Birth Records - Cemetery Records - Census Records - Oregon Census Indexes - Church Records - Collected Genealogies - Court Records - DAR Records - Death Records - Divorce Records - Gazetteers, Maps & Atlases - Land Records - Marriage Records - Military Records - Naturalization Records - Newspapers - Probate Records - Tax Records - Vital Records - Voter Records - WPA
The following material is excerpted from The Oregon Guide To Genealogical Sources, pages 4-11, copyright © 1991-1996 Genealogical Forum of Oregon, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Oregon Guide is available from the Forum for $25.00 plus $3.00 shipping and handling; see the Forum Publications page for details on ordering. (Lenzen, Connie. The Oregon Guide To Genealogical Sources. Portland, OR: Genealogical Forum of Oregon, 1996.)
In 1903, the State of Oregon required that births be recorded. Copies of birth certificates are available from the Oregon Health Division. (PO Box 14050, Portland, OR 97214-0050.) There are two significant restrictions on their availability.
Cemetery records, when kept, are found at the cemetery, at the church or institution charged with maintenance of the cemetery, or with individuals. There is no central listing of cemetery records. This book attempts to list published cemetery records and to provide addresses for local cemetery districts.
Tombstones of many pioneer cemeteries were abstracted and transcribed by Oregon chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Copies of published DAR books are at the Oregon Historical Society in Portland, the Oregon State Library in Salem, and the DAR Library in Washington, D.C. They are also available on microfilm through the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The Oregon Cemetery Survey, published by the Oregon State Department of Transportation in 1978, lists most Oregon cemeteries and gives their location.
In 1843, Dr. Elijah White, Superintendent for Indian Affairs, took a census called the "List of Persons Living South of the Columbia River." The first Oregon Federal Census, taken in 1850, included all the Oregon Territory. Especially helpful is Ruby Lacy's transcription of the 1850 census. (Lacy, Ruby. 1850 Oregon Territory Census. Ashland, OR: Ruby Lacy, 1984.)
Various territorial censuses were taken. The Oregon Historical Society, Oregon State Archives, and Oregon State Library have microfilm copies of these censuses. They are to be used on-site and are not available for Interlibrary Loan. The State of Oregon authorized censuses, but only a few survived. The Oregon State Archives is the custodian of the remaining records.
Mortality schedules are available for 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880. Copies of the microfilm are available at Oregon State Archives and Oregon State Library, both in Salem. Published indexes to the schedules are also available.
Censuses are available for 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, and 1920. The 1890 census was destroyed with the exception of the veteran's census. Abstracters copied many of the various censuses for Oregon counties. Lists of these are in the county sections of this book [The Oregon Guide].
The 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910 and 1920 Oregon Federal Censuses have all been indexed; the 1900 and 1920 by the federal government, and the others by private companies. The Forum indexed the 1910 census.
Methodist, Presbyterian, and Catholic missionaries arrived in Oregon in the 1830s. Other denominations quickly followed. Records for most churches are kept by the local congregation. Therefore, the researcher needs to contact the individual churches to determine what records are available. Two books that assist in locating churches are:
Individuals and organizations have transcribed and published a number of Oregon church records. The county sections in this book list many of the published records and histories for the churches. Additionally, the manuscript collection of the Daughters of the American Revolution includes many church registers and minutes.
Two books that index articles about early Oregonians in published genealogies are:
Circuit Courts, operated by the State of Oregon, have jurisdiction over adoption, divorce and probate records. The court records in this section of the Guide are generally from the Circuit Courts. This Guide does not attempt to be a comprehensive listing of all that is in a courthouse. The reader should consult the Oregon State Archives' Oregon Historical Records Project for further information on the other court records.
Court records are under the jurisdiction of both County and State Courts. While both courts may exist in the same room of a courthouse it is often as if an invisible wall separates them. They do not share equipment or records. Letters sent to one office and intended for the other are often returned to the sender. Due to the division in the court system, it is often better to address a letter to: "Marriage Records", "Divorce Records", "Probate Records", "Deeds", etc.
The Oregon State Daughters of American Revolution have been gathering genealogical and historical data since the 1930s. These include cemetery and mortuary records, probate records, marriage records, church records, Bible records, newspaper clippings, family group sheets, etc. A copy goes to the National Society DAR Library in Washington, DC, and a copy of most of the bound volumes is at the Oregon Historical Society in Portland and the Oregon State Library in Salem.
A card index to names in the DAR collection at the Oregon Historical Society, prepared in the 1970s, is available in the Society's Library. The Oregon Historical Society has microfilmed much of their DAR collection, and a copy of the microfilm is in the Society's Library. The Genealogical Society of Utah has a copy of the film, and it is available through their Family History Libraries.
Death records have been recorded with the Oregon State Health Division since 1903. However, not every county sent their records to the State on a regular basis until the 1920s. This guide lists death records that are still in the courthouses.
Death indexes from 1903 to the present are available at the Oregon State Archives and the Oregon State Library in Salem, the Multnomah County Library and Oregon Historical Society in Portland, and the University of Oregon Library in Eugene.
Death certificates more than 50 years old are at the Oregon State Archives and are available for research.
The Oregon Territorial Legislature granted divorces through 1859, and these records are in the custody of the Oregon State Archives. Divorces after 1859 are generally in the Circuit Court of each county. Since 1925, divorces have been recorded with the Oregon Health Division, PO Box 14050, Portland, OR 97214-0050.
Learning the geography of the area you are researching is an important part of genealogy. Maps, atlases, and gazetteers are tools for the genealogists. They show an ancestor's location and help in understanding the probable location of records.
City and county maps are available from the Oregon Dept. of Transportation, State Highway Division, Map Distribution Unit, Room 17, Transportation Bldg., Salem, OR 97310. The University of Oregon in Eugene, Portland State University in Portland, Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon Historical Society in Portland, and Oregon State Library in Salem all have good map libraries. The collections include city and county maps, Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps that show the location and structure of buildings in metropolitan areas, and Metsker Map Company Atlases that show land ownership.
Oregon was public domain country, and the Federal government gave the first land grants. The Donation Land Claim Act of 1850 and the Homestead Act of 1862 distributed much of the arable land. The records for the Donation Land Claims and the Homestead Claims have been microfilmed and are available through Family History Libraries. A little known record group is the Provisional Land Claims. These cover the years 1845 to 1849. The Provisional Land Claims and the Donation Land Claim files have been abstracted and published by the Genealogical Forum of Oregon. See the Forum publications page for ordering information.
When the settler sold his or her land claim, the sale was recorded in the counties. The deeds are indexed in grantee-grantor index books and are available in either the Recorder's Office or the Office of the County Clerk.
Marriages were one of the first record to be filed in the counties. The first was in 1849. Most of these early records are still at the county level in the Office of the County Clerk. Some early marriage records are at the Oregon State Archives. Write for the leaflet, "Vital Records in the Oregon State Archives." While the counties started sending marriage records to the Oregon Health Division in 1906, they kept the original copy. These original copies often contain more information than the abstract sent to the State.
Oregonians participated in the Indian Wars, the Civil War, the Spanish War and Philippine Insurrection, World War I, World War II, the Korean Conflict, the Vietnam War, and the Persian Gulf War. Many military records are now in the custody of the Oregon State Archives, 800 Summer St. NE, Salem, OR 97310. They have the records of the Oregon Military Department dating from 1847 through 1968. The bulk of the holdings documents the period up to 1883. A leaflet, "Records of the Oregon Military Department, 1847-1968," describes the Archives holdings.
Naturalization records can be found in any court of record. In Oregon, they are generally with the County Clerk or the Circuit Court. Records are in Naturalization Books, Miscellaneous Journals, County Court Journals, etc. Before 1906, little genealogical information was included on the forms.
For records after September 1906, contact the Freedom of Information Officer at Immigration and Naturalization Service. Give the complete name of the immigrant, birth date, and any other information that would differentiate the subject from other individuals of the same name.
The largest collection of newspapers on microfilm is at the University of Oregon in Eugene. The next largest collection is at the Oregon Historical Society in Portland. The holdings of both are listed in Newspapers In Microform by the Library of Congress and are available on Interlibrary Loan.
Probate records were usually kept from the beginning of each county. Most records and indexes are still in the county courthouses. Over the years, jurisdiction passed from the County Court to the Circuit Court, with some exceptions. Most old records are in offsite storage and need to be requested in advance. Some records have been moved to the Oregon State Archives.
Tax lists are available for personal, property, and poll taxes. (Poll taxes were eliminated in 1912.) Nineteenth century Oregon tax records are usually all in the same books. Personal property taxes from the nineteenth century contain information about livestock owned, crops produced, and other interesting biographical information. Property tax records contain information about land and improvements. Poll taxes were a head tax paid by adult men. They are especially useful in tracing individuals who did not own anything.
In 1903, the Oregon legislature enacted a law establishing the Oregon State Board of Health. One of the duties of the Board was to keep the vital statistics for the State. The law also required the county boards of health to collect all vital statistics and to report them to the Oregon State Board of Health on a monthly basis. Blank record books were to be provided by the Oregon Secretary of State. However, the books were not ready until 1907. The impact of the delay meant that many counties did not start recording and reporting vital statistics until 1907 or later.
The County Clerk has jurisdiction over marriages, deeds, and voting records. Voter records contain, as a minimum, the elector's name and address. If he was a naturalized citizen, information about this is included. Other vital information is often present, including names of parents and spouse.
The WPA's Inventory of County Archives in Oregon provides genealogists with a list of records in the county courthouses in the late 1930s and early 1940s The volumes published were: Benton, Clatsop, Coos, Hood River, Josephine, Klamath, Linn, Morrow, Multnomah, Tillamook, Umatilla, Wasco, and Washington Counties.
Since the time of the inventory, records have been moved, court staff has changed, and the court system has been restructured. The Inventories are still helpful guides to what records should be available. They are a starting place for obtaining access to the 'lost' records. Copies of the Inventories are at the Oregon Historical Society and the Multnomah County Library in Portland, the Oregon State Archives and the Oregon State Library in Salem, the University of Oregon Library in Eugene, the Oregon State University Library in Corvallis, and the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.