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Guide to Jefferson County Missouri genealogy. Birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

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Online Records


Jefferson County, Missouri
Map
Map of Missouri highlighting Jefferson County
Location in the state of Missouri
Map of the U.S. highlighting Missouri
Location of Missouri in the U.S.
Facts
Founded December 8, 1818
County Seat Hillsboro
Courthouse
Missouri state capitol.jpg
Address Jefferson County Courthouse
300 2nd Street
PO Box 100
Hillsboro, MO 63050-0100
Phone: 636.797.5478
Jefferson County Website
Named for: Thomas Jefferson



Contents

County Courthouse



Recorder Deeds has marriage and land records;
Probate Court has probate records; Clerk Circuit 
 Court has court records[1]

History

Jefferson County, Missouri was organized 8 December 1818. This became effective 1 January 1819. The county was named after Thomas Jefferson.

Jefferson-thomas.jpg


Parent County

1818--Jefferson County was created 8 December 1818 from Ste. Genevieve and St. Louis Counties. County seat: Hillsboro [2]

Boundary Changes

See an interactive map of Jefferson County border changes at N2Genealogy.

Record Loss

Places/Localities

Populated Places

284px-Pond in Young Conservation Area.jpg

Neighboring Counties

Resources

Cemeteries

A number of residents of Valle Township, Jefferson County, Missouri were buried across Big River in Masonic Cemetery in Washington County, near Blackwell.

Census

Historical populations
Year Pop.  %±
1820 1,835 —
1830 2,592 41.3%
1840 4,296 65.7%
1850 6,928 61.3%
1860 10,344 49.3%
1870 15,380 48.7%
1880 18,736 21.8%
1890 22,484 20.0%
1900 25,712 14.4%
1910 27,878 8.4%
1920 26,555 −4.7%
1930 27,563 3.8%
1940 32,023 16.2%
1950 38,007 18.7%
1960 66,377 74.6%
1970 105,248 58.6%
1980 146,183 38.9%
1990 171,380 17.2%
2000 198,099 15.6%
2010 218,733 10.4%


Church

Church records and the information they provide vary significantly depending on the denomination and the record keeper. They may contain information about members of the congregation, such as age, date of baptism, christening, or birth; marriage information and maiden names; and death date. For general information about Missouri denominations, view the Missouri Church Records wiki page.

Court

Land

Land and property records can place an ancestor in a particular location, provide economic information, and reveal family relationships. Land records include: deeds, abstracts and indexes, mortgages, leases, grants and land patents.

See Missouri Land and Property for information about records of land transfers from the government to private ownership. After that transfer, transactions were usually recorded and are currently housed at the county courthouse.

Local Histories

Local histories are available for Jefferson County, Missouri. County histories may include biographies, church, school and government history, and military information. For more information about local histories see the wiki page section Missouri Local Histories


  • Articles: Items of History (Jefferson County Historical Society)
  • Boyer, Mary Joan, Jefferson County, Missouri in Story and Pictures.  Festus, Missouri: Tri-City Independent, 1956.
  • Douglass, Robert Sidney, History of Southeast Missouri.  New York:  Lewis Publishing Compasny, 1912.
  • Family Histories (Jefferson County Historical Society)
  • Biographies from The History of Jefferson County, Missouri (1888) published by Goodspeed are available free on the My Genealogy Hound website.
  • History of Franklin, Jefferson, Washington, Crawford, and Gasconade Counties, Missouri.  Chicago:  The Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1888.  Reprint, Greenville, South Carolina:  Southern Historical Press, 2001.  (Jefferson County portion, GenWeb)
  • Jefferson County, Missouri History Books (indexes) (Jefferson County Historical Society)
  • Rutledge, Zoe Booth, Our Jefferson County Heritage (index only; Jefferson County Historical Society)
  • Whipple, Etta, History of Jefferson Co. Baptists 1798-1949 (index only; Jefferson County Historical Society)

Maps and Gazetteers

Military

Miscellaneous

Newspapers

Additional newspapers abstracts can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Jefferson County, Missouri newspapers in online catalogs like:


Historic newspapers from 1869 to 1952 are housed at the Jefferson County History Center at Jefferson College. The Center is located in the Jefferson College Library and is open by appointment.

Probate

Probate records include wills, bonds, petitions, accounts, inventories, administrations, orders, decrees, and distributions. For further information, see United States Probate Records.

In Missouri, probate records have usually been recorded by the clerks of the probate courts, but in some counties the common pleas or circuit courts handled this function. They are frequently indexed.

The Jefferson County History Center, located in the Jefferson College Library and open by appointment, contains probate files dating from the 1820s.

Schools

  • Schools (Jefferson County Historical Society)

Taxation

Real estate and personal property tax records from the 19th through the mid-20th centuries are located at the Jefferson County History Center in the Jefferson College Library. The Center is open by appointment.

Vital Records

Vital Records consist of births, adoptions, marriages, divorces, and deaths. For additional guidance on researching and using vital records, see United States Vital Records.

St. Louis and Kansas City recorded births and deaths starting as early as 1850 for deaths and 1870 for births.  The Missouri Department of Health began keeping birth and death records in 1909. County records vary by year and the county. A copy or an extract of most original records can be purchased from the Missouri Vital Records State Department of Health or the County Clerk's office.

Births
  • 1842-1861 - Jefferson County Birth Index 1842-1861. Batch C515272 at FamilySearch - free.[3]
Marriages
Deaths

Societies and Libraries

Many of the older county records have been moved from the Jefferson County Courthouse to the Jefferson County History Center at Jefferson College.  Old newspapers which were once housed at Roop Printing in De Soto have also been moved to the Jefferson County History Center.  The De Soto Public Library has a large collection of vintage photographs of De Soto landmarks and businesses.

Family History Centers

Web Sites

References

  1. ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), Jefferson County, Missouri. Page 401 At various libraries (WorldCat); FHL Book 973 D27e 2002.
  2. ↑ The Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America,10th ed. (Draper, UT:Everton Publishers, 2002).
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Genealogical Society of Utah, Parish and Vital Records List (July 1998). Microfiche. Digital version at https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/images/d/d8/Igimissourij.pdf.
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  • This page was last modified on 17 June 2013, at 15:14.
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