Iowa Mortality Schedules - Inventory

Iowa Mortality Schedules Coverage Table Description
Iowa’s first two counties, Demoine and DuBuque, were formed while Iowa was still part of Michigan Territory in 1834. New counties were by legislation as population warranted. Counties were first formed along the Mississippi River with the territory to the west of each county under the jurisdiction of the eastern county until an area gained enough population to form a county. Early counties were large and established to maintain law and order. These boundaries were not intended to be permanent. When Iowa became a state there were 33 counties, over time there have been as many as 100 counties. Some counties disappeared altogether and others were absorbed into other counties. Today there are 99 counties. Because shifting boundaries not all cities reside in the county of the same name. The coverage table Iowa Mortality Schedules (below) lists all the counties in Iowa that have images in this collection. Then under each DGS number across from the corresponding county are the image numbers. The NARA film roll number that corresponds with the DGS are as follows: