Do You Know The Original 12 Parishes Of Louisiana?
In Louisiana, we have our own code of law, our own language, our own music and even our own unique way of dividing up the geography of our state. The rest of the country can have their counties, we'll keep rolling with our parishes. We have 64 parishes in Louisiana, but do you know what the very first ones were?
In 1803, Louisiana had 12 parishes as defined by the Territorial Legislative Council. In 1807, German Coast Parish was divided up into a few different ones and the number rose to 19.
Parishes, as defined by raogk.com are "the political jurisdictions for recording land (conveyances), probate (successions), marriage, and court records in Louisiana".
We have parishes instead of counties because of Louisiana's strong connection with the Catholic church. Catholic churches have parishioners, or people who officially belong to a certain church.
Below are the original 12 parishes of Louisiana -