Louisiana Genealogy Search

Louisiana family history is unlike any other state's because of its French and Spanish past: Catholic sacramental registers from the 1720s, the civil law system that produced notarial acts and successions instead of deeds and probate, and parishes instead of counties. The Louisiana State Archives in Baton Rouge holds the state's records, including a free online death index, and the Archdiocese of New Orleans and the Diocese of Baton Rouge have published their sacramental records in indexed volumes.

Louisiana began statewide vital registration in 1914, but New Orleans kept birth and death records from the 1790s and the Archives holds them.

Official sources on this page were checked on September 25, 2026.

Louisiana statewide genealogy links

• Louisiana Secretary of State Archives Research LibraryState Archives Government Records
• Louisiana Secretary of State Genealogy CollectionGenealogy Materials from the Secretary of State
• Louisiana Vital RecordsSearch Vital Records Databases
• Louisiana State Archives and Libraries SearchLouisiana Archives and Libraries Search
• New Orleans Ship Passenger List Online IndexShip Passenger List Data
• Confederate Pension Applications Index Database
• USGenWeb Archives LouisianaSearch Louisiana GenWeb Archives
• National Archives Southwest Region for LouisianaLouisiana Genealogy Research at the National Archives

Louisiana began statewide birth and death registration in 1914, and the Louisiana Vital Records Registry in New Orleans holds the certificates. Birth records become public after 100 years and death records after 50, and the State Archives holds the public ones with a free online index to Louisiana deaths from 1911 to the public years and to Orleans Parish births, marriages and deaths from the 1790s. Orleans Parish marriage records over 50 years old are public, while other parishes' marriage records are held by the clerk of court from the parish's founding. In Louisiana, divorce records sit with the district court clerk.

• Louisiana State ArchivesFree online index to statewide deaths and Orleans Parish vital records, public certificates, checked September 25, 2026
• Louisiana Vital Records RegistryBirth, death and marriage certificates from 1914, checked September 25, 2026
• Louisiana Vital Records guideHow to order certificates and what is public

The State Archives holds Confederate pension applications from 1898 onward, Louisiana's World War I service records, state penitentiary registers from Angola, the colonial Superior Council and Cabildo records from the French and Spanish periods, and parish records on microfilm. Louisiana took no full state censuses, but the Spanish colonial censuses of the 1760s to 1790s and the federal censuses from 1810 cover most families. The Historic New Orleans Collection and the Louisiana Research Collection at Tulane hold colonial manuscripts, and the National Archives at Fort Worth holds Louisiana's federal court and naturalization records.

• Louisiana Digital LibraryFree digitized Louisiana records, newspapers and photographs, checked September 25, 2026
• Archdiocese of New Orleans ArchivesSacramental records from 1718 with published indexes, checked September 25, 2026
• National Archives at Fort WorthFederal court and naturalization records for Louisiana, checked September 25, 2026
• FamilySearch Louisiana research guideFree indexed Louisiana records and images, checked September 25, 2026

Louisiana's parish clerks of court are the recorders of conveyances and mortgages, the keepers of marriage licenses and the custodians of succession, or probate, files and civil cases, so one office per parish holds most records from the parish's founding. Notarial acts, the contracts drawn by notaries under civil law, are held by the clerks outside New Orleans and by the Orleans Parish Notarial Archives in the city, going back to 1731. Many clerks post conveyance indexes online. Parish courthouse fires and hurricanes destroyed early records in Cameron, Plaquemines, St. Bernard and other parishes.

• Louisiana Parish Public RecordsClerks of court and recorders for all 64 parishes
• Louisiana Court RecordsDistrict court case and succession searches

These federal and national sources complement Louisiana's state-level records. They are the authoritative sources you should cross-check when Louisiana state records are incomplete or out-of-state activity matters.

NARA, National Archives The federal government's primary archive. Holds the U.S. census (1790, 1950), ship passenger lists, naturalization records, military service files, and land entry files.

FamilySearch Free online genealogy platform operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Digitized microfilm copies of many county and state records worldwide.

Library of Congress, Local History & Genealogy The LoC's research guides, city directories, newspapers, and Civil War records, most accessible free online through loc.gov.