Looking for old maps of the Mississippi River, New Orleans, and surrounding areas? Check out the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library. They are dedicated to the creative educational use of its cartographic holdings, which extend from the 15th century to the present, including many Louisiana maps.

See: http://maps.bpl.org

Jose's Malaga Research

For those interested in the Malaguenos in Spain which sailed to Louisiana and founded New Iberia, José Manuel de de Molina works on this research in Spain and can be contacted. On his website he states:

"My webpage I offer my professional services as Historian, Archivist and Genealogical Professional. I have a wide experience and a comprehensive academic studies, providing legal services according with Spanish Law. You can read the different pages in the left menu including my references and activities tracing history and genealogy in Lousiana to Spanish ancestors. If you are looking for your family line in Spain and you need a professional genealogist service, I can help you. "

See: http://www.demolina.es/ (Spanish and English)
Email: jmdemolina@darrax.es

In Search of Galveztown

Rob Mann is Louisiana’s Southeast Regional Archeologist with a professional expertise in historical American archeology. He can identify the teacup and other artifacts unearthed from the Cambre greensward— fragments of French faience and coarse Spanish earthenware, brick rubble, nails, chunks of coal, pieces of bone— as evidence of daily life of the residents of Galveztown, a Spanish colonial community perched at the confluence of Bayou Manchac and the Amite River between 1779 and
1806.

See http://maryannsternberg.com/files/Galveztown.pdf (PDF)

NOLA.com: Delacroix, LA

A four part series on the Canary Islanders of Delacroix Island, Lousiana.

Today Delacroix and other fishing villages are either ghost towns, reclamation projects for sportsmen, or temporary boom towns for the BP disaster response. Some commercial fishermen still dock along the bayou, but they are commuters, driving in from communities on the protected side of the levees. Families that lived along the bayous for hundreds years have given up, chased away not just by the violence of recent storms, but the certainty of more to come. If there's new construction, it's largely by city anglers building recreational retreats.

See Part 1

See Part 2

See Part 3

See Part 4

Islenos on Dixiemania

During all of my research, I couldn’t help but ask myself time and again why so many Canarios had emigrated to Louisiana between 1778 and 1784. 2736 emigrants from the Canary Islands are officially recorded on the passenger lists of the ships, yet experts suggest a total of almost 4000 people. Today, there are approximately 40,000 Isleños, i.e. descendants of the Canarios, living in Louisiana (and some documents even claim that there are 70,000!).

It is a well known fact that a lot of them emigrated to Cuba, Uruguay, Mexico, Hispaniola and Venezuela (the last great wave of emigration to Venezuela took place between 1936 and 1945). But what made them go to Louisiana of all places?

See http://dixiemania.com/en/dixiemania/louisiana-los-islenos.html

State Land Office Online Documents

These maps are based upon surveys taken in 1828-1830. They can be used to locate the property of Isleno ancestors and the Acadians who arrived in 1785 and settled just south of the Valenzuela district in what is now the Plattenville and downstream area. For example, the Valenzuela settlement can be found in Township 11 S, Range 14 E, west of the Mississippi River.

These documents include U.S. and State historical land title information, including information related to: Land Grants; all severance documents of U.S. and State public lands - which lists the first private owner; all U.S. Official Township Survey plats and field notes; the U.S. and State Tract Books - which are an index of all the other documents mentioned; Section 16 School Lands; State Patents; and numerous related documents.

See: http://1webfn.doa.la.gov/slodocs/SLO/home.asp

The re-launching of the Galveztown

The first planks of an exact replica of the famous brig were laid recently in a ceremony in Nereo, close to the Baños del Carmen, outside Malaga city. For those who do not already know this, the Galveztown was the ship commanded by Malaga hero Bernardo de Gálvez to capture the port of Pensacola in the 18th century.

See http://www.bernardodegalvez.com/?p=6