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Isaac Anderson Caldwell was married to Martha Susan Lawson, sister to Lucy Smith Lawson, and first wife of William Wimberly of Bienville Parish. This page shows his will. "Succession of Isaac A Caldwell Decd, Louisiana, U.S., Wills, and Probate Records, 1756-1984," database, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/9067/ : accessed 20 Feb 2024), pages 365-370. |
I spent most of an afternoon last week at my local library, a FamilySearch Affiliate Library, looking at Bienville Parish, Louisiana deed records in an attempt to answer several questions about friends, neighbors, and associates of my Bryan family. Luckily, there were indexes, and I downloaded several wanted deed records.
I also needed to look at wills and probate records, but none of the will or succession books were indexed, and there was no time left in the day to browse through the books.
Later, hoping that someone had indexed these records, I checked the FamilySearch Research Wiki for Bienville Parish and found the following information about wills and probate records in Bienville Parish.
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"Bienville Parish, Louisiana Genealogy," FamilySearch Wiki (https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Bienville_Parish,_Louisiana_Genealogy : accessed 20 Feb 2024). |
The Index, Bienville Parish, Louisiana Will Book 1850-1932, compiled by Jinks Pate Lee, is an excellent resource that Bienville Parish researchers should save for future reference. However, know that not all wills are found in the Will Book - many others are seen in the succession books.
Searches for several names in Ancestry's Louisiana, U.S., Wills, and Probate Records, 1756-1984 failed to come up with any results in Bienville Parish. Was that because the names were not found in the books or because the Bienville books were not in the collection? Or maybe they were in the collection but not indexed.
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"Louisiana, U.S., Wills, and Probate Records, 1756-1984," database, Ancestry.com (httphttps://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/9067/ : accessed 20 Feb 2024), Source Information. |
A look at the source information (see above) revealed the types of records found in the collection and stated that the collection includes "images of probate records from approximately 72 percent of Louisiana parishes." To find details on the parishes included, it was suggested to explore the browse menu.
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| "Louisiana, U.S., Wills, and Probate Records, 1756-1984," database, Ancestry.com (httphttps://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/9067/ :accessed 20 Feb 2024), Source Information. |
The browse menu above shows that all probate and will records found at FamilySearch.org for Bienville Parish are also found at Ancestry.com. They are free to browse at a FamilySearch Library or Affiliate, but as I subscribe to Ancestry, I will be able to read them on my large screen while in my comfortable chair.
However, I still had not completely answered my question about these records at Ancestry. Were the names I looked for not shown because they were not in the book or because the book was not indexed? The only way to quickly find out is to test it. I know that at least three of my Bryans in Bienville Parish had records in the Bienville succession books. A quick search for Bryan without specifying a parish resulted in 111 results, with only one for Bienville Parish. That one result for James Bryan was from the Will Book, revealing that only the Bienville Parish Will Book was indexed. I need to browse the succession books to find my people.
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"Louisiana, U.S., Wills, and Probate Records, 1756-1984," database, Ancestry.com (httphttps://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/9067/ : accessed 20 Feb 2024), |
Browsing the Succession Books
I began by browsing Probate Book C, called Succession Book C, in parish records and at FamilySearch. So far, it is fairly easy to read, and the content is very interesting. This book begins just before the end of the war in 1865, so you will still see some estates that include enslaved persons. If you are researching enslaved persons in this area of Louisiana, you will definitely want to browse all of these books.
At the top of many pages is a descriptive title such as the one at the beginning of this post, "Succession of Isaac A. Caldwell Decd," or something like "Tutorship of minor John T. Chappel." This allows you to go through the book quickly without having to read each page. When you find a title with a name that interests you, check the previous page, as sometimes a record might begin in the middle of a page.
I hope that this post was helpful. If you are a Bienville Parish researcher and find something new and exciting, please share!
If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page, where you will see each post and other genealogical finds.
Diana
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