Louisiana Statewide Deaths - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States Louisiana 

What is in the Collection?
The collection consists of digital images of death records created by the state of Louisiana for 1960. Images of the index are included.

An index to the Orleans parish death records beginning in 1804 can be found at The USGenWeb Archives Project: Louisiana, Orleans Parish. An index to these records and the Orleans parish death records is available at the Louisiana Government website.

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
Key genealogical facts that may be found in the Louisiana Death Records, depending on the time period, include:


 * Full name
 * Place and date of death
 * Age and birthplace (city or town, state or foreign country)
 * Marital status and sometimes name of spouse
 * Date of birth
 * Sex
 * Race
 * Names and birthplaces of parents
 * Occupation
 * Place and date of burial
 * Cause of Death
 * Name of informant
 * Social Security number (later records)
 * If veteran, name of war (later records)
 * Length of stay in community (later records)
 * If the deceased is a citizen of a foreign county, the name of the country (later records)

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know:


 * The place where the death occurred
 * The name of the person at the time of death
 * The approximate death date

Search by Name by visiting the Collection Page: Fill in the requested information on the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the individuals in the list to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to compare the information about more than one person to find your ancestor.

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page: To search the collection you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒Select "Browse through images" on the initial collection page ⇒Select the "Record" category ⇒Select the “Record Type, Volume, and Year Range" category which takes you to the images

Search the collection by image comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination.

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor’s death record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors. Add this new information to your records of each family.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Use the birth date or age along with the place of birth to find or verify their birth records and parents' names.
 * Use the birth date or age along with the place of birth to find the family in census records.
 * Use the residence and names of the parents (if the deceased is a child) to locate church and land records.
 * Use the parents' birth places to find former residences and to establish a migration pattern for the family.
 * You may need to compare the information of more than one family or person to make this determination.
 * The name of the officiator is a clue to their religion or area of residence in the county.
 * The name of the undertaker or mortuary could lead you to funeral and cemetery records which often include the names and residences of other family members.
 * Occupations listed can lead you to other types of records such as employment or military records.
 * Compile the entries for every person who has the same surname; this is especially helpful in rural areas or if the surname is unusual.
 * Continue to search the records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives of the deceased who may have died or been buried in the same county or nearby. This can help you identify other generations of your family or even the second marriage of a parent. Repeat this process for each new generation you identify.
 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.
 * The information in these records is usually reliable, but depends upon the reliability of the informant.
 * Earlier records may not contain as much information as the records created after the late 1800s.
 * There is also some variation in the information given from one record to another record.

I Can't Find Who I'm Looking for, What Now?

 * Check for variant spellings of the surnames.
 * Check for an index. There are often indexes at the beginning of each volume. Local historical and genealogical societies also often have indexes to local records.
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby counties.

Citing this Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image. Collection Citation:

Image Citation:

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