If you had ancestors living in Ouachita Parish, you will be interested in a new service of the Ouachita Parish Public Library. A new service launched on October 14, 2022, on the Ouachita Parish Public Library’s website. The “Master Index of Obituaries from Monroe Newspapers” is a project that has been in the works for over 25 years.
Lora Peppers, library associate for the genealogy department said, “It’s been a lot of fun, and we have helped so many people that way that were looking for ancestors. It’s an index of the obituaries that are in Monroe area papers from the Ouachita Gazette in 1825. We’re currently working on The Newstar in 1992 at the moment.”
The database allows people to search obituaries from the years 1825-1991 to trace family history and contains information such as the name, notes about the death, and the cemetery location.
“I believe over 230,000 names are in this index at the current moment and we are adding to them daily,” said Peppers. The computer technician for the library, Michael Hargrave, was in charge of building the database. He said this is a good starting point for those looking for their family history.
You can read more in an article and video in the KNOE web site at: https://tinyurl.com/58ya7re3.