RESEARCHING AVOYELLES FAMILIES IN LOUISIANA, CANADA AND FRANCE
The Sacred Heart indexes above do not contain all info found in the individual church records. To obtain copy of a record or additional info found in the record, please contact Danita Coco (Secretary) at Sacred Heart.
The St. Paul's index above was made in 1922 by the Priest and it's a very important document for finding someone who was baptized at St. Pauls! A copy of it is also available in the St. Paul's records which have been digitized and are available on FamilySearch.
The St. Paul's marriage index above does not contain all info found in the individual church records. To obtain copy of a record or additional info found in the record, please contact the secretary at St. Pauls. (Thanks to Eve Daigrepont Bierniat for typing the index and for Sheldon Roy for adding the French accents!)
Here are excellent books by Ellen Dauzat,which pick up where the 3-book series entitled "Bride's Book of Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana..." left off. They are available on Amazon:
Thanks to Lyle Barbato for providing the 1796 Confirmation document!
We have been told that you can contact the LSUA Archives to obtain a copy of a Marksville obit but this has not been confirmed. If you are successfully able to do this, please let us know. Try this phone number: 318.619.2960
Probate Book A 1808-1818 (by alphabet): Page: Cover, Page: ABCD , Page; EFGH , Page: JKLM , Page: NOPQ , Page: RSTU , Page: WYZ
CENSUS RECORDS & OTHER EARLY LISTS/DOCS WHICH ALLOW YOU TO TRACE ANCESTORS
Census records for Avoyelles Parish are available from numerous sources including Ancestry.com. However, for those of you who do not subscribe to Ancestry, the links below provide alternative **free** Census sources. Please remember that the first U.S. Census for Louisiana did not take place until 1810 although there are other French and Spanish Census records that exist before that time for Avoyelles and Pointe Coupée. Also, keep in mind that that the 1890 Census was destroyed in a fire.
Some U. S. Census records are available at FamilySearch.org. From this page, you can enter a surname or the full name of an ancestor (and, if desired, other identifying data of an Avoyelles ancestor) in order to search/browse a particular census. In order to ensure that you obtain only Census records, select 'Census, Residence and Lists' under the "RESTRICT RECORDS BY" option. Please note that some of the Census records are viewable (free) from FamilySearch and others are available (often for a fee) at other off-site locations (linked from FamilySearch).
The 1850 Slave Schedule is also available for viewing on FamilySearch.org.
If you are unable to view a Census for free at FamilySearch.org, you can use the Census location information (such as reel/film and page) you've discovered, and jump to Archive.org to find the particular Census & reel that you're interested in. When searching at Archive.org, you can simply search on "1810 Avoyelles Census" (or another Census year). You will be able to view on-line or download (very large files) the desired Census.
1850 Avoyelles Census
(Thanks to Eve Daigrepont Bierniat for indexing the 1850 Avoyelles Census!)
Book: "1850 Avoyelles Parish Louisiana Census: Transcription and Biographical Information"
(Excellent book by Eve Daigrepont Bierniat now available on Amazon.)
1810 Avoyelles Census
Nov. 1808 Pointe Coupée Census
1805 New Orleans Directory and Census
1800 Avoyelles Church Census: Page 1 Page 2 Page 3
1789 Pointe Coupée - Vote on Paper Money : Page 1, Page 2
22 March 1776 Pointe Coupée Poste Census of Masters & Slaves - Pages 1 and 2: "Census of woman, children and slaves of Pointe Coupée Post who have not been included in the previous/proceeding/earlier tax")
Page 1
Page 2
22 March 1776 Pointe Coupée Poste Census of Masters & Slaves - Pages 3 through 6: "Enumeration of slaves Pointe Coupée Post of both both large and small numbers including those under domination and those who are their own master as per the order of the Governor")
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
c1769 Pointe Coupée and Fausse Riviere (False River) Census (full transcription in June 2015 issue of 'Le Raconteur'): Page 1,
Page 2,
Page 3,
Page 4,
Page 5
1766 Louisiana Spanish Census
1749 Arkansas Post Census.....OR .... Transcription of 1749 Arkansas Post Census
1732 Illinois Census
Jan. 1732 New Orleans Census
1731 New Orleans Property Owners on the map published by Gonichon in 1731; Census of inhabitants along the Mississippi River; List of landowners located along the Mississippi River from its mouth to the German villages - BROKEN LINK
1 July 1727 New Orleans Census
1 Jan. 1726 General census of the Louisiana colony including entire coast from Mobile to NOLA Census
12 Nov. 1724 Census of inhabitants of German Villages located ten leagues above NOLA along the river
15 Nov. 1724 Inhabitants along the Mississippi from NOLA to Quacha Census
1723 Leblanc & St. Catherine Concessions Census - BROKEN LINK
18 Feb. 1723 Habitants of Sotehouy Arkansas Census
1 May 1722 Inhabitants of Natchitoches, Fort St. Jean Baptist, CensusK
13 May 1722 Concessions along the Mississippi - Census - BROKEN LINK
24 Nov. 1721 New Orleans Census
24 Nov. 1721 New Orleans Census #2
28 June 1721 Mobile & Biloxi Census
1693 Habitants Port Royal - BROKEN LINK
1686 Port Royal & Acadie Census
1681 Canada Census
1671 Port Royal Census - BROKEN LINK
1667 Canada Census
1667 Canada Census Transcription
1666 Canada Census
1666 Canada Census Transcription
This link provides access to the sacramental records (amongst a couple of other things!) of Québec Province (Canada) - an invaluable collection to those researching Avoyelles lineages! To access the records of Québec Province, click on 'Browse through 1,398,741 images' at the bottom of the page linked above.
Louisiana Secretary of State - Use link to obtain death records which occurred more than 50 years ago, births which occurred more than 100 years and Orleans Parish Marriage records which occurred more than 50 years ago.
MILITARY SERVICE
Shortly after WWII, a wonderful book was distributed by The American Legion in Avoyelles Parish entitled "The Men and Women in World War II from Avoyelles Parish". The book contained pictures and brief descriptions of many of the WWII soldiers from the parish and is a wonderful tribute to those who served our country in WWII. I do not believe the book is copyrighted. However, I contacted Daniel S. Wheeler, American Legion National Adjutant, in order to obtain his permission and/or blessing to share the book. He has indicated that they do not hold a copyright on this book and has granted us permission "to distribute materials which contain [our] name provided such materials do not imply an endorsement by The American Legion". Therefore, we thank the American Legion for this wonderful tribute!
One of the ways to attempt to trace slave ancestry (although it will not be easy!) is via the use of succession records of the slave owner. When a succession was opened after the death of a slave owner, the slaves were listed as property in the Inventory document of the succession and were usually listed by first name. You might also need to search conveyance records. Many succession records are now available on-line (Ancestry.com - Louisiana Wills & Probate Records Collection). Although you may find some conveyance records on-line also, you may have to visit the appropriate courthouse to find these records.
The documents for the Spanish period of Louisiana can be found in the Archivo General de Indias Papeles Procedentes de Cuba, commonly known as the Cuban Papers. As you can guess, these documents are usually in Spanish. In order to determine what can be found in these papers, you can search through Roscoe R. Hill's "Descriptive Catalogue of the Documents relating to the History of the United States in the Papeles Procedentes de Cuba deposited in the Archivo General de Indias at Seville". This book is available on Google Books. (Roscoe Hill's book on the Cuban Papers)
The actual records are available at LSU's Library as well as several other libraries. If you're unable to visit LSU's Library but would like to order a copy of a particular Legajo, you'll first need to find the Legajo number and name of item in Hill's book(as well as any other identifying info that Hill's book may provide). You can then order a copy from LSU. Here are the instructions for ordering:
To place your request, please create a Special Collections Request System account through this link from LSU's website. (Special Collections Request System).
After you have created your SCRS account, you may access the �Library Catalog� and search for the entry for the Cuban Papers. Click on that entry and scroll to click on �Request Material.� Switch the form to duplication, fill it out, and submit. (Cost for duplication).
You should also check Glenn Conrad's "First Families of Louisiana" (Volumes I and II). There are also several books containing ship lists for the Germans who populated the German Coast. Drop me a line if you need more info.
Ancestry.com has many collections of documents (usually sacramental records) from early French forts. If you do not know the names of these forts, you can check here: List of French Forts Some of the more well-known forts were Fort de Chartres & Fort Kaskaskia (Download the 'Kaskaskia Manuscripts'); Fort Cond� (Mobile) - see below (also Fort Toulouse); Fort Ponchartrain du D�troit, Fort Duquesne (Pittsburgh), Fort des Natchitoches (see below and Miscellanous section of this page), Fort Rosalie (Natchez), Fort Biloxi and Fort Vincennes (Indiana).
Three books I'd recommend for searching early Mobile: "Love's Legacy: The Mobile Marriages Recorded in French, Transcribed, with Annotated Abstracts in English, 1724-1786" (Vidrine); "Sacramental records of the Roman Catholic Church of the Archdiocese of Mobile, Volume I, Section 1, 1704-1739" and "Mobile Funerals 1726-1764: Alabama Church Records of the French Province of Louisiana" (Winston DeVille). (Have the books if you need a lookup)
There is a lot of info about Fort Ponchartrain du D�troit: French-Canadian Heritage Society of Michigan
See CENSUS section of this page for Census of Arkansas Post, Mobile, Natchitoches and several other places that may be of help.
Books regarding Natchitoches: "Natchitoches: Abstracts of the Catholic Church Registers of the French and Spanish Post of St. Jean Baptiste des Natchitoches in Louisiana 1729-1803" / Mills; "The Natchitoches Registers: Volume One" / Blaise D'Antoni; (Other books for post-1800 time period: "Natchitoches, 1800-1826" / Mills; "Natchitoches Church Marriages, 1818-1850" / Mills; "Natchitoches Baptisms, 1817-1840"/ Riffel; "Natchitoches Baptisms, 1841-1849" / Riffel)
There are two different links you can use to reach the French Sacramental records on-line (yes, France!). You will need to know which department you'd like to search because all of the records are filed by department. If you're not sure, simply type the name of a town/commune in a search engine along with the word 'department' and you should be able to find the name of the department:
NOTE: If you're unfamiliar with place names in France, you might want to read this: Click here
