Follow Friday: "The Cajuns" website

Note: "Follow Friday" is a theme used by some geneabloggers to recommend other bloggers, websites or genealogy resources of interest.

Stanley LeBlanc's The Cajuns website has useful info and links for researching South Louisiana ancestors (especially Cajuns, but also others), including history, maps, place names and even a list of hurricanes to hit Louisiana.  Stanley also offers various reports for nominal fees.

Now was "b" for baptism, burial, or birth? (Oh my!)  And what was that church's name in Duson?

After I e-mailed him that I had mentioned his site's useful key to the abbreviations of Hebert's Southwest Louisiana Records (SWLR) volumes, he replied that he had been meaning to add more abbreviations lists and almost immediately added info for Hebert's South Louisiana Records (SLR) volumes.  (Both are under the "Resources" drop-down menu.) How's that for service?

Stanley has also added info for the Diocese of Baton Rouge Catholic Church Records volumes (DOBR) and the Sacramental Records of the Roman Catholic Church of the Archdiocese of New Orleans (ADNO) volumes (also under the "Resources" menu).  Each of these multivolume sets do contain a key in each book.  However, if you've used library volumes or Internet sources (trust but verify!) and aren't sure about a particular abbreviation later, or if you want to figure out what year a parish was organized to narrow down where an ancestor was baptized, for instance, Stanley's lists can be a big help.  His "Corrections" link also points you to published corrections to some of these and other well-known compilations of Louisiana records.  Don't neglect checking corrections and additions to these volumes, as you could find an elusive answer in this way.  "The Cajuns" thus is a useful complement for your South Louisiana genealogy research, and fun to peruse, as well.

Copyright 2010 by Liz Hall Morgan.  All rights reserved.

Follow Friday: "Southwest Louisiana Records" online tools

Note: "Follow Friday" is a theme used by some geneabloggers to recommend other bloggers, websites or genealogy resources of interest.

Marriage records of my great-grandparents Constant Légère and Marie Octavie McBride (top) and birth record of my grandma Elia Légère (bottom) from Southwest Louisiana Records, v. 20, p. 250.  Parents and sources are in parentheses.  And oh. my. ... Grandma was born um, seven months after her parents married?!!  Hmm... blogger beware, you never know what you're going to notice while writing about genealogy!

If you've done any genealogy research on Louisiana Cajuns, even if only via the Internet, you have undoubtedly come across Rev. Donald J. Hébert's Southwest Louisiana Records (SWLR) volumes.  You know, those "Laf. Ch." or "Opel. Ct. Hse." abbreviations seen in many sources on online family trees?

(You DO know you shouldn't trust trees without sources, don't you?  And that even with well-sourced trees, you should "trust but verify"? As they say in journalism school, "If your mama says she loves you, check it out.")

Well, whether you have seen SWLR referenced online or used the volumes or CD yourself, you may find yourself stuck on some of the abbreviations later--especially if you didn't copy the abbreviations list in the front of the volume.  (Doh!) No worries, just check out this wonderful abbreviations list from Stanley LeBlanc at his website The Cajuns.  (Thanks, Stanley!)

Marriage recorded in St. Landry Parish Courthouse, Opelousas, La., for my third-great-grandparents, Paul Légère and Marcellite Lebert, from Southwest Louisiana Records, v. 2, p. 954.

Now maybe you're a beginner and need a little more help deciphering the format of Hébert's entries.  Or maybe you've used the volumes a bit, but you want to explore some of the extras.  Can't remember which volume contained a large amount of corrections, or slave records, or a St. Landry Courthouse marriage register copy, or perhaps cattle brands?  Houston's Clayton Library website has an article on using SWLR, its extra features, and the differing editions.  Though slightly out of date, the article is very informative.  (There are now 47 volumes covering records through 1915, and the CD covers vols. 1-31.)

Once you find the correct volume, try WorldCat to see if a local library has the volume you need, or if you feel like splurging, visit Claitor's Publishing to purchase a volume of SWLR or other Hébert titles.  Bonne chasse!