Kermit "Hart" Bourque is the Ascension Parish

Clerk of Court. He has held that position since

1964 when he was first elected Clerk. His duties
and responsibilities are established in the
Louisiana Constitution, which include but are not
limited to the following:

Clerk of the District Court for the Parish;

Clerk of the Parish Court;

Ex-Officio Recorder of Deeds, Mortgages, and
other instruments;

Treasurer for the Court System;

Ex-Officio Member of the Jury Commission.

Chief Elections Officer for all elections held in the
parish;

Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Supervisors of
Elections;

Custodian of Voting Machines;

In his capacity as Recorder, Mr. Bourque is the
custodian of all records filed and recorded in his
office. The clerk's office has original records
dating back to 1770 when Ascension Parish was
known as the "Second Acadian Coast" and there
were only 267 settlers. The first original acts on file
are the notarial acts of Louis Judice, entitled
"Judice-1", which include records from 1770 -
1787. He was the first Spanish Commandant for
Ascension Parish and served from 1770 until
1798.

Until the turn of the century, most records were
handwritten, many in French, and are beautiful
examples of penmanship. Six volumes of original
French Acts, from 1808 through 1890, were
translated into English as a Works Progress
Administration (WPA) project. The WPA was a
work relief program established by President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt to create jobs for
unemployed persons during the Great Depression.

The marriage records of the parish are indexed
from 1770 to the present. The Clerk of Courts'
Office in Donaldsonville has actual marriage
documents on file beginning in the year 1829.
Patent records date back to 1807. After 1900,
most records on file are typewritten. Steps have
been taken to preserve these old documents. To
insure preservation of some of our very early
records, (some of which are extremely fragile), they
are stored in a climate-controlled environment at
State Archives. These records include "Index to
Civil Suits from 1816-1818"; "Probate Records
from 1843-1932"; "Book of Mortgages from 1860-
1880" and several other books of historical
interest.

Since 1954, records have been microfilmed and
others have been laminated. In the event of a
catastrophic occurrence, records could be
reconstructed because of the measures taken to
insure their preservation.

Public records may be viewed Monday through

Friday during office hours. The Clerk of Court
welcomes visitors and invites the public to visit the
Donaldsonville Office to explore historic Ascension
Parish.