The ESSSS Project [Ecclesiastical and Secular Sources for Slave Societies]

The ESSSS project was created by Vanderbilt University to preserve and digitize Catholic Archival records relating to Africans and their New world descendants in the former Spanish colonies of Brazil, Florida, Cuba and Columbia. The oldest Catholic registers began in the 16th century and continue to the early 1900s.  These ecclesiastical entries include baptisms, burials and marriages of slaves and free persons of color from the beginning of colonization. Catholic registers are valuable to genealogists because they allow you to reconstruct several generations. The ESSSS project is also of historical importance in that details are provided about the lives of African slaves and their descendants in the Latin colonies of the Western Hemisphere. The ESSSS project can be assessed at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/esss/

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Baptism of a Cuban slave

Archdiocese of New Orleans Sacremental Records Online

The Archdiocese of New Orleans has digitized their sacramental records and made them available online for uploading. The oldest sacramental records begin in 1720 and end in the early decades of American statehood from the St. Louis Cathedral Catholic Church. There also colonial sacramental records available for St. John the Baptist and St. Bernard parish churches. I was able to locate the baptismal record of my ancestor, François BIROTTE, a free Creole and infant of color, in the colonial registers of St. Louis Cathedral. These records are a valuable resource for anyone with ancestral roots in Spanish and French Louisiana. https://archives.arch-no.org/sfpc

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Historic Catholic Records Project Online

The Catholic Diocese of Boston and the New England Genealogical Society are collaborating on an exciting and ambitious project to scan and make available online over 10 million sacramental records from 150 parishes in Boston. The church records date from 1789 to 1900 and are written in English, Latin and French. The goal of the project is to create a searchable database where members of the NEGS can also view original images. The time frame of the project is 10 years. NEGS members and guests are able to view some of the records online.



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CATHOLIC SOUTHWEST: A Journal of History and Culture

You can access some issues of the Catholic Southwest via the Catholic Archives of Texas website.
The Catholic Southwest is a journal that focuses on the history and cultural heritage of Catholics in Texas from the Spanish era to modern times. Some of the articles contain information of genealogical value to families of Latin and Catholic heritage in Texas. http://www.catholicarchivesoftx.org/#!catholic-southwest/galleryPageRodney Sam