Missouri Court Records
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Online Resources[edit | edit source]
- Missouri Digital Heritage Judicial Records Index and Images.
- Missouri Digital Heritage Supreme Court Historical Database Abstracts.
- Missouri, County Marriage, Naturalization, and Court Records, 1800-1991 at FamilySearch; index and images — How to Use this Collection
Introduction[edit | edit source]
Major Missouri courts that kept records of genealogical value include the following:
- Circuit courts are county-wide courts with jurisdiction over criminal and civil matters.
- Courts of common pleas were county-wide courts that existed in some counties before the 1880s. They had jurisdiction over minor civil and criminal matters.
- Magistrate courts have citywide jurisdiction over minor criminal offenses and some small claims.
Records[edit | edit source]
- National Archives—Central Plains Region (Kansas City, Missouri) has U.S. circuit and district court records dating from 1820.
- The Family History Library has a variety of statewide court records including those from the French and Spanish archives and also a digest of the decisions of the Supreme Court of Missouri. The may be accessed through the FamilySearch Catalog at Missouri Court records
- Missouri, County Marriage, Naturalization, and Court Records, 1800-1991 at FamilySearch; index and images — How to Use this Collection
The Family History Library has microfilmed many Missouri court records in each county. To access these records use the Place-names search function in the FamilySearch Catalog for:
- MISSOURI,[COUNTY] - COURT RECORDS
- For more information about federal court records, see William D. White, Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the United States Courts for the Western District of Missouri, (Kansas City, Missouri: Federal Records Center, 1969) FHL film 982261 item 21; book 977.8 A1 no. 85
Websites[edit | edit source]
- FamilySearch.org
- Missouri Digital Heritage Online: http://www.sos.mo.gov/mdh/
- Missouri State Archives: http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/resources