Researchers can scan some Caddo public records online

Parish testing free access.
©The Times
July 31, 2005
By John Andrew Prime
jprime@gannett.com

You don't have to feed a parking meter and brave Caddo Courthouse metal detectors to do at least one type of major public records search for free anymore.

People surfing online can comb through Caddo marriage license indices dating to at least the 1930s, a capability launched with no fanfare. Up to now, this had been part of the clerk's online subscription service targeted mainly at legal professionals. Now anyone with a home computer can do it.

"We started our subscription Web page about four years ago, and on July 1 started this as a test program," said Caddo Clerk of Court Gary Loftin, whose office is quite open and friendly to genealogists and others searching for public records. "We want to be as progressive as we can to help people get information 24 hours a day. It helps the public."

Searches can be by the name of the groom, the bride and the bride's maiden name. And partial names are OK. People also can search by book and page or by date.

So if you want to see the names of everyone who got a license on Dec. 8, 1941, the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor and the rush of folks to get married before going off to war, they are there.

Online access helps people who otherwise would have to make special trips downtown, whether from in the parish or, as can be the case with people doing family research, from halfway around the world, Loftin said.

His office eventually may put indices for other categories of records online after assessing possible security risks and the risks of identity theft. The records are public and can be viewed by people who drop in, so the risk of putting indices online is probably more imagined than real, Loftin said.

"Having these records online is a blessing," said Debra Vannucci of Keithville, a family researcher. "I wish all the courthouses would have an index.

"I can't tell you how much I've invested in fuel to travel to different parish courthouses just to check indexes for records. Genealogy is not an exact science and you have to do a lot of digging."

While Caddo marriage records date back to 1838, the online search now only goes back to the early 1930s. Loftin, who is genealogy-friendly, said earlier years will be added as time and personnel allow.

If searchers find a marriage license they need for legal or research purposes or for any other reason, certified copies cost $3 in person, $3.50 by mail. Requests should be mailed to Caddo Parish Clerk of Court, Attention Marriage Department, 501 Texas St., Room 103, Shreveport, LA 71101.