1870-1900). Bound copies of death notices from our archival collections.

Printed Funeral Notices, Assumption Parish (1870 and later). Bound copies of death notices from our archival collections.

Statement of the Sugar and Rice Crops Made in Louisiana (1844-1862). Listing of sugar and rice planters with location of farms.

Local Histories

I Dug Up Houma, Terrebonne by Helen Wurzlow (vol. 1-7, index, and photo index)

The Lafourche Country (vol. 1-3) by John Doucet and Stephen Michot. Essays on Lafourche Parish families, history, and culture.

Know some family names you'd like to start researching?

Books on the history of specific families are also available in the Archives Reading Room. Search the Ellender Library Catalog below to see if a written history exists for a family name you are researching: