Dickinson County, Iowa Genealogy

United States Iowa  Dickinson County

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

County Courthouse
Dickinson County Courthouse 1802 Hill Ave Spirit Lake, IA 51360

(712) 336-1495

Dickinson County

Parent County
1851--Dickinson County was created 15 January 1851 from unorganized territory. It was attached to Woodbury County prior to organization 3 August 1857. County seat:  Spirit Lake

Boundary Changes
For animated maps illustrating Iowa County boundary changes, "Rotating Formation Iowa County Boundary Maps" (1816-1872) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Record Loss
November 1871 -- Courthouse burned and many records were damaged. For a list of record loss in Iowa Counties see: Iowa Counties with Burned Courthouses

For further information on researching in burned counties, see the following:


 * Burned Counties Research in FamilySearch Wiki
 * Michael John Neill, Burned Counties in Family History Circle

Places/Localities
Town/city records in the FamilySearch Catalog

Neighboring Counties
Clay • Emmet • O'Brien • Osceola • Palo Alto • Jackson County, Minnesota

Cemeteries
Cemeteries, IAGenWeb Dickinson County, Iowa

The Spirit Lake Public Library website has very through listings of cemetery burials in Dickinson county. On the main page of their website you can click the Do Research tab, and then select Local Cemetery Listings.

The diect link to that is www.spiritlake.lib.ia.us/do-research/cemeteryrecords

Census
Iowa recorded not only the federal census but state census through out the years too. The state census contains very valuable genealogical information. Where the census information can be found, what years it was taken, mortality schedules, census substitutions and much more is discussed in the very informative Iowa Census article.

Local Histories

 * Smith, R. A. A history of Dickinson County, Iowa : together with an account of the Spirit Lake massacre, and the indian troubles on the northwestern frontier. Des Moines [Iowa] : Kenyon Print. & Mfg., 1902.
 * Online at FamilySearch (Free)
 * Wright, Henrietta Comstock. The lake region blue book and club directory of Spirit Lake and vicinity. [Spirit Lake? La. : s.n.], 1906.
 * Online at FamilySearch (Free)
 * Minnewaukon (Spirit Lake) and its legend : or an illustrated story of Okoboji and Spirit Lakes. [Des Moines : The Kenyon Company, 1910].
 * Online at FamilySearch (Free)
 * Green, H. O. Terrace Park [on Lake Okoboji]. [S.l. : s.n,] 1905.
 * Online at FamilySearch (Free)
 *  History of Emmet County and Dickinson County, Iowa : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement.. Chicago, Ill.: Pioneer Pub. Co., 1917. Online at: Ancestry.com ($)

Maps

 * Old Antique Atlases & Maps of Iowa

Newspapers
NewspaperArchive.com ($) has a large collection of digitized Iowa newspapers online. This database is sometimes free at libraries.

Ancestry.com has most of the Spirit Lake Beacon from 1870 to 1977 in searchable form. From ancestry's home page, select Card Catalog under the Search tab. Search for Spirit Lake and select the Spirit Lake Beacon on the right. If the name you are searching for is common, use the keyword field and type the name in quotation marks like this: "John Sears." You will have to do an additional search for names with initials such as "John C. Sears" but that's still easier than reading all the ads for Sears stores, or whatever your name might be confused with.

Vital Records
Iowa began keeping vital records in 1880. Look in the Library catalog to find what is available for Dickinson county.

Societies and Libraries
See also a List of Iowa Archives, Libraries, Publications, Historical & Genealogical Societies

The Spirit Lake public library has helpfully published local cemetery records on http://www.spiritlakepubliclibrary.org/ On the library's home page, select the Cemetery Records tab. If you don't know which of the 16 cemetery records to search, then use the Merged Records option. It is slower, but it has everyone.