Louisiana genealogy records

Births and deaths

The State Library of Louisiana explains that, under Louisiana law, birth records are strictly confidential until 100 years after the year of birth, and death records until 50 years after the year of death. Older records are at the Louisiana State Archives; for more recent ones, contact the Vital Records Registry of the Louisiana Department of Health. The New Orleans City Archives adds that birth certificates less than 100 years old can be obtained only by relatives or descendants.

The State Archives' online Vital Records Index covers births statewide for births more than 100 years from the end of the current calendar year, and deaths statewide for deaths more than 50 years from the end of the current calendar year. The Archives notes that birth records were not required statewide by law until 1918 (the New Orleans City Archives gives 1914), and that the only birth records it holds from before 1911 are from Orleans Parish.

Its Research Library page lists these ranges, which can lag behind the rolling 100 and 50 year limits: statewide birth records for 1911 to 1912, statewide death records for 1911 to 1962, Orleans Parish births for 1819 to 1912 (with an index, but no records, for 1790 to 1818), and Orleans Parish deaths for 1819 to 1962 (with an index for 1804 to 1818). Before 1912, the only death records at the Archives are from Jefferson and Orleans parishes. Records older than these probably do not exist unless the parish kept them, and for a Catholic ancestor, the Archives suggests the records of the church or diocese where the person lived.

These records can give parents' names, place of birth, cause of death, the age and occupation of the person who died, and the place of burial. Louisiana birth records for 1911 to 1923, outside Orleans Parish, are also on Ancestry, and FamilySearch and Heritage Quest have indexes.

Ordering copies from the State Archives

As of 2026, the State Archives charges $5 for a photocopy and $10 for a certified copy of a vital record, sent by mail. The fee includes a three-year search per surname and is kept whether or not the record is found. Searches are done by year, so a request needs a name, a place and a date, or a span of three years. If you do your own research at the Archives, a non-certified copy costs 50 cents.

You can request records by mail or visit the Research Library in person. Look at every spelling of the name in the index before you order, since the fee is charged for unsuccessful searches too.

New Orleans records

Orleans Parish records are filed separately from the combined statewide listing of the other parishes. The City Archives and Special Collections of the New Orleans Public Library does not hold birth certificates, but it points to other sources. Jefferson Parish Library's Special Collections has microfilm of the Orleans Parish Birth Index, 1790 to 1897, and Orleans Parish Birth Records, 1819 to 1892.

The Times-Picayune printed births, marriages and deaths in its "Records of the Day" column, supplied by the city's Recorder of Births, Marriages, and Deaths under the New Orleans Board of Health. The column stopped when the State Vital Records Office took over the city's separate registry in 1974. It did not give dates of birth, so a birth listed in one day's paper did not necessarily happen the day before. The City Archives also has a New Orleans obituary index for 1804 to 1972.

Marriages and parish records

Louisiana marriage records are kept by the parish where the license was bought. The State Library says marriage certificates are in the courthouse of the parish where your ancestor applied for a license, and the State Archives says all marriage records other than Orleans Parish are kept by the parish Clerk of Court. The Research Library page lists Orleans Parish marriage records for 1870 to 1962, with an index but no records for 1831 to 1869, and the online index covers Orleans Parish marriages more than 50 years from the end of the current calendar year.

Watch parish lines. After the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the Territory of Orleans was divided into 12 parishes, and over the years those were divided into today's 64. The State Library advises that you may need to check several parishes for one ancestor, and notes that research before statehood in 1812 is often hard because Louisiana was ruled by so many different countries.

Census records

Federal census schedules place a family in a parish and a household. For 1860, the National Archives lists Louisiana among the states with surviving population schedules and with slave schedules, but it has no schedules for Bienville Parish.

Confederate and Union soldiers

Louisiana granted Confederate pensions from 1898 to veterans and widows. The State Archives' handout lists the conditions: the soldier had served honorably until discharge or the end of the war, the applicant was indigent and unable to earn a living, and the applicant was not a government employee. Veterans applied in the state where they lived, regardless of the state in which they served, and residence in a former Confederate state was required.

The Archives' online Confederate Pension Applications Index holds over 49,000 names from applications to the Board of Pension Commissioners. Applications may give service details, occupation, place of residence and number of children, and some include letters, newspaper clippings, court papers and obituaries. The handout, revised in 2013, gives a copy fee of $20 per individual and application.

Confederate records were often incomplete, and in 1920 Andrew B. Booth published Records of Louisiana Confederate Soldiers and Louisiana Confederate Commands. Carded service records are at the National Archives. For Union soldiers, the State Archives has the National Archives microfilm of compiled service records of volunteer Union soldiers from Louisiana (M396); Union pension applications are only at the National Archives.

Passenger lists for New Orleans

New Orleans was a major port of arrival. The State Archives Research Library has microfilm of the ship passenger lists for New Orleans from 1820 to 1903 and 1903 to 1921, with card indexes for 1820 to 1850, 1853 to 1899 and 1900 to 1952. An online index fills part of the unindexed gap, from January 1 to July 7, 1851, with each passenger's name, date of arrival, ship and port of departure. With the date and ship, find the manifest, which can give age, sex, occupation and the country the passenger belonged to.