West Baton Rouge Genealogical Society

P.O. Box 1126
Port Allen, LA 70767-1126

The WBR Genealogical Society invites you to join us to further your genealogical goals and assist in research that will make genealogy easier for those that follow us. Our society publishes an informative newsletter, Petite Terre, every three months. The newsletters include marriage records, census records, individual family stories, journals of historic discovery, ancestor charts, court house records, church records, old newspaper articles and historical records to just name a few.

Our meeting dates for 2011:
January 8, 2011 – meeting to be held at the Brusly Town Hall Centennial Room
April 9, 2011
July 9, 2011
October 8, 2011

Speakers are occasionally scheduled for our meetings. Meetings are usually held at the WBR Parish Library in Port Allen at 9:30 a.m. on the second Saturday of the month.

830 North Alexander Avenue
Port Allen, Louisiana 70767
Phone: 225-342-7920; Fax: 225-342-7918

Dues are $15.00 per calendar year, due January 1, each year.

2010 Officers

President – Arlen Landry
Treasurer – Ellis Gauthier
Secretaries
Recording – Billy Hebert
Petite Terre Editor – Margaret Canella

We also have publications, which our members have compiled to help genealogists in searching for their ancestors:

For our first book, St. John the Baptist Catholic Cemetery, we gathered tombstone information, church records of deaths, Iron Cross information and interviewed family members (with the help of the family law attorney in Missouri) about the graves in the St. John the Baptist Cemetery and Mausoleum in Brusly. There was a lot of participation by our members. This book was published by LeComite’ des Archives de la Louisiane in 1990. There are a limited amount of these books available at the WBR Parish Museum.

Our second publication, West Baton Rouge Parish Marriage Records 1807-1915, was compiled by Mrs. Iris Allain LeJeune from some 5 X 8 index cards housed in the West Baton Rouge Museum. These cards were compiled by Mrs. Berthilde D. Coles and Mrs. Genevieve B. Cancienne. Mrs. LeJeune compiled these records to produce this publication. Copies are available at the WBR Parish Museum.

Our third publication, West Baton Rouge Families, was six years in the making. After many false starts and technical problems from lack of experience, we finally published in 1999. This was a group effort, and we feel that this is a beautiful book, with 222 stories of our ancestors, written by their families. Over 100 pictures were supplied for these stories. This is a great value and can be purchased at the WBR Parish Museum.

Our most recent publication is West Baton Rouge Parish Cemeteries. There are approximately 30 cemeteries in West Baton Rouge Parish. They are listed in five categories:

1). African-American Cemeteries – West Baton Rouge Parish has a multitude of them located throughout the parish. Many of them are not being used anymore.

2). Slave Cemeteries – These are pre-Civil War cemeteries that have disappeared. Most of these cemeteries were right on the Mississippi River where all of the early settlers lived. As the river got larger, it took all of the old settlements and their cemeteries.

3). Plantation Cemeteries – These post-Civil War cemeteries were set-aside on areas of the plantation, usually in fields for burial of the workers.

4). Church Cemeteries – These were located next to the churches for burial of the members. Many of these are still active cemeteries. The largest of these is the St. John the Baptist Church in Brusly. The cemetery information begins in January 1990 where the previous book ended. In includes: Name/Date of Birth/ Date of Death/ Place of Birth/ Place of Death/ Age. This would be very valuable information for genealogy lovers.

5). Benevolent Cemeteries – These were societies set up by a group for the purpose of having a place for burial. A small fee was paid each month to ensure their place of burial upon death. This allowed for maintenance of the cemetery. Some of these are still active.

Each of the cemeteries listed in the book have a GPS location. Some of them have been grown over by trees and bushes, but the location is listed if anyone would be interested in finding them. Copies are available at WBR Parish Museum.

Order or pick up all of the above books from the WBR Parish Museum, West Baton Rouge Museum, 845 North Jefferson, Port Allen, LA 70767-2417. See pricing chart below.

Brusly Landmarks, a 64-page book featuring colored photographs of Brusly homes and sites over 50 years old, is on sale at Brusly Town Hall for $12.00. The book, compiled by Marianne Berthelot and Joanne Bourgeois, was published through the work of the Town of Brusly Landmark and Heritage Commission in order to connect today’s homes and sites to the people who lived in the town many years ago.

Books are available through mail by sending a check or money order for $17.00 (to cover postage) to Brusly Landmarks Book, P.O. Box 510, Brusly LA 70719. Please include exact name and address of recipient.

Business hours at Brusly Town Hall are 8:00 A.M. to noon and 12:30 P.M. to 4:30 P.M., Monday through Friday; telephone number is (225) 749-2909.

All books, except Brusly landmarks, may be purchased at the WBR Parish Museum for the cost of the book plus tax. Address is 845 N. Jefferson Avenue, Port Allen, Louisiana 70767. The museum can also be contacted by phone at: (225) 336-2422 or toll free at: 1-888-881-6811. Their website address is: here.

WBR Genealogical Society Shipping Costs