Description

Grand Prairie Historical Society BULLETIN Oct 1982 Page 3 BAPTISMAL REGISTER of ST. PETER' S CHURCH, NEW GASCONY, JEFFERSON COUNTY, STATE of ARKANSAS May 28th 1850 So reads the inscription on the flyleaf of a volume of records held by the Archives of the Diocese of Little Rock. This is the sec-ond register for which permission has been granted the Grand Prairie Historical Society by the Rev. Royce R. Thomas, Chancellor of the Diocese, to prepare and publish an index of the recorded acts, (l) Primarily, the volume is the record of the ministry of Father Patrick McGowan to Catholic families in Jefferson and Arkansas coun-ties. Father McGowan was the resident priest at St. Peters for many years. (2) However, the entries disclose that he traveled ex-tensively to serve members of the faith. Those acts not performed at New Gascony axe so indicated. The time span covered is 28 Kay 1850 - ^ Oct 1888, As the flyleaf of the volume indicates, the acts recorded are, for the most part, baptisms--divided almost equally between white and black Catholics, Some marriage are entered but no interments. The same format as used for indexing the first volume of records printed in April 1982 has been followed. Example for baptism: SMYTHE (Smith)/BROWN, John 1 SHYTHB is the surname of the father as entered in the register. (Smith) is this surname as usually found today, BROWN is the maiden name of the mother. John is the given name of the baptised. 1 is the...

From Collection

Colonial Arkansas Post Ancestry

Record Contributed By

University of Arkansas