Obituary Project

As a follow-on to the Cemetery Project, the Obituary Project Committee of the Society began screening available Acadia Parish newspapers, hardcopy and microfilm, on file in the Acadia Parish Library and indexing reports of deaths from the newspapers published in Crowley, Rayne and Church Point. Each book developed includes an index.

We have arranged the index of records alphabetically by name within the respective year blocks and referenced to the appropriate book and page where the obituary is located. The indexes are published here in the following link:

Click here for Obits through 2014 in Alphabetical Order

The naming convention for referencing the obituary volume(s) containing the obituary is essentially an abbreviated newspaper name or combination of names, and volume year(s), followed by page number. Location codes are as follows:

ACSIG

for Acadia Signal

CR or CPS

for Crowley newspapers, such as Crowley Signal, or Crowley Daily Signal, or Crowley Post-Herald which no longer publish, or the current newspaper Crowley Post Signal.

CPD

for a small collection of early newspapers from the Church Point Democrat

CPN

for Church Point News

for Freeland Files, a collection of records donated to the Acadia Parish Library and covering the period 1870 - 1900.

RIN or RAT or RIN/RAT

for Rayne Independent News, or Rayne Acadian Tribune or combination of both newspapers, where the obituary appears in both newspapers

The main body of obituary records for the parish are located in the genealogy room of the Acadia Parish Library in Crowley. Smaller collections can be found in the branch libraries in Rayne and Church Point and primarily focus on their respective areas. Please visit their web site at Acacia Parish Library for hours of operation and perhaps establish a point of contact to assist you during your visit.