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United States Missouri Lafayette County

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

	Missouri Online Records

Lafayette County, Missouri
Map
Location of Missouri in the U.S.
Facts
Founded	November 16, 1820
County Seat	Lexington
Courthouse
Address	Lafayette County Courthouse 1001 Main Street PO Box 357 Lexington, MO 64067 Phone: 660.259.4315 Lafayette County Website

County Courthouse

 

County Recorder has marriage, divorce, probate,
court and land records from 1821^[1]

History

Parent County

1820--Lafayette County was created 16 November 1820 from Cooper County. County seat: Lexington. ^[2] The county was originally named Lillard County. Its name was changed in 1825 to Lafayette County.

Boundary Changes

See an interactive map of Lafayette County boundary changes.

Record Loss

Places/Localities

• The State Historical Society of Missouri has information on historical Missouri place names for all Missouri Counties.

Populated Places

Neighboring Counties

• Carroll
• Jackson
• Johnson
• Pettis
• Ray
• Saline

Resources

Archives and Libraries

Cemeteries

• The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has burial records for the Missouri Veterans Cemetery at Higginsville, Mo and other veterans cemeteries around the country.
  The Confederate Home Cemetery in Higginsville, Mo is not available at this site, but records submitted by the general public are available on Find A Grave.com.
• Photos and locations of numerous Lafayette County cemeteries (Hearthstone Legacy)

BillionGraves:

• Missouri Veterans Cemetery, Dover
• St. John's Cemetery, Concordia
• St. Paul's Lutheran Cemetery, Freedom

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.

Catholic

Immaculate Conception, Lexington

• 1853-1876 - Immaculate Conception, Lexington, Baptism Index 1853-1876. Batch C511831 at FamilySearch - free.^[3]
• 1853-1885 - Immaculate Conception, Lexington, Marriage Index 1853-1885. Batch M511831 at FamilySearch - free.^[3]

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 Lafayette 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

A Portrait and biographical record of Lafayette and Saline counties, Missouri ... (1893) is available online free from Google Books. The first part of the book contains biographies of the U.S. presidents. The second part, starting on p.111, contains biographies Lafayette and Saline county residents.

Maps

• Map of Lafayette County townships (Histopolis)
  

• The University of Missouri Digital Library has digital copies of Missouri county plat books (ca. 1930) for all Missouri counties including Lafayette County. The city of St. Louis is not included in this collection.
  
• Map of 1904 Lafayette County with numerous small settlements (My Genealogy Hound)

Military

Civil War

• Records of the Missouri Confederate Pension Applications and Soldiers Home Applications for the Missouri Confederate Home in Higginsville are available online from FamilySearch.

Civil War Battles

The following Civil War Battles was fought in Lafayette County

• September 13-20, 1861 = Lexington I^[4] also known as Battle of the Hemp Bales

• October 19, 1864 = Lexington II^[5]

Map showing Civil War battles in Missouri

Newspapers

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

• WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
• Do a Lafayette County, Missouri Place-name search for these and other records in the Family History Library Catalog (For instructions see FHL Catalog Place-name Search).

• Newspaperarchive.com ($) has historical newspapers available on-line. Their database has Sedalia newspapers from the late 1800's and early 1900's that sometimes included Lafayette County residents.
  

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.

Taxation

Taxes were levied on free white males over 21 and slaves aged 21 to 60. These persons are referred to as "polls." Tax listings, or digests, of a county generally list the taxable landowners and other polls and the amount of tax. The records for each county are divided by militia district. For more information see the wiki page Missouri Taxation.

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

• 1865-1869 - Lafayette County Birth Index 1865-1869. Batch C515311 at FamilySearch - free.^[3]
• 1868 - Lafayette County Birth Index, Volume F, 1868. Batch C515312 at FamilySearch - free.^[3]

Marriages

• 1821-1873 - Lafayette County Marriage Books A thru E Index 1821-1873. Batch M515311 at FamilySearch - free.^[3]
• 1868-1885 - Lafayette County Marriage Books F thru H Index 1868-1885. Batch M515312 at FamilySearch - free.^[3]
• 1881-1885 - Lafayette County Marriage Books 1 and 2 Index 1881-1885. Batch M515313 at FamilySearch - free.^[3]

Deaths

• Missouri State Archives provides on-line access to Missouri Death Certificates more than 50 yrs old starting in 1910.
  

Societies and Museums

Family History Centers

• Introduction to LDS Family History Centers

Web Sites

• USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.
• Family History Library Catalog

References

1. ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), Lafayette County, Missouri. Page 402 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 3.5 3.6} 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.
4. ↑ Heritage Preservation Services, Civil War Battle Summaries by State, (accessed 15 August 2012)
5. ↑ Heritage Preservation Services, Civil War Battle Summaries by State, (accessed 15 August 2012)

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