The Knowles Collection: June 2017

17 June 2017

Louisiana Deaths, 1850-1875, 1894-1960

The state of Louisiana has always been an important place for the Jewish people. With a major port and being a natural link to the Caribbean area, many early Jewish families in the United States can tie their own ancestry to the records of the state. Now, FamilySearch has added over 800,000 death records to its free collection.
This database, Louisiana Deaths, 1850-1875, 1894-1960, includes an index and the images of Louisiana death certificates. The records from 1850-1875 are for Jefferson parish, while the other years include the statewide records. Doing a search for the surname Cohen yields almost 700 records of death. Included in those was the name Littman Cohen who died at the age of 76 in 1876. The index is shown below;

The information includes the names of parents and spouse, as well as the place of birth and death. This is all of the information that came from the original death certificate (shown below)which is also included in the database.

This is another great source for those with family ties to Louisiana and as usual is available for free at www.familysearch.org.

Growth and Change

In the 12 years since the Knowles Collection was first published, the numbers have climbed from 7,500 to over 1,4000,000. So many of our ancestors left their native lands for new homes. Because of that movement the collection will now be in 6 different databases. All of them will be under the Knowles Collection umbrella. They are Jews of The British Isles; Jews of the North America; Jews of Europe; Jews of South America and the Caribbean; and Jews of Africa and the Orient and the newest one, Jews of the Southern Pacific.. This is a great indication of how universal our families are, and of how much still needs to be done.