Bossier Parish, Louisiana Genealogy

  • About the Louisiana GenWeb Project
  • To join the LABOSSIE-L list:
    Mail to: LABOSSIE-L-Request@rootsweb.com and then put the word subscribe in the message.

    To get all of the old Bossier messages up use the search engine: http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl

    Type in the name of the list: LaBossie
    In the next search field, put: LaBossie again.
    That is on every message, so they will all come up.

  • Search Ancestry
  • Enroll in an e-mail directory of Louisiana researchers!
  • Bossier Parish History
  • Bossier Parish Library
  • Bossier Parish Library History Center
  • The Genealogist's Index to the World Wide Web
  • Jump to the US GenWeb Project
  • Bossier Parish government
  • Bossier Parish Clerk of Court
  • Louisiana Secretary of State death index search 1911-1956
  • Louisiana Vital Records
  • Louisiana Secretary of State Civil War Pensions index
  • Prime and Allied Family research
  • About the Louisiana GenWeb Project
  • Check out the Ark-La-Tex Genealogical Association's home page.
  • Check out the Gencom (genealogical computing) Club of Shreveport

    Mansfield State Commemorative Area
    Visit a site honoring the late C.C. Antoine
    Database of Louisiana soldiers lost in the nation's wars


    About the Louisiana GenWeb Project


    Bossier Parish History

  • Bossier Parish was created on Feb. 24, 1843, through Act 33 of the Louisiana legislature, signed into law by Gov. Alexandre Mouton. The parish was presumably named for the Louisiana Creole militia general Pierre Evariste Jean Baptiste Bossier. He was born at Natchitoches (pronounced NAK-oh-tush) on March 22, 1797 and died under mysterious circumstances on April 24, 1844.

    The parish was formed from Claiborne Parish. Until 1871, it included what are now Webster and Red River parishes. Its boundaries were originally Loggy Bayou to Lake Bistineau to Bayou Dorcheat to the Arkansas-Louisiana state line to the Red River back to the mouth of Loggy Bayou.

    The first parish officials, all appointed by Governor Mouton, were William K. Beck, Parish Judge; Robert B. Lowrey, Sheriff; R.H. Hodges, Surveyor; H.M. McFarland, Coroner; and John M. Lawdridge, C. Wallace, William Crowley and J.S.M. Lowery, Justices of the Peace. They were appointed March 9, 1843. The first parish courthouse was at Bellevue and was built by A. Kendall. The first parish Police Jury meeting (akin to a board of county commissioners) was held on June 19, 1843. The first police jurors were William Crowley, President; J.A.W. Lowery, Clerk; James C. Scott, Clerk (through Sept. 4); G.J. Williams; Joseph Graham; William M. Burns; and Isaac Lay. Their first meeting was held at the home of Ezekial Calhoun Long, believed to be near the site of the 1920s-vintage Durden log home on the Bodcau preserve.

    The earliest towns and settlements in Bossier Parish were Fillmore, Collinsburg (also called Plainville), Bellevue, Rocky Mount and Red Land. Rocky Mount is site of the earliest church, the Salem Baptist Church. Red Land received the first official post office, however, on Oct. 20, 1846, with Jerome B. Mading as postmaster. The last traces of the village burned on Sept. 18, 1890.

    ((Source: "Bossier Parish History, 1843-1993, The First 150 Years," by Clifton Cardin. LOC No. 93-072080, ISBN 0-9637507-0-4 (softcover) and ISBN 0-9637507-1-2 (hardcover)). Cardin is the official (appointed) Bossier Parish Historian and gladly answers queries.

    Back to Louisiana GenWeb Project

    More about John Andrew Prime


  • For more information, contact John Andrew Prime.