Missouri Court Records

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U.S. Court Records

Missouri

Court Records

Online Resources

• 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

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

• 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

• FamilySearch.org
• Missouri Digital Heritage Online: http://www.sos.mo.gov/mdh/
• Missouri State Archives: http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/resources