Jefferson County, Oregon Genealogy

United States

Oregon

Jefferson County

Guide to Jefferson County, Oregon ancestry, family history, and genealogy birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

Oregon Online Genealogy Records

Jefferson County, Oregon
Map
Location in the state of Oregon, United States Genealogy
Location of Oregon in the U.S.
Facts
Founded	December 12, 1914
County Seat	Madras
Courthouse
Address	Jefferson County Courthouse 75 SE C Street Madras, Or 97741-1709 Phone: 541-475-4451 Jefferson County Website

County Information

Description

The County was named for Mount Jefferson. The County is located in the north central area of the state.

Jefferson County, Oregon Record Dates

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1886	1882	1886	1914	1914	1914	1845
*Statewide registration for births and deaths in 1903. General compliance year unknown.

County Courthouse

County Clerk has marriage, divorce, probate and land records from 1914.

Jefferson County Government

County Records Inventory listing the records held at the Jefferson County Court House as of July 2011.

Jefferson County Court is structured differently. Check the County Records Inventory link for addresses for location of records (left column).

Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs maintain separate government.

• Culver was the county seat 1914 to 1916

• Record Loss:

Historical Facts

Named for Mount Jefferson, located on west boundary. It was named in turn for Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States of America by Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Trivia Tidbits: Little biographic bits associated with the names of non-population localities.

Parent County

12 Decembr 1914: Created from Crook County.

Boundary Changes

For animated maps illustrating Oregon County boundary changes, "Rotating Formation Oregon County Boundary Maps" (1843-1975) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Record Loss

There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

Places / Localities

Populated Places

The following are locations in the county:

For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit HomeTown Locator

Cities
Culver	Madras	Metolius
Unincorporated communities
Crooked River Ranch Donnybrook Gateway	Geneva Grandview Grizzly	Opal City Willowdale
Native American communities
Warm Springs
Census-designated places
Camp Sherman	Warm Springs
Ghost towns
Ashwood	Horse Heaven

Trivia Tidbits

Information about localities, too small or too brief to describe in separate pages. Exception to this are Post Offices. > Trivia Tidbits

Indian Reservation

Warm Springs (Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs)

Neighboring Counties

Crook | Deschutes | Linn | Marion | Wasco | Wheeler

Resources

Cemeteries

Tombstone Transcriptions Online	Tombstone Transcriptions in Print	List of Cemeteries in the county
Findagrave.com	Family History Library	Findagrave.com
ORGenWeb Archives	WorldCat	Billion Graves
ORGenWeb		FamilySearch Places
Tombstone Project
Billion Graves
See Oregon Cemeteries for more information.

• Oregon Metro
• Oregon Genealogy Cemeteries

Census

Historical populations
Census	Pop.	%±
1920	3,211	—
1930	2,291	−28.7%
1940	2,042	−10.9%
1950	5,536	171.1%
1960	7,130	28.8%
1970	8,548	19.9%
1980	11,599	35.7%
1990	13,676	17.9%
2000	19,009	39.0%
2010	21,720	14.3%
Source: "Wikipedia.org".

Church History and Records

List of Churches and Church Parishes

• FamilySearch Places
  

Gazetteers

• FamilySearch Places: Map of cities and towns in this county - How to Use FS Places

Maps

• FamilySearch Places: Map of cities and towns in this county - How to Use FS Places

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

Military History and Records

Civil War

• 1861-1865 Oregon, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 at FamilySearch — index

World War I

• 1919-1920 Oregon, World War I, County Military Service Records, 1919-1920 at FamilySearch — index
• 1921-1938 Oregon, World War I, Veteran State Aid Applications, 1921-1938 at FamilySearch — index and images

Probate Records

Online Records

• 1833 – 1963 Oregon Wills and Probate Records 1833-1963 at Ancestry.com — index and images $

Rivers and Waterways

Details about the rivers and waterways where farms and settlements are often found along them. >> Rivers and Waterways

Vital Records

See also How to order Oregon Vital Records, order electronically online or download an application for Oregon Birth Certificate, Marriage Certificate, Divorce Certificate, Death Certificate Application to mail.

Birth Records

• 1842-1917 Oregon, Oregon State Archives, Births, 1842-1917 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images (*); Also at: Ancestry
• 1860 - 1952 Oregon Births, 1860-1952 at FamilySearch — index

Delayed Birth Certificates

Birth Registers

Marriage Records

• 1826-1975 - Oregon, United States Marriages at Findmypast — index $
• 1842-1917 Oregon, U.S., State Births, 1842-1917 at Ancestry - index and images ($); Also at: FamilySearch
• 1849-1884; 1991-2006 Oregon Marriage Index, 1849-1884; 1991-2006 at FamilySearch — index and images; collection is incomplete.
• 1906-1968 Oregon, U.S., State Marriages, 1906-1968 at Ancestry - index and images ($)
• Extractions of early marriages are listed on the Western States Marriage Index
• Marriage Index 1885-1896 Actually is a book of affiants reporting the marriages. Historical Records Collection

Societies, Libraries and Museums

Jefferson County Historical Society
PO Box 647
34 SE "D" St
Madras, OR 97741
Telephone: 541-475-5390
Website
Facebook Page

Jeffferson County Library District
241 SE 7th St
Madras, OR 97741
541-475-3351
Website
Facebook Page

Jefferson Historical Society & Museum
107 N Main St
Jefferson, Oregon 97352
541-327-7996
E-mail: museum4jeff@gmail.com
Facebook Page

Family History Centers

Family History Center and Affiliate Library Locator map - search for local Family History Centers or Affiliate Libraries

• Family History Centers provide one-on-one assistance, free access to center-only databases, and to premium genealogical websites.
• FamilySearch Affiliate Libraries have access to most center-only databases, but may not always have full services normally provided by a family history center.
  

Local Centers and Affiliate Libraries

• Bend Oregon Family History Center
• Prineville Oregon Family History Center
• Redmond Oregon Family History Center

• The Genealogical Forum of Oregon - an affiliate library
• Oregon Genealogical Society - an affiliate library

Websites

• Jefferson County, OR History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
• Oregon Genealogy Network Group on Facebook
• The Jefferson County GenWeb Project part of The ORGenWeb Project
• Linkpendium
• The USGenWeb Archives Project
• The USGenWeb Archives Project (Backup site)
• FamilySearch.org

Due to contractual agreements, some images and/or databases on FamilySearch.org may only be viewed at a Family History Center or FamilySearch Affiliate Library.

This website requires a paid subscription for full access.

FamilySearch affiliate libraries may have access to center-only databases, but do not always have all services normally provided by a family history center.