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United States Iowa Pottawattamie County

Guide to Pottawattamie County Iowa genealogy. Birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

	Iowa Online Records

Pottawattamie County, Iowa
Map
Location in the state of Iowa
Location of Iowa in the U.S.
Facts
Founded	September 21, 1848
County Seat	Council Bluffs
Courthouse

County Courthouse

History

Parent County

1848--Pottawattamie County was created 21 September 1848 from unorganized territory. County seat: Founded as Kanesville; renamed Council Bluffs 19 January 1953. ^{[1] [2]}

Boundary Changes

Apparently the new county, covering over 5,000 sq. miles, once included nearly all of Iowa's Missouri River drainage between the southern halves of what are now Monona and Crawford Counties and the northern edge of Fremont, Page, Taylor, and Ringgold Counties. The following counties were completely formed from within this expanse: Harrison, Shelby, Cass, Mills, Montgomery, and Adams; most of Audubon, along with portions of Union, Adair, Guthrie, Carroll, Crawford, and Monona Counties were also part of Pottawattamie County until 1851.^[3][4] However, the area near Mt. Pisgah was never in Pottawattamie County. Iowa's legislature gave the eastern half of today's Union County to Clarke County in 1846, then shrank both Clarke and neighboring Lucas County in 1847 (before either county became functional). As a result, the Mt. Pisgah community and cemetery were in a non-county area until Union County was formed in 1851 and organized in 1853.^[5]

Record Loss

Places/Localities

Populated Places

Neighboring Counties

Cass | Harrison | Mills | Montgomery | Shelby | Douglas County, Nebraska | Sarpy County, Nebraska

Resources

Cemeteries

Cemeteries, grouped by search site.  Information on search sites may vary from site to site, but usually at least has the name, most will have dates, and some will include epitaphs and other information.  Some include photos, some do not.  Indexing of headstone data and locations will also vary, completeness of coverage of any particular cemetery may also vary.

BillionGraves.com. 

• Bikhor Cholim (cemetery), Kane, Iowa
• Cedar Lawn Cemetery, Garner, Iowa
• Crescent Cemetery, Crescent
• Fairview Cemetery, Council Bluffs
• Fisher Cemetery, Underwood
• Flint Cemetery, Griswold
• Grange Cemetery, Honey Creek
• Green Valley Cemetery, Countil Bluffs
• Hardin Township Cemetery, McLelland, Iowa
• Memorial Park Cemetery, Council Bluffs
• Ridgewood Cemetery, Council Bluffs
• Silver Valley Cemetery, Hancock, Iowa
• St. Joseph Cemetery, Council Bluffs, Iowa
• St. Paul's Lutheran Cemetery, Neola, Iowa
• Treynor Zion Congregational Cemetery, Treynor, Iowa
• Walnut Hill Cenetery, Council Bluffs, Iowa
• Weston Saint Columbanus Catholic Cemetery, Underwood
• Wheeler Grove Cemetery, Carson Iowa

Findagrave:

Interment.net:

Church

Most church records are held by individual churches. For contact information, check a phone directory, such as SearchBug or Dex Knows. Some denominations are gathering their records into a central repository. For more information about these major repositories, see Iowa Church Records.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

LDS Ward and Branch Records

• Council Bluffs
• Council Bluffs Dist
• Council Point
• Lake
• Pottawatomie
• Shirtses
• Union

Lutheran

Council Bluffs

• Records of the American Lutheran Church, Council Bluffs, in Evangelical Lutheran Church in America database at Archives.com ($).

St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Neola

• Records of the St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Neola, in Evangelical Lutheran Church in America database at Archives.com ($).

Underwood

• Records of the American Lutheran Church, Underwood, in Evangelical Lutheran Church in America database at Archives.com ($).

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 Iowa Land and Property for additional information about early Iowa land grants. After land was transferred to private ownership, subsequent transactions were usually recorded at the county courthouse, where records are currently housed.

Local Histories 

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

Maps

Migration

Early migration routes to and from Pottawattamie County, Iowa for European and African American settlers included:

• Missouri River
• Oregon Trail 1830s to 1890s from western Missouri to Oregon City, Oregon^[6]
• California Trail 1846 to 1869 from western Missouri to northern California^[7]
• Mormon Trail 1846 to 1869 from Nauvoo, Illinois to Salt Lake City, Utah^[8]

Military

Newspapers

Probate

In most counties in Iowa, probate records have been kept by the county judge. They include wills, fee books, claim registers, legacy records, inheritance records, probate ticklers, and dockets. The records are available at the county courthouse.

The Family History Library Catalog lists films of probate records. To find the records for this county, use the Place Search for Iowa - Pottawattamie - Probate records.

Taxation

Vital Records 

Vital Records consist of births, adoptions, marriages, divorces, and deaths recorded on registers, certificates, and documents. A copy or an extract of most original records can be purchased from the Iowa Department of Public Health or the County Clerk's office of the county where the event occurred.

Societies and Libraries

• Pottawattamie County Genealogical Society Library: This Library is down the street from the Council Bluffs Public Library. Among other things, they have an obituary index for the local papers. You can contact them via their Email address which is given on their webpage.

Family History Centers

• Cedar Rapids Iowa Family History Center
• Council Bluff Iowa Family History Center

Web Sites

• Pottawattamie County Genealogical Society
• Pottawattamie County -- USGenWeb
• Mormon Pioneer Trail -- Council Bluffs
• Family History Library Catalog
• Mormon Pioneer Companies
• Pottawattamie County, Iowa Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)

References

1. ↑ The Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America,10th ed. (Draper, UT:Everton Publishers, 2002).
2. ↑ Pottawattamie County Genealogical Society files: "Important Dates in Council Bluffs History" (transcribed by Rootsweb). Online at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~iapcgs/CBimportantdates.html
3. ↑ FamilyHistory101.com: "Iowa County Formation Maps"; interactive map of county formation and organization (select 1848). Online at http://www.familyhistory101.com/maps/ia_cf.html
4. ↑ Geology.com: "Iowa State Map Collection" (includes rivers map with current county lines overlaid). Online at http://geology.com/state-map/iowa.shtml
5. ↑ FamilyHistory101.com: "Iowa County Formation Maps"; interactive map of county formation and organization (select 1851). Online at http://www.familyhistory101.com/maps/ia_cf.html
6. ↑ Jim Tompkins, "The Oregon Trail 1841-1848 Map I" in Oregon Trail Landmarks at http://www.oregonpioneers.com/OTMap1.jpg (accessed 18 July 2011).
7. ↑ "Oregon California Trails Association" at http://octatrails.micromaps.com/ (accessed 18 July 2011).
8. ↑ "The Pioneer Story: The Mormon Pioneer Trail" in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at http://lds.org/gospellibrary/pioneer/pioneerstory.htm (accessed 18 July 2011).

• This page was last modified on 17 June 2013, at 15:28.
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