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Louisiana County Court, Probate, Tax and Other Miscellaneous Records

  •  Louisiana Court , Probate and Land Records  •  Louisiana Tax Records  •  
  •  Louisiana Immigration & Naturalization Records  •  

Browse Louisiana Parishes

See Also Researching Court Records, Researching Probate Records, Research In Immigration & Naturalization Records and Researching Tax Records

Louisiana Parishes with Burned Courthouses

The destruction of courthouses greatly affects genealogists in every way. No only are these historic structures torn from our lives, so are the records they housed: marriage, wills, probate, land records, and others. Once destroyed they are lost forever. Even if they have been placed on mircofilm, computers and film burn too. The most heartbreaking side of this is the fact that many of our courthouses are destroyed at the hands of arsonist. However, not all records were lost.

  Below is a list of Louisiana Parishes and the years the Courthouses were subjected to a disaster. This does NOT mean that ALL RECORDS were lost. Often, folks took their documents again in for recording after a disaster and later deeds will contain long chains of title, etc.

  • Avoyelles Parish Courthouse - There was records destruction in 1856? from Unkown causes.
  • Bossier Parish Courthouse - In 1888, the courthouse at Bellevue was partly burned.
  • Calcasieu Parish Courthouse- Courthouse was destroyed by a disastrous fire on April 23, 1910, as well as most of downtown Lake Charles, and many of the records of the parish were burned or damaged.
  • Catahoula Parish Courthouse - There was a total records destrustion in the early 1900's due to unkown causes
  • Claiborne Parish Courthouse - The courthouse at Old Athens along with all parish records were destroyed by fire on November 6, 1849
  • Concordia Parish Courthouse - A tornado destroyed the courthouse around 1843 (most records were destroyed) and it was destroyed by flood in 1927.
  • Grant Parish Courthouse - The Courthouse had an unkown records loss in the 1880's.
  • Jackson Parish Courthouse - A courthouse fire in Vernon, before the parish seat was moved to Jonesboro, destroyed most of the records prior to then. The first courthouse, built in Jonesboro in 1912, was almost completely destroyed by an explosion. Fortunately few, if any, of our records were destroyed.
  • Livingston Parish Courthouse - On October 15, 1875, the parish courthouse at Port Vincent burned, apparently destroying the official records which were maintained there.
  • Madison Parish Courthouse -
  • Morehouse Parish Courthouse - Had a Record Loss in 1870 due to unknown reasons.
  • Ouachita Parish Courthouse - In April of 1864, Yankee gunboats partially destroyed the second courthouse. In 1882 the third courthouse was destroyed by fire. 
  • Plaquemines Parish Courthouse - Courthouse destroyed by a fire in 2001.
  • Rapides Parish Courthouse - 1864?
  • Vermillion Parish Courthouse - The Courthouse suffered a total records Loss in around 1885.
  • Washington Parish Courthouse - The courthouse burned twice, first in 1854, then again in 1897. The fires resulted in a loss of nearly 68 years worth of records.  Records from the 1820-1830 decade were kept on file in the state land office and escaped the fire.  Some of the records from the second fire were salvaged and others were brought in to be re-recorded.  So, only the records from the 1840-1860 period are completely lost.
  • West Feliciana Parish Courthouse -
  • Winn Parish Courthouse - 1886?

Definitions of Common Court Terms

FOR DEFINITIONS OF ALL COURT TERMS SEE THE GENEALOGY ENCYCLOPEDIA
  • Admiralty courts (concerning events that took place at sea, on lakes, etc.)
  • Adoptions
  • Affidavits
  • Apprenticeships
  • Bankruptcies
  • Bonds
  • Chancery
  • Civil cases
  • Civil War claims
  • Claims
  • Complaints
  • Court opinions
  • Criminal
  • Decrees
  • Declarations
  • Defendant
  • Depositions
  • Divorce
  • Dockets
  • Guardianship
  • Judgments
  • Jury records
  • Land disputes
  • Marshals’ records
  • Military
  • Minutes
  • Naturalization records
  • Notices
  • Orders
  • Orphan records
  • Petitions
  • Plaintiff
  • Printed court records
  • Probate
  • Receipts
  • Slave and Slave owners
  • Subpoenas
  • Summons
  • Testimony
  • Transcripts
  • Witnesses
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Louisiana Court , Probate and Land Records

See Also Research In State Court Records, State Probate Records

The Clerk of Court for each parish in Louisiana performs the functions of more than one office. He is the Clerk of Court, Recorder of Deeds and Mortgages, Jury Commissioner, and Election Official and Custodian of the Voting Machines.

As the Recorder, the office of the Clerk of Court receives, files, records and indexes all mortgages, conveyances and all other instruments recorded in the Public Records for the Parish.

The Clerk’s Office receives and files all pleadings, such as petitions, answers, motions and other filings in Civil and Probate matters, as well as indictments, bills of information and other filings in Criminal matters. The Clerk’s Office also handles special Juvenile matters and Criminal Neglect cases.

Another function of the Clerk’s Office is the issuance of Marriage Licenses and recording their returns after the marriages are performed.

The Clerk of Court also acts as Election Official and Custodian of Voting Machines. He is to deliver the voting machines to their precincts and notify all Commissioners and Deputy Parish Custodians of their duties and responsibilities on election day. He is required by law to open each voting machine used in an election, record the number of votes and report the totals to the Board of Election Supervisors.

The Clerk of Court also serves as member of the Jury Commission of his parish. The duty of this commission is to draw Petit Juries and Grand Juries as required by the Court.

All expenses of the Clerk’s Office are paid out of the fees, as fixed by statute, for recording, copies and services rendered in connection with Civil, Probate and Criminal proceedings. Taxpayers’ dollars are not used for the operation of the office.

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Louisiana Immigration & Naturalization Records

See Also Research In State Immigration & Naturalization Records

New Orleans served as a major immigration port until the Civil War. Many nineteenth-century European immigrants traveled to New Orleans and then continued up the Mississippi River to settle in the Midwest.

Passenger lists for New Orleans have been microfilmed by the NARA for the years 1820–1902 (series M259; 1820–50 included on Gulf Coast Ports Index, series M334 [NARA site says 1820- 74, not 1850]; 1853–99 indexed on series T527), 1900–45 (series T905 [series says 1910–45]; 1900–52 indexed on series T618). Researchers should be aware that the indexes are not complete, and that many passengers whose names appear on the manifests are not found in the microfilmed indexes. It also appears that some manifests were lost before the lists were microfilmed. The Works Projects Administration (WPA) transcribed passenger manifests for the years 1813–70. All seven volumes are available at the Louisiana State Museum Historical Center in New Orleans. Volumes 1-4 and 6 are available at the NARA in Washington, D.C. Volumes 1-3 are microfilmed on NARA series M2009. Quarterly Abstracts and State Department Abstracts for some years are also available on National Archives microfilm.

The New Orleans Public Library has microfilm of nineteenth-century ship passenger lists. Glen Conrad published most of those for the French period as First Families of Louisiana, 2 vols. (Baton Rouge: Claitor Publishing Co., 1970). A publication covering some of the lists from the middle period of the colonial era was done by Winston DeVille, Louisiana Recruits, 1752–1758 (New Orleans: Polyanthos, 1973).

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Louisiana Tax Records

See Also Researching in Tax Records

Tax records are a valuable but little-used source. Almost everything was taxed: household and personal goods, livestock, slaves, and property. Tax lists can be used as a substitute census, to create complete neighborhoods for a neighborhood study, establish relationships, locate land, and so on. Unfortunately, most of these lists no longer exist in Louisiana, but those that are extant are usually found in the tax assessor's office in the Webster Parish courthouse.

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