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"Along Those Lines"
9/21/2001 - Archive
Two Types of Parish
This week's "Along Those Lines . . ." column introduces a new feature
called "The Citation Corner." In response to last week's column, "We Were All
Beginners Once" (www.ancestry.com/library/view/columns/george/4504.asp),
I received a flood of e-mail from people asking what a citation is. Not only
is this proof that there are many beginners conducting research, but it also
confirms that there are many who need instruction and help on using citations.
Regular readers of this column know that I always include a bibliographic citation
at the end of the column whenever I reference a book, magazine, journal, or
other type of item. Not only will I continue to provide these citations, because
they provide information to help you locate the materials yourself, but I want
to share the formats of citations for different types of materials each week
to help you document your evidence. The definitive reference for citations for
genealogical information is Elizabeth Shown Mills' book, Evidence! Citation
& Analysis for the Family Historian, which is available through all the
major online booksellers' Web site and in their stores (or special order). A
citation is included at the bottom of this column today. I think you will find
"The Citation Corner" a valuable addition of reference information to this column.
Two Types of Parishes
I recently received an e-mail from a reader who is beginning her research into
parish records, and she asked if there was someplace on the Internet which explained
the concept of the parish. Well, the first question to pop into my mind was,
"Which type of parish does she mean?" Yes, there are two types of parishes,
and hopefully you won't be confused by them, especially when researching your
Louisiana families. Let's begin with a definition. A parish, simply defined,
is an administrative area.
The Catholic Church Parish
In the Catholic and Episcopal churches, a parish is a district or an area
with its own church and clergy member. In that case, a parish is a specific
unit within a diocese. A diocese is typically a group of churches (or parishes)
under the authority of a bishop. These units are under the authority of an archdiocese
whose leader is an archbishop. For a very detailed description of a parish,
please see the Catholic Encyclopedia at http://www.newadvent.org/cathen
and go to the letter P to find the article on Parish. This site defines itself
as a "full and authoritative information on the entire cycle of Catholic interests,
action and doctrine." You will not be disappointed with this excellent reference
site.
There is a wealth of Web sites regarding Catholic parish records and contact
information. For example, Joy Reisinger wrote an article in the March/April
2001 issue of Ancestry Magazine about parish records. (See the article
online at www.ancestry.com/library/view/ancmag/4112.asp).
Lou Szucs has written an article on the subject too, at: www.ancestry.com/library/view/ancmag/2246.asp.
In addition, there is a site to help locate parishes in the U.S. at: www.parishesonline.com/
It is searchable by name, area code, city and state, ZIP code, and diocese.
The Parish as a Governmental Unit
A parish can also be a governmental administrative unit, such as is used in
Ireland and in the State of Louisiana in the U.S. Using Louisiana as our primary
example, let it suffice to say that the parish there is comparable to a county
in other states. Ancestry's Red Book states that parishes, in the Louisiana
governmental sense of the word, are "political jurisdictions for recording land
(conveyances), probate (successions), marriage, and court records in Louisiana.
Parish clerks hold most of these records, while some cities have these functions
divided among registers of conveyance and district court clerks." Ancestry's
Red Book contains excellent resources for Louisiana and includes an extensive
bibliography of reference books relating to the French, Spanish, and early statehood
periods.
The colony of Louisiana was founded in 1699 by two French brothers, Pierre Le
Moyne d'Iberville and Jean Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville. In France at that
time, most citizens were Catholic. The area that is now Louisiana was initially
settled by French and the church was an integral part of the community. Each
church area was a parish, and the local government formed based on serving the
needs of the citizens in that area. Over time, of course, more churches were
founded in these areas and administrative jurisdictions changed. However, the
concept of the parish and its boundaries persisted. France lost the Louisiana
colony to Spain in 1763, at the conclusion of the Seven Years' War, and Spain
ruled there until 1800, when it returned the colony to France. Spanish officials
continued to govern the colony, however, from 1800 to 1803, when the United
States paid France $15 million for the Louisiana Territory. Therefore, a search
for your ancestors' records in Louisiana between 1800 and 1803 should be made
in Spanish, not French, records. Since that time, the state and local governments'
structure have continued with the parish structure in carryover of the French
heritage. Each parish has its own government and administrative services, and
is a component unit reporting to the State of Louisiana.
There are hundreds of Web sites devoted to Louisiana and its parishes. Cyndi's
List has an extensive compilation of Louisiana materials at www.cyndislist.com/la.htm.
The Louisiana portion of the USGenWeb Project, located at www.rootsweb.com/~lagenweb/,
contains a link to a collection of Parish sites. The Southeastern Genealogy
Online site at http://www.segenealogy.com/louisiana likewise has an excellent
collection, including parish formation maps.
Differentiating Between the Two Types of Parishes
As you can see, it is important to understand and distinguish between the distinctions
a CHURCH parish and a GOVERNMENT parish. In Louisiana research, this becomes
even more important. You must differentiate between the two, and the easiest
way to do so is by understanding the record types. Perhaps it seems obvious
to some researchers, but it may not be to others. Church records will include
memberships, births and christenings, confirmations, marriages, deaths, funerals,
and burials for lay people, and records concerning nuns, monks, priests, bishops,
and other officials. Government records, depending on the time period, will
also include birth certificates, marriage licenses/certificates, death certificates,
as well as land and property records, tax information, wills and probate records,
court records, and a variety of other governmental documents. Since both the
church parish and the governmental parish may have birth, marriage, and death
records, be aware that they are different and distinct records and as such may
contain different amounts of information. Either or both may be just the evidence
source you seek.
The Citation Corner
As you can see, this column has produced a number of types of reference sources:
books, a magazine, and a number of Web sites. In addition, a wide variety of
church and governmental document types have been discussed.
It is important to cite your sources for the information you uncover in your
research and present as evidence of facts. There are two major reasons for doing
so. First, you want to provide a reference for yourself so that you know you've
already researched a specific resource. Second, as a serious and scholarly researcher,
you want to document your findings in detail so that another researcher looking
at your work next week or fifty years from now can retrace your steps and examine
the materials himself/herself.
Let's start learning citations with the basics. Please note that I am providing
simple examples of bibliographic styles of citations in this area. There are
several accepted style formats, including formats for bibliographic entries
and for footnotes/endnotes. The most significant difference is that the bibliographic
citation typically does not include page numbers, but other minor differences
exist. There also are exceptions and special circumstances, of course, and these
can be studied in Elizabeth Shown Mills' book, the Chicago Manual of Style,
and other citation handbooks. Check with your local public library for assistance
in this area. However, don't be confused. The most important things to communicate
in a citation are WHO the author is, WHAT the title is, WHERE it was published
(or created), and WHEN it was published. If you successfully communicate this
information, you are covering the bases in citing your sources.
There are a number of different elements to a citation. These are used to communicate
to your reader the basics of what it is and how to locate it. Each element is
separated by a period.
If you want to cite a book, you include the following elements:
Author(s) - Last name, first name and middle initial for
the author. If there is more than one author, list the second one in sequence
as first name, middle initial, and last name.
Title - Include the full title (and subtitle). Title should be in italics.
Location and Name of Publisher - For domestic publications, list the name
of the city, followed by a comma, the two-letter abbreviation for the state,
a colon, and the full name of the publisher as it appears on the title page(s)
of the book. For foreign publications, list the name of the city, followed by
a comma, the name of the country, a colon, and the full name of the publisher
as it appears on the title page(s) of the book.
Year of Publication - List the publication year of the book as it appears
on the title page(s) of the book, followed by a period.
If there is no author, omit this from your citation and start with the title.
There are a few variations, such as the use of Ed. to indicate an editor, or
an edition number for other than the first edition of the work. If the book
was privately published, indicate the location, followed by a colon, and indicate
the name of the person who published the book or 'Privately published.' For
ease of reading, indent the second and subsequent lines of your citation.
Elizabeth Shown Mills' aforementioned book would have a citation as follows:
Mills, Elizabeth Shown. Evidence! Citation & Analysis for the Family
Historian. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1997.
Ancestry's Red Book, edited by Alice Eicholz and a second edition
of the book, would be cited as follows:
Eicholz, Alice, Ed. Ancestry's Red Book: American State, County, &
Town Sources. 2nd edition. Salt Lake City, UT: Ancestry
Incorporated, 1992.
An article in a magazine or journal is similar. The elements are as follows:
Author(s) - Last name, first name and middle initial for the author. If
there is more than one author, list the second one in sequence as first name,
middle initial, and last name.
Title - Include the full title of the article in quotation marks.
Name of Publication - The name of the journal or magazine, in italics. [Ed
Note: Again, this newsletter format does not support italics and we have substituted
quotation marks. The online version does support italics.]
Volume and Date of Publication - Indicate information about the specific
edition of the periodical, followed by the date of the publication indicated
on the actual journal or magazine, in parentheses, followed by a period. Where
specific dates are used, use the format Date Month Year, as in 24 August 2001.
(The format may also vary for serialized articles.)
Joy Reisinger's article in Ancestry Magazine that I referenced above
would be cited as follows:
Reisinger, Joy. "Catholic Records." Ancestry Magazine, vol. 19
no. 2, (March/April 2001).
Your local public or academic library can help you locate reference books concerning
citations. However, as mentioned before, Elizabeth Shown Mills' book provides
formats for record types genealogist use all the time.
Happy Hunting!
George
George G. Morgan is a proud member of the International Society of Family
History Writers and Editors, Inc. (ISFHWE) at: www.rootsweb.com/~cgc/cgc2.htm.
He would like to hear from you at atl@ahaseminars.com
but, due to the volume of e-mail, he is unable to answer every e-mail message
received. Please note that he cannot assist you with your individual research.
Visit George's Web site at ahaseminars.com/atl
for information about speaking engagements.
Copyright 2001, MyFamily.com. All rights reserved.
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