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Records Relating to Public Health
At right is Charity Hospital, from Gibson's Guide and Directory of the State of Louisiana, and the Cities of New Orleans and Lafayette, 1838 | 
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LMC430 1835-1844 Bayou St. John Cemetery Records, 1835-1844.
By the middle of the year 1834 it was obvious that the existing cemeteries in the city could no longer accommodate new burials. The Conseil de Ville began to search for new land for the development of new burial grounds. On June 28, 1834, the Council resolved to authorize the Mayor to advertise plans for the acquisition of property for three cemeteries, one to be located in each suburb of the city. Should this plan not succeed in time to meet the unspecified deadline set by the Catholic Church, the Mayor was to acquire land for the provisional burial of the city's dead until such time as the three cemetery scheme was realized. On July 12, Evariste Blanc offered to the city his large arpentage bordered by Bayou St. Jean, the Carondelet Canal (now Lafitte Ave.), the "road of the Bayou" (now Grand Route St. John [?]), and Dorgenois St. The Council, on July 30, authorized the Mayor to purchase this tract, and on September 26, the act of sale was passed. On March 5, 1835, the Council passed an ordinance closing the existing cemeteries in the city to new burials except in tombs or vaults already standing. The ordinance also provided that all persons dying in the city, "or in the vicinity thereof," were to be buried "in the cemetery established on the land purchased from Mr. Evariste Blanc, at the bayou St. John." Evidence in the records themselves, however, suggests that the cemetery began operation at the beginning of 1835, when the first burial is recorded. The 1835 ordinance also called for the new cemetery to be divided into two sections, one for Roman Catholics and the other for Protestants. Each of those sections was to be subdivided so as to separate the burying ground for white persons from that for free black persons and slaves (the proportion to be 1/2 white, 1/4 free black, and 1/4 slave). Other articles of the ordinance set forth the duties of the cemetery keeper or sexton; article 5 specified that he keep two registers, "one of the persons the cost of whose burial shall have been paid, and one of those which are unpaid." The keeper was also required to provide a monthly statement to the Treasurer of all sums collected in the operation of the cemetery. The exact location of the Bayou St. John cemetery remains uncertain. An educated guess would place it closer to the intersection of the Bayou with the Carondelet (Old Basin) Canal rather than the area closer to present-day Esplanade Ave. It appears that the city began to subdivide and sell off portions of the former Blanc tract within a few years after its purchase of the property. All of the land soon became involved in the extended litigation over the claims of Myra Clark Gaines. The voluminous published record of the U.S. Supreme Court case of the City of New Orleans, Appellant vs Gaines contains numerous documents relating to the various sales of the Blanc tract and individual lots within its boundaries. A brief examination of this record suggests that all trace of the cemetery had vanished at least by 1880, and probably sooner. The cemetery records indicate that interments were discontinued after 1844; an ordinance of the First Municipality Council, dated March 9, 1846, formally ordered a halt to interments in the cemetery. Presumably the cemetery lands were subsequently divided and sold as building lots. It is likely that the original low-lying land was filled in sufficiently to cover the old burial ground quite thoroughly. On June 8, 1841, the General Council ordained the establishment of a Board of Health for the city. Much of this law dealt with the subject of burials and specifically required that death certificates be presented to cemetery sextons before interment could take place. Article 7 further required the sextons to record all such certificates in a book, and to send that book at the end of each year to the Mayor's Office for retention in the archives of the city. The records are six manuscript volumes and four folders of loose pages some of which may once have been part of bound volumes. The first three volumes appear to be copies of interment records made by the cemetery keeper for the Mayor's Office. Volume one appears to be made up of individual reports and lists of burials, the several sections within being as follows:
Volume two also appears to be made up of copies of monthly lists made by the cemetery keeper for the Mayor's Office. It covers the period February, 1839-October, 1843 (with some irregularity in binding order). For the period of March-October, 1839, the lists for the Bayou St. John cemetery alternate with lists from the Catholic Cemeteries. Volumes three and four, covering the overall period of March 20, 1835 through June 30, 1841, appear to be the separate volumes required by the 1835 ordinance to record paid burials in the cemetery. Volume five, covering essentially the same period, appears to record the unpaid burials. Volume six includes burials from January 1, 1842-September 30, 1843. It bears a formal cover label proclaiming, "Record of deaths, Potters' Field, 1842," and has a notation at the front of the volume, "Mayor's Office, No. 3." Certifications within the record show that the burials noted therein were indeed made in the Bayou St. John cemetery. The loose documents, filed in folders and boxed together in one document carton, cover the period June, 1836-June, 1839. They may be copies made by the cemetery keeper for the Comptroller of the First Municipality. The data included duplicates that found in the bound volumes. Manuscript translations, in pencil, are also in folders within the document carton. The data recorded in these records varies in completeness. In some cases only name, age, and date of burial are shown on the record. Other records, however, provide all or some of the following: name, occupation, sex, color, cause of death, place of birth, place of death, period of residence in the city, marital status, and remarks such as name of doctor. Free persons of color and slaves are regularly identified, and the names of the slaves' masters are also consistently given. Most of the records also show the amount charged for the interment, and most, if not all, of the charity burials are so indicated. In earlier cataloging the individual volumes in this record group have been variously identified as records of the Bayou St. John Cemetery, the City Cemetery, the First Municipality Cemetery, the New Cemetery, and the Potters' Field. The records previously were microfilmed under the old designations. The following inventory indicates the location of each item within the microfilm collection. Available on five rolls of 35mm microfilm. See the following inventory for roll/call numbers. Inventory
LMC430 Bayou St. John Cemetery Records, 1835-1844.
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Lafayette Cemetery Records, 1836-1968.
Shortly after the incorporation of the city of Lafayette, the Council resolved (on July 26, 1833) to purchase square 96 (bound by Prytania St., Washington Ave., Sixth St., and Plaquimine (now Coliseum) St., for use as a burial ground. On August 3, 1833, the Council created the position of sexton and ordered that the square be divided into separate sections for the burial of Catholics, Protestants, and black persons. The Council further requested the Surveyor to draw a plan reflecting that division. In 1841 (by resolution of August 26) the Council required that no burial should take place unless the corpse was accompanied by a certificate, signed by a physician or by two "respectable citizens," stating the name of the deceased party. Other information to be shown on the certificate included trade, sex, "bond or free," color, age, "decease" [sic, really disease(?)], when/where born/died, and period of residence in the city. The sexton was to enter the data from each certificate into a book kept for that purpose. He was also to return the certificates to the Secretary of the Council, who was to enter the data in his own record book and then file the original certificates in the archives of the city. The Secretary was also to provide weekly lists of deceased persons to the city printer for publication. By 1847 the cemetery on Prytania appears to have been reaching capacity. On August 17 of that year the Council passed a resolution authorizing construction of a fence around the square purchased for a new cemetery. On October 5, 1847 the Council resolved that there be no new burials in the original cemetery. It is unclear just when the city did purchase the land for the new burial ground, in the square bound by present-day Sixth, Loyola, Washington, and Saratoga streets. On May 20, 1851, the Council ordered the new cemetery divided into three sections as the old cemetery had been divided. Later, on July 21 of that year, the Council ordered the Surveyor and Sexton to draw plans of both burial grounds; those plans were to show square, lot, and tomb numbers. In 1852 Lafayette was annexed by the city of New Orleans but the operation of the cemeteries does not appear to have been affected. With passage of the new city charter in 1882, however, all cemeteries fell under the general supervision of the newly created Department of Police and Public Buildings. Later, with the charter of 1912, cemeteries became the responsibility of the Department of Public Property, Division of Public Buildings. Today the Department of Property Management, established in the 1954 home rule charter, administers the city's cemeteries. The records are manuscript volumes as follows.
Lafayette Cemetery Records, 1836-1968.
II Lafayette Cemetery Records, 1836-1968.
II Lafayette Cemetery Records, 1836-1968.
LM436 Lafayette Cemetery Records,
LM650 Lafayette Cemetery Records, 1836-1968.
Records of interments in the non-municipal cemeteries of New Orleans, 1841-1846. On June 8, 1841, the General Council ordained the establishment of a Board of Health for the city. Much of this law dealt with the subject of burials in the cemeteries of the city and specifically required that death certificates be presented to cemetery sextons before interment could take place. Article 7 further required the sextons to record all such certificates in a book, and to send that book at the end of each year to the Mayor's Office for retention in the archives of the city. Five manuscript volumes of interment records for non-municipal cemeteries survive in the archives collection, apparently the copies provided to the Mayor's Office by the several sextons in compliance with the above-noted law. These volumes are for the Protestant [Girod Street] Cemetery, Cypress Grove Cemetery, St. Patrick's Cemetery, the Catholic Cemeteries [St. Louis I and II], and St. Vincent's Cemetery. All include the period generally from July through December, 1841, except for the Catholic Cemeteries & St. Patrick's (which extend into January, 1842), and St. Vincent's (which covers September, 1842 - September, 1846). The St. Patrick's book includes several entries for burials prior to July, 1841 as well. Each volume has columns for the following data: name, "quality, calling or trade," age, sex, bond or free (or color), disease, when born, where born, when died, where died, period of time in the city, maried or single, and remarks. Not all columns are filled in consistently for all cemeteries. These volumes previously were cataloged as records of the individual cemeteries represented. They were microfilmed according to that cataloging arrangement. The following inventory keys the present cataloging to the existing four rolls of 35mm microfilm. Inventory
LM433 Records of interments in the non-municipal cemeteries of New Orleans, 1841-1846.
Orleans Parish (La.) Coroner's Office. The Legislative Council of the Territory of Orleans, by act of April 10, 1805, empowered the Governor to appoint various officers, including a coroner, for each county. Although the act did not enumerate the duties of the Coroners, later acts suggest that received bodies, summoned and swore witnesses to view each body, and returned a proces verbal in each case. Early legislation also set residence requirements for the coroners. There was no stipulation that the coroners have medical training, but they were allowed to secure the paid assistance of outside physicians or surgeons. In 1814 the state Legislature gave the coroners law enforcement powers of arrest over persons found liable for prosecution in an inquest. The same act also made it the coroners' responsibility to bury persons who had not left sufficient funds and who had no friends or relatives able or willing to assume that obligation. Act 105 of 1846 made the office of coroner elective. This was reaffirmed by legislative act in 1856, which also set the coroners' terms of office at two years. The 1856 law further required that the coroners put up cash bonds in the amount of $3000 ($25000 in Orleans Parish). Following the Civil War, the legislature provided in 1868 (act #161) for the election of two coroners in Orleans Parish, one to serve the area below Canal Street and the other to serve the area above Canal, along with all of the parish on the right bank of the Mississippi River. This act set qualifications for the office of coroner, but stopped short of requiring specific medical training. It also called for the maintenance of written records and made explicit the requirements for the proper conduct of inquests. Article #147 of the 1879 state constitution reduced the number of Orleans Parish coroners to one, to be elected every four years. It also for the first time demanded that a candidate for the office be a practicing physician and a graduate of a reputable medical college. This article further designated the coroner as ex-officio City Physician of New Orleans. The records are arranged in series as follows: There are also some correspondence files, some insanity records, records of Coroner's examinations, and a variety of published documents, including annual reports, available in the City Archives Collection. Some of these may be restricted records. See the archivist for further details. Those series with the "[mf]" designation are available on microfilm through the year 1969.
Orleans Parish (La.) Coroner's Office. The records are manuscript volumes showing the date of each inquest or viewing, name of the deceased (if known), sex, race, place of birth or national origin (irregularly), location of the body when viewed, cause of death, and the names of the citizens acting as the Coroner's jury. Free persons of color and slaves are identified as such, but very few of the latter are included in the records. In some cases statements have been added to the effect that the Coroner provided for the interment of persons who died without funds to pay for their own burial. From time to time there are gaps in the record, notably for August, 1844 to March, 1846; May, 1847 to July, 1848; and June to November, 1851. Indexes, some of them in separate volumes, exist for several of the record books. Between 1868 and 1881 there are separate volumes for the two Coroner's provided for by the Legislature in the former year. An unpublished finding aid, that includes descriptions of later records of the Coroner's Office, is available in the Archives. The records are available on rolls of 35mm microfilm; see the following inventory for roll numbers. Inventory
TH420 Orleans Parish (La.) Coroner's Office.
New Orleans (La.) Insane Asylum. In 1847, the Louisiana Legislature established the Insane Asylum of the State of Louisiana at Jackson, La. to provide state care for the mentally ill. Within a few years, however, conditions had become so overcrowded at the Jackson facility that patients refused admittance, particularly the indigent insane, were again being housed in local jails and workhouses, as they had been before the State asylum opened. As an alternative to such care, on October 21, 1854, the New Orleans City Council passed Ordinance 1794 establishing a "temporary asylum for the indigent insane" in the building on Levee Street, previously the site of the Third Municipality Workhouse. The ordinance gave Recorders of the various districts the power to commit patients to this facility "until provision can be made for their admission into the State asylum at Jackson," and authorized the mayor to appoint a superintendent, one male assistant, and two female assistants who were to board in the institution. Although apparently intended as a stop-gap measure, the New Orleans Insane Asylum continued to admit patients until 1883, when it was closed and the remaining patients transferred to Jackson. Later ordinances outlined the duties of other city officials. Ordinance 342 authorized the city attorney to take the legal action necessary to transfer patients from the New Orleans facility to the State asylum. (The commitment order was issued by district judges.) The city physician was to visit patients at least once a day and to discharge patients who had sufficiently recovered (Ordinance 1358). He also identified those inmates who had remained in the asylum "over the time prescribed by law" and reported their names to the sheriff of Orleans Parish, who arranged their transfer to Jackson (Ordinance 3224). Ordinance 5832 (December 27, 1861) limited the indigent insane to a stay of ten days in the city asylum; after ten days, the city physician was to report their names to the judge of the First District Court, who would then order the sheriff to transfer the patients to Jackson. This ordinance also stipulated that the sheriff should "require from the clerk of First District Court a certificate that the insane persons . . . are in indigent circumstances." Other ordinances were passed during the period concerning the location of the asylum (it was evidently moved several times), staffing and salaries, and funding. The records are six bound manuscript volumes, described as follows: Record of entries and releases, 1858-1882 [FM410] --
The records are available on two rolls of 35mm film, see the inventory below for roll/call numbers. The records were originally described and microfilmed as "Monthly Register of Patients, 1866-1872" [FM431], "City Insane Hospital. Record of the next of kin of patients, 1875-1877" [FM435], "City Insane Asylum. Record of entries and releases, 1858-1875" [FM430], "City Insane Asylum. Record by date of entry, 1871-1882" [FM432], and "City Insane Asylum. Monthly register of patients, 1872-1878" [FM431]. Also available on 35mm film are "City Physician. Record of patients, City Insane Asylum, 1882-1888" [FK 850] and "Civil Sheriff. Docket record of insane persons to be sent to Insane Asylum, Jackson, La, 1882-1918" [VF350i]. Later insanity records for New Orleans are also available in the archives collection. See the archives staff for further information. Inventory
FM410 New Orleans (La.) Insane Asylum
FM415 New Orleans (La.) Insane Asylum
FM430 New Orleans (La.) Insane Asylum
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