Record Atlas
6 eras · 1699–2026 · 40 places

Louisiana

New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Natchitoches, Lafayette, Shreveport. Which empire held this ground in which years — and, the part that matters, which archive that means.

Whose archive this ground was

YearsWho held itWhose archive that means
1699–1766 French Louisiana no registers survive

Fort Maurepas (1699) was the first permanent settlement, Natchitoches dates from 1714, and New Orleans became the seat of civil and military authority in 1722. The French Superior Council records (1714-1769) are in the Louisiana Historical Center of the Louisiana State Museum; the Archdiocese of New Orleans' sacramental registers begin in 1718; the Archives nationales d'outre-mer in Aix-en-Provence hold French colonial government papers.
1766–1803 Spanish Louisiana (west of the Mississippi and the Isle of Orleans) no registers survive

France ceded Louisiana to Spain by treaty in 1762 (confirmed in 1763); the first Spanish governor arrived in 1766, settlers rebelled in 1768 and Spain enforced its rule in 1769. The Spanish Judiciary records (1769-1803) are in the Louisiana Historical Center and the New Orleans Notarial Archives hold French and Spanish notarial acts. The Florida Parishes east of the Mississippi were not part of Spanish Louisiana: they belonged to British West Florida from 1763 and Spain took Baton Rouge in 1779.
1803–1812 Louisiana Purchase; Territory of Orleans (from October 1, 1804) FamilySearch · National Archives Catalog (NARA)

France transferred Louisiana at the New Orleans Cabildo on November 30, 1803, and the United States took it on December 20, 1803. The Territory of Orleans was formed from the part of the Purchase south of the 33rd parallel; its 12 counties of 1805 were replaced in 1807 by 19 civil parishes. The Florida Parishes were annexed by the United States in 1810 and formally added in 1812.
1812–1861 State of Louisiana (statehood April 30, 1812) FamilySearch · National Archives Catalog (NARA) · Chronicling America

In the Florida Parishes East Baton Rouge, Feliciana, St. Helena and St. Tammany were set up in 1810, Washington Parish in 1819, Feliciana was split into East and West Feliciana in 1824 and Livingston was cut from St. Helena in 1832, so an early record may sit in a parent parish.
1861–1865 Confederate State of Louisiana FamilySearch · National Archives Catalog (NARA) · Chronicling America

Louisiana seceded on January 26, 1861. Union troops captured New Orleans on April 25, 1862.
1865–2026 State of Louisiana FamilySearch · National Archives Catalog (NARA) · Chronicling America

Statewide birth and death registration is dated 1914, with parish-level records earlier; an Orleans Parish death index covers 1804-1967 at the Louisiana State Archives. Tangipahoa Parish was created in 1869 from parts of four older parishes.

The rings are approximate — deliberately. They exist to shade which filing system a place fell under, not to adjudicate a border. A place near a ring's edge should be checked against both neighbours.

See the whole span, 1699–2026, on the map →

The map takes a range, and a range that crosses one of the rows above is where records get lost: the family never moved, and the archive on the far side of the handover will tell you it holds nothing.

40 places on this ground

1742 FamilySearch collections reach this ground

Ranked with the regional ones first — a collection for a province is usually a better lead than a national index, though the national index is often where a name is actually written down. A free account opens the images.

…and 1682 more.

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