The often complicated and intertwining history involving free people of color and antebellum slavery has stories that are waiting to be told through genealogical records, as the St. Landry Parish Clerk of Court attempts to make familial records more accessible through digitalization.

Descendants of families with ties to St. Landry Parish gathered recently in Opelousas to get a glimpse of what is available for research in the Clerk of Court archives as grant initiatives are underway to make information easier to obtain, said Clerk of Court Charles Jagneaux.

“We held our first seminar on some of the records that we have here in our Courthouse archives to give individuals an introduction for what kind of information they are able to find in our records division. There were nearly 100 people who attended for several hours and what was so encouraging is we had people coming here from different states just to spend one afternoon to get information from the new Clerk of Court archivist Alex Lee,” Jagneaux during an interview.

Jagneaux said the introductory seminar presented by Lee at the Delta Grand, previewed the histories of a number of prominent Black families who helped shape the antebellum history of St. Landry during the past three centuries.

During the 18^th and 19^th centuries, St. Landry Parish became one of the largest population centers along the Gulf Coast for Black people and free people of color, Jagneaux said.