These notes are intended to give researchers some sense of the varied and sometimes rich content of court records filed in Orleans Parish during the period from 1804 through 1931. They indicate that it is often impossible to discern specific content of suit records merely from the names of the plaintiffs and defendants taking part in them. Few, if any, researchers are likely to do the record-by-record study that would be required to uncover all of the treasures in the collection. Many, many "accidental" discoveries, though, are certain to be made as research in the records progresses.

Most of the suits and cases represented below were selected from among a group of stray records left behind when the collection was reboxed during the summer of 2003. We will add more notes as we run across additional records of interest.

Court	Docket #	Plaintiff	Defendant	Date	Notes
City Court	00185	Volta	Caldwell	1830s	Includes lists of music copies by Volta for Caldwell's Italian Opera Company in New Orleans.
City Court	00474	Green	Caldwell	1822	Includes a list of performances at the Orleans Theatre during the year.
City Court	03427	Lefebvre	Beluche		Includes record of goods supplied by Lefebvre to Rene Beluche of "the privateer schooner Spy."
City Court	16311	Vannier	Davis	1830s	Includes several manuscript letters (in French) from Vannier to Davis dealing with Vannier's employment to teach French to the Davis children.
Civil District Court	15442	Avet (Succession of)		1870s	Includes documents relating to the importation, insuring, transportation, and storage of coffee in New Orleans.
Civil District Court	19666	Reeve (Succession of)		1866	Includes an inventory of Blackwater (later Belmont) Plantation near St. Francisville, bills for goods used on the property (from merchants in New Orleans and St. Louis), and two contracts with freedmen to work on the plantation (contracts include names, ages, and other information on each person). The record was transferred from Second District Court (#28614) where it had been filed originally.
Civil District Court	35904	Milne (Succession of)			Includes a substantial amount of material relating to suits involving the city of New Orleans and funding for the Milne Municipal Boys Home. Included are several documents dealing with the operations of the institution.
Civil District Court	39987	Ball Electric Light Co.	Enterprise Construction Co.	1890s	Includes a minute book (15 pages) for the Enterprise firm for the years 1891-1893.
Civil District Court	60074	Desmaries et al.	Andrieu & Escobedo Shoe Manufactory	1899	Includes inventory of equipment and goods owned by the company along with bills for goods supplied by another local firm.
Civil District Court	85023	Greer Bros.	A. Blum	1908	Dispute over the installation of a heating system by Greer Bros. (Contractors in Heating & Ventilation of Buildings) in the residence being built for A. Blum at the corner of St. Charles and Palmer (since demolished for construction of Temple Sinai). Included are letters exchanged among the interested parties, a copy of the specifications for the residence, and transcriptions of the testimony of several witnesses, including Asa Biggs (of the architectural firm of McKenzie & Biggs, designers of the residence). See also building plan #R2155 which is a single sheet showing the location of the heating system in the basement of the residence.
Commercial Court	04160	Rogers	Bank of the United States	1837	Includes a manuscript letter from Nicholas Biddle in Philadelphia to Lewis Rogers in New York.
Court of Probates		Broutin (Will)		1819	This is an 1837 copy of Narcisse Broutin's will. Filed with it are three letters (1837-1838) to his sister in Paris from New Orleans attorney E. Caillard.
Court of Probates		Smith (Succession)		1831	Includes documentation on a group of slaves shipped by Nathaniel Smith from North Carolina to New Orleans (shipping costs, clothing, medical treatment, and board).
Court of Probates		Gardien (Succession)		1841	Includes a French passport issued to Gardien in 1839.
Court of Probates		Jones (Succession)		1841	Included among the vouchers submitted are several for the treatment of slaves (and others) with "medicine cupps." Other interesting receipts are also included.
Fifth District Court	19808	Cousin & Brother	Johnston	1868	Firm of Cousin & Brother supplied bricks to Samuel Johnston for construction of the Girod Asylum. Dispute over payment for the bricks.
First Judicial District Court	6910	Vincent Nolte & Co.	Creditors	ca. 1830	Among the individual documents filed in the record are: Valuation of a portion of the firm's property (dated 1826) showing the names and values of slaves (grouped as whether they were household servants or presshands, along with equipment, apparently comprising a tobacco press. Letters from Frederick Arnet in Livingston Parish to Charles W. Robinson in New Orleans. One, dated 9/2/1835, asking Robinson to find a cook for him--"...a good old Negro woman for cook..." Others discussing shipments of lumber down the Tangipahoa River and across the lake to New Orleans. Others discussing his fears that he might be hung, possibly having to do with a trial that he hoped would be held in New Orleans rather than in Livingston. Bill for work done on the firm's building at Camp and Gravier Streets.
First Judicial District Court	13532	Santa Anna	Clark	1837	Includes a manuscript letter written and signed by Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna concerning the alleged theft of his medals following the battle of San Jacinto.
First Judicial District Court	17424	Miller	Hamilton	1839	Suit to settle dispute arising from the dissolution of their partnership in a New Iberia rum distillery. Includes several accounts that provide some interesting detail on the operation of the distillery.
First Judicial District Court	18197	Freyer	Louisiana State Marine & Fire Insurance Co.	1839	Includes letters, inventory of loss, insurance policy, etc. relating to a fire at the corner of Royal and Toulouse Streets apparently affecting both a dry goods store and a residence.
First Judicial District Court	20389	Taylor	Chase	1841	Concerns a dispute over the lease of the Pensacola House Hotel in Pensacola, Florida.
First Justice's Court	03782	Anderson	Gubernator & Terry and Terry	1877	Concerns a dispute over the shipping of wharf timber via the Chicago, St. Louis & New Orleans Railroad. Includes freight way bills for the railroad shipments and some testimony.
Fourth District Court	00665	Szymanski	Ship Elisha Dennison	1847	Concerns a dispute over payment for compression of cotton into bales at the Branch Press. Includes receipts from that Press along with related receipts.
Fourth District Court	04726	Mussina	Alling et al.	1850	Includes copies of deeds for purchase of land in Cameron County, Texas, in and around Point Isabel during the year 1849. Also includes testimony of persons living in Point Isabel and Brownsville.
Fourth District Court	3493-3496	Paradise, Lawrason & Co.	[various insurance companies]	1850	Includes very detailed testimony of several individuals, including sea captains, concerning the destruction by fire of the Ship Russia, ca. 2/7/1850. Also included is an excerpt from the log of the Ship Creole from around that time period.
Fourth District Court	4656	Tonge	Kennett & Co.	1850	Includes correspondence between Jas. C. Sellman & Son in Baltimore and the Kennett firm in New Orleans. Also includes shipping documents, etc.
Fourth District Court	4966	Arthur & Co.	Steamboat Concordia	1851	Includes invoices (February 1851-January 1852) for goods purchased for the boat from I. W. Arthur & Co., Commission Merchants & General Grocers; MAY comprise the boat's provisions for voyages made during those months.
Fourth District Court	13756	Ellis	Dills	1860	Dispute over payment of wages and supplies in connection with the care and training of two trotting horses. Includes bills and detailed testimony which describes how such animals were cared for during the mid-nineteenth century.
Fourth Justice's Court	14035	Lalmant	Steamboat Crescent City	1854	Concerns a dispute over twenty-one sacks of potatoes that went rotten because of a delivery problem. Includes a bill of lading, other receipts, and testimony.
Parish Court	02157	Audubon	Wilson, Bowen & Co.		Includes documents signed by Audubon.
Parish Court	12602	Walton & Co.	Dakin & Dakin	1830s	Includes detailed bills for materials used in building the Louisiana State Arsenal on St. Peter Street.
Recorders Court, Third Municipality	?	State	Lewis	1840	This is a one page record of testimony in a case involving the murder of one slave by another, both belonging to the Pontchartrain Railroad Co. The crime took place in Milneburg.
Second District Court	09452	Toliver (fmc, Succession of)		1860	Includes a certificate of title to a lot in the Girod Street Cemetery. The certificate, dated 1842, also refers to the burial place as Christ Church Cemetery.
Second District Court	16747	Vogel (Succession)		1861	Includes letters from the Widow Vogel in Paris between 1862-1864. In French except for one in English (possibly a translation; it is marked as a copy). In that letter she notes that her late husband had been Consul of Prussia in New Orleans. She appears to be using his/her status as Prussian nationals to protect her property in New Orleans from seizure by the federal authorities.
Second District Court	38244	McAuley (Wife of O'Brien, Succession of)		1875	Includes inventory of a millinery shop on Canal Street along with invoices from New York suppliers. Also includes letters from her husband to New York interests, including one in 1877 that refers to the disputed gubernatorial election of that year and its effect on judicial proceedings. Also includes bills from hotels in New York City and letters from Mr. & Mrs. O'Brien in that place, one of which tells of a miscarriage suffered by Mrs. O'Brien while there on a business trip.
Second District Court	38323	Drivon (Succession)		1876	Includes a "Genealogical Tree & Tableau of Heirs of Mrs. Jeanne Drivon."
Sixth District Court	02970	Rice	Rice	1867	This suit record, for a divorce, includes detailed records relating to the construction of a residence on Camp Street between Antonine and Amelia Streets in Jefferson City. Charles Lewis Hilger was the architect, and several documents bear his signature.
Sixth District Court	5537	Union Planters Bank of Memphis	A. N. Peale & Co.	1870	Includes shipping documents and correspondence between the firm and Frank W. Goodwyn of Memphis.
Superior Criminal Court	1569	State	Carr	1877	The record includes several letters written by Mortimer Carr from Orleans Parish Prison to his partner, Louis R. Laun, as well as letters from Laun to Carr. Carr was accused of some fraudulent activity in the cotton business. The record includes a lengthy statement by Laun, apparently while he, too, was in prison.
Superior District Court	00820	Warmoth	Pinchback	1870s	Includes a manuscript letter written and signed by Pinchback.
Superior District Court	23127	Cook	Mississippi Fire Company #2 and Mechanics Fire Company #6	1876	Concerns a dispute over $15 prize money for a pony race at the Fair Grounds as part of a "Grand May Festival" sponsored by the two fire companies. Cook claimed that his pony Billy won the race and that the sponsors refused to pay him the prize.
Third District Court	00349	Cohen	Davis	1840s	Includes the contract between Davis and Cohen's daughter Sarah, a minor, to dance at the American Theatre.
Third District Court	3944	Depierre freres	Noel and Guiraud	1850	Suit involving a quantity of straw hats that the New Orleans firm of Noel and Guiraud sent to New York City to be sold, but the hats were out of fashion, faded, and otherwise defective, and could not be sold. The hats, along with other goods, came from the Depierre firm in Lausanne, Switzerland. They did not sell in New Orleans, so Noel and Guiraud sent them to New York in search of a market. The record includes testimony of merchants in New Orleans and New York. Also included is a copy of Noel and Guiraud's account with the Depierre firm along with other documentation from Switzerland.
Third District Court	10495	Keegan	Wright	1870	Concerns a dispute over the filling and grading of a lot on Fulton Street between First and Second Streets, and the subsequent loss of/damage to rose bushes and other plants under cultivation on the property.
Third District Court	11530	Ewell	Langhoff	1871	Includes testimony concerning a schooner that sank on a voyage from the Tickfaw River to New Orleans.
Third District Court	13454	Hogan	Steamboat Telegram	1859	Includes testimony by deckhands as to Hogan's (a fireman on the boat) claim that he was put off the vessel in Baton Rouge for no cause.
Third District Court	14270	Reardon	Steamboat Charmer	1859	Includes tickets; these may be tickets for passage or they may be tickets given to workers as proof of labor, later to be exchanged for cash.
Third District Court	14284	Rousset & Genin	Steamboat Martha J. Ward	1859	Includes a survey by the Deputy Port Warden of the cargo as stored aboard the ship and another survey of goods in a store on Canal Street, comprising in part cargo from the ship. Also includes several shipping documents and testimony of the ship's master.
Third District Court	14285	Hennings	Spaulding & Rogers	1859	Includes Hennings' bill for $15, one week's salary for playing the double bass at the Ampitheatre.
Third District Court	14302	Pepson et al.	Steamboat Henrietta	1860	Includes bills showing the monthly wages of several persons employed in various capacities on the vessel.
Third District Court	14334	Bosworth & Co.	Forget	1859	Concerns payments for ice delivered to Forget's "ice cream saloon" at Bayou Road and North Prieur Street. Includes a bill and testimony.
First Judicial District Court	3645	William Green & Co.	Nashville Steam Boat Co.	1859	One of the partners in William Green & Co. is W.H. Harrison, later the 9th President of the United States.

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