Make a note of all information given. Sometimes people are over zealous to help, and their information can be more than a little off mark. Some of the most reliable sources of information are courthouses, archives, churches, and cemeteries. Wills are another good source of data. Court cases are very time consuming as each page must be carefully read for time, date, place, name of plaintiff, defendant, jury panel, witnesses, etc.
Wills are also a source to validate entries.
There are many other sources of information that can be used in conjunction with the above records. Old Catholic church records date back to the Spanish regimen before the French and English occupied the area. The Cathedral of the Immaculate Cathedral, New Orleans, Louisiana contains records dating from 1718 to present. The entries in these resisters are hand written by the priest who administered the such acts as baptism, marriage, burial, etc. The original records are stored at Brokley Air Force Base, Mobile, Alabama.