Missouri Genealogy

Missouri Genealogy Facts

First explored for Spain by Hernando de Soto, who discovered the Missouri River in 1540, the region was later claimed by France. In 1699, a French group under Sieur d’Iberville established the first permanent settlement near present-day Ocean Springs. Great Britain took over the area in 1763 after the French and Indian Wars, ceding it to the U.S. in 1783 after the Revolution. Spain did not relinquish its claims until 1798, and in 1810 the U.S. annexed West Florida from Spain, including what is now southern Missouri.

• Missouri was organized as territory on June 4, 1812
• Missouri entered the union as the 24th state on Aug. 10, 1821 .
• Missouri has 114 Counties.
• Missouri’s capital is Jefferson City and the official state website is www.mo.gov.
• Missouri is bordered by Arkansas (south), Illinois (east), Iowa (north), Kansas (west), Kentucky (southeast), Nebraska (northwest), Oklahoma (southwest), Tennessee (southeast)
• Missouri has a land area of 69,709 square miles making it the 21st largest state.
• Missouri’s 2010 population was 5,988,927 .
• Missouri  largest cities (2010) are Kansas City, 459,787; St. Louis, 319,294; Springfield, 159,498; Independence, 116,830; Columbia, 108,500; Lee’s Summit, 91,364; O’Fallon, 79,329; St. Joseph, 76,780; St. Charles, 65,794; St. Peter’s, 52,757.
• Missouri’s named for an Algonquian Indian word that means “river of the big canoes.”
• Missouri’s nickname is the Show Me State .
• Missouri State Motto is “Salus populi suprema lex esto ” which means The welfare of the people shall be the supreme law.

Missouri County Genealogy

Court records are at the district court at the county seat, and no survey has been completed for all counties. Land and probate records are in the probate judge’s office at the county seat. Exact dates for existing records are questionable, and different records will be available at different repositories. Specific, accurate information must be obtained individually from a courthouse visit.

Select a County Below

Adair, Andrew, Atchison, Audrain, Barry, Barton, Bates, Benton, Bollinger, Boone, Buchanan, Butler, Caldwell, Callaway, Camden, Cape Girardeau, Carroll, Carter, Cass, Cedar, Chariton, Christian, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Cole, Cooper, Crawford, Dade, Dallas, Daviess, DeKalb, Dent, Douglas, Dunklin, Franklin, Gasconade, Gentry, Greene, Greene, Grundy, Harrison, Henry, Hickory, Holt, Howard, Howell, Iron, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Johnson, Knox, Laclede, Lafayette, Lawrence, Lewis, Lincoln, Linn, Livingston, McDonald, Macon, Madison, Maries, Marion, Mercer, Miller, Mississippi, Moniteau, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, New Madrid, Newton, Nodaway, Oregon, Osage, Ozark, Pemiscot, Perry, Pettis, Phelps, Pike, Platte, Polk, Pulaski, Putnam, Ralls, Randolph, Ray, Reynolds, Ripley, St. Charles, St. Clair, St. Francois, St. Louis, St. Louis City, St. Genevieve, Saline, Schuyler, Scotland, Scott, Shannon, Shelby, Stoddard, Stone, Sullivan, Taney, Texas, Vernon, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Webster, Worth, Wright

Missouri has counties that no longer exist. They were established by the state, provincial, or territorial government. Most of these counties were created and disbanded in the 19th century; county boundaries have changed little since 1900 in the vast majority of states. These counties need to be looked at when doing genealogy research. Pay close attention where the courthouse records went to if the county was abolished or combined with another county.

• Clark County, Missouri: Renamed Cleveland County in 1885
• Decatur County, Missouri: Formed in 1841 as Ozark, renamed in 1843 to Decatur, renamed back to Ozark in 1845
• Dodge County, Missouri: Formed in 1849. Abolished in 1853
• Hempstead County, Missouri: Formed in 1818 from New Madrid County. Abolished in 1819; became part of the Arkansas Territory
• Lillard County, Missouri: Formed in 1821 from Cooper County; Abolished in 1825; divided into Jackson and LaFayette Counties
• Lawrence County, Missouri: Formed in 1815 from New Madrid County. Abolished in 1819; became part of the Arkansas Territory
• Kinderhook County, Missouri: Formed in1841 from Benton, Pulaski and Morgan Counties, renamed in 1843 to Camden County
• Niangua County, Missouri: Formed in1841 from Polk County, renamed in 1844 to Dallas County
• Seneca County, Missouri: Formed in 1847 from Newton County; renamed to McDonald County in 1849
• Van Buren County, Missouri: Formed as Van Buren, renamed to Cass County in 1849

Missouri Genealogy Links

See Missouri County Genealogy for County Links. These genealogy links fall into 3 categories: Commercial Sites, Personal Sites or Organization Sites. Some are have free access some require a payment. This is just a list that has been collected or submitted. I do not endorse or promote one genealogy site above another. Feel free to submit your own favorite genealogy or family history related sites.

• Missouri General Website Links
  • Family History Library (familysearch.org) – The largest collection of free family history, family tree and genealogy records in the world.
  • Missouri Historical Records (ancestry.com) – Databases include Court, Land, Wills & Financial Records; Birth, Marriage & Death Records; Voter Lists & Census Records; Immigration & Emigration Records; Obituary Records; Military Records; Family Tree Records; Pictures; Stories, Memories & Histories; Directories & Member Lists.
  • Search 60 Years Of Everton Data (familylink.com) – For the first time ever you can get access to more than 150,000 pedigree files and family group sheets from Evertons.
  • Missouri Genealogy Network (facebook.com)
  • Encyclopedia of Missouri (missouripedia.com) – free, online resource on Missouri history, culture, geography, and natural environment.
  • The Missouri Family Group Sheet Project (fgs-project.com)
  • USGenweb – Missouri Genealogy (rootsweb.ancestry.com)
  • Free GenForum Message Boards – Missouri (genforum.genealogy.com)
  • Free Rootsweb Message Boards – Missouri (boards.ancestry.com)
  • Cyndis List Missouri Links (cyndislist.com)
  • Missouri Mailing List (rootsweb.ancestry.com)
  • Missouri American History and Genealogy Project (usgennet.org)
  • Missouri Migrations Project (alabamagen.bravepages.com)
  • Missouri (wikipedia.org)
  • Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness (RAOGK) – Missouri (raogk.org)
  • Missouri Genealogy Look Ups (geneasearch.com)
  • USGenWeb Archives Project for Missouri (usgwarchives.org)
  • Background Sources for Missouri (ancestry.com) from Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources.
• Missouri History Links Website Links
  • History of Missouri Genealogy (ancestry.com) from Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources.
  • Missouri Stories, Memories & Histories (search.ancestry.com)
  • Missouri History Encyclopedia, 1901
  • Kansas City, Missouri : its history and its people, 1808-1908
  • The winning of the West
  • Gould’s St. Louis red book, 1914
  • Peter Burnett, Life in California
  • Missouri History, 1908
  • A history of Missouri : from the earliest explorations and settlements until the admission of the state into the Union
  • Missouri Biographical Dictionary
  • Missouri, day by day
  • The Spanish regime in Missouri : a collection of papers and documents relating to upper Louisiana, principally within the prese
  • Gould’s blue book for the city of St. Louis, 1907 : alphabetically arranged and classified by streets, also a list of the most
  • The Mississippi Valley, and prehistoric events : giving an account of the original formation and early condition of the great v
  • Missouri, a guide to the “Show Me” state
  • The opening of the Mississippi : a struggle for supremacy in the American interior
  • Portrait and biographical record of Clay, Ray, Carroll, Chariton, and Linn Counties, Missouri : containing biographical sketche
  • Switzler’s illustrated history of Missouri : from 1541 to 1877
  • A new history of Missouri
  • Historical and biographical sketches of the early churches and pioneer preachers of the Christian Church in Missouri
  • Gould’s blue book for the city of St. Louis, 1903 : alphabetically arranged and classified by streets, also a list of the most
  • The journeys of Réné Robert Cavelier, sieur de La Salle
  • A history of the pioneer families of Missouri
  • A Memorial and biographical record of Kansas City and Jackson County, Mo.
  • Portrait and biographical record of Lafayette and Saline Counties, Missouri : containing biographical sketches of prominent and
  • A History of the Pioneer Families of Missouri
  • A pilgrimage in America : leading to the discovery of the sources of the Mississippi and Bloody River, with a description of th
  • History of Missouri Baptists
  • A history of Missouri
  • The far West, or, A tour beyond the mountains : embracing outlines of western life and scenery, sketches of the prairies, river
  • Edwards’s great West and her commercial metropolis : embracing a general view of the West and a complete history of St. Louis,
  • Annals of St. Louis in its territorial days, from 1804 to 1821 : being a continuation of the author’s previous work, The annal
  • The Book of Missourians : the achievements and personnel of notable living men and women of Missouri in the opening decade of t
  • The romance of western history, or, Sketches of history, life, and manners in the West
  • A history of the Missouri Baptist General Association
  • A description of Louisiana
  • A history of the Baptists in the western states east of the Mississippi
  • Life of George R. Smith, founder of Sedalia Mo. : in its relations to the political, economic, and social life of southwestern
  • The story of a border city during the Civil War
  • How George Rogers Clark won the Northwest : and other essays in western history
  • Five famous Missourians : authentic biographical sketches of Samuel L. Clemens, Richard P. Bland, Champ Clark, James M. Greenwo
  • Pilots of the republic : the romance of the pioneer promoter in the Middle West
  • The states and territories of the great West : including Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minesota
  • Missouri, a bone of contention
  • The Mississippi question, 1795-1803 : a study in trade, politics, and diplomacy
  • Pages from the early history of the West and North-west
  • The Taming of the frontier : El Paso, Ogden, Denver, St. Paul, San Francisco, Portland, Kansas City, Cheyenne, San Antonio, Los
  • Memorial to the Robidoux brothers : a history of the Robidouxs in America : manuscripts, titles, quotations and illustrations
  • Paddle wheels and pistols
  • Iowa, the first free state in the Louisiana Purchase : from its discovery to the admission of the state into the Union, 1673-18
  • Where these rocky bluffs meet : including the story of the Kansas City ten-year plan.
  • History of the valley of the Mississippi
  • The geography of the Ozark highland of Missouri
  • The old crop in Indiana
  • A short history of the Mississippi Valley
  • A civic history of Kansas City, Missouri
  • Länger als ein Menschenleben in Missouri
  • Reform : metamorphosis of nonpartisan politics in Kansas City, Missouri : with an analysis of the 1959 election
  • Great Britain and the Illinois country, 1763-1774
  • Reminiscences of an Indianian : from the sassafras log behind the barn in Posey County to broader fields
  • A summer in the wilderness : embracing a canoe voyage up the Missisippi and around Lake Superior
  • The Kansas City annual, 1907
  • Civil War and Masonry in Missouri
  • Year book of the Missouri Historical Society : a consolidation of the Missouri Historical Society and the Louisiana Purchase H
  • The influence of the environment on the settlement of Missouri
  • The influence of the environment on the settlement of Missouri
  • The journal of Jean Cavelier : the account of a survivor of La Salle’s Texas expedition, 1684-1688
  • Midwest heritage
  • Illinois miscellaneous genealogical records : from counties, Bond, Boone, Calhoun, Cook, Crawford, Du Page, Johnson, Knox, Lake
  • An old house speaks
  • History of Kansas City : illustrated in three decades : being a chronicle wherein is set forth the true account of the founding
  • The early history of St. Louis and Missouri : from its first exploration by white men in 1673 to 1843
  • The Missouri handbook
  • Discovery and conquests of the North-west : with the history of Chicago
  • The French in the Mississippi Valley, 1740-1750
  • Report of the second reunion of the Tri-State Old Settlers’ Association of Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa
  • Year book of the Missouri Historical Society : a consolidation of the Missouri Historical Society and the Louisiana Purchase H
  • The Mississippi River Logging Company
  • We’re from Missouri
  • Early days in the West
  • Colonial St. Louis : building a Creole capital
  • The mission to the Ouabache
  • Relation of the discovery of the Mississipi River
  • Reminiscences of pioneer life in the Mississippi Valley
  • The last of the Illinois and a sketch of the Pottawatomies
  • Americanization of the Croats in Saint Louis, Missouri, during the past thirty years
  • Missouri Historical Society of Saint Louis
  • Comments on the Missouri Historical Records Survey 

Missouri State History

Missouri, state in the central United States. Missouri is bordered on the north by Iowa, on the west by Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma, on the south by Arkansas, and on the east by the Missouri River, which separates it from Tennessee, Kentucky, and Illinois. The name of the state is taken from the Missouri River and is an Algonquian name for a group that lived near the mouth of the river. The state’s most famous city, St. Louis, lies near the convergence of two great inland water routes, the Missouri and the Missouri rivers. Jefferson City is Missouri’s capital. Kansas City is the largest city.

Located in the geographic heart of the nation, Missouri is one of the foremost agricultural states in the country and is one of the most important manufacturing states in the Midwest. Midwestern in its grain and cornfields, Southern in its cotton fields, Western in its cattle raising, and Eastern in its manufacturing, Missouri is today more than ever the Center State, as it is sometimes known, and a major transportation crossroads.