Iowa Biography

United States Iowa Iowa Biography

Biographies
Biographies provide useful genealogical information, such as an individual's birth date and place (including foreign birthplace, where applicable); names of family members; wife's maiden name; parents' names; occupation and education; and social, political, and religious affiliation. They may also contain a physical description, previous residences, and immigration information. Biographies are the product of family knowledge or previous research often compiled about the early settlers and prominent citizens of the state, county, or town. Many lesser-known individuals may have biographical sketches written about them, especially in local histories.


 * Ancestry’s Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources. Contains bibliographies and background information on history and ethnic groups. Also contains maps and tables showing when each county was created.


 * Iowa History Reference Guide. This bibliography includes sections about American Indians, immigration, land, government, courts, military, schools, churches, businesses, history, and biographies. It is arranged by subject and has an index.


 * Dawson, Patricia and David Hudson. Iowa History and Culture: A Bibliography of Materials Published Between 1952 and 1986. Ames, Iowa. State Historical Society of Iowa, 1986. . This book supplements the book mentioned above. For a supplement covering 1987–1991, see the Annals of Iowa (1993).

Pioneer Biographies
An index to over 44,000 early pioneers named in 120 Iowa county histories is:


 * Morford, Charles. Biographical Index to the County Histories of Iowa. Baltimore, Maryland: Gateway Press, 1979.

A similar index with about 8,000 names is:


 * Iowa Biography Index. Menlo, Iowa: State of Iowa Lending and Research Library, 1986.

The State Historical Society in Des Moines and the Family History Library have three important biography collections about Iowa residents:


 * Citizens Historical Association (Indianapolis, Indiana). Biographical Sketches of Iowans. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1976. . These sketches are alphabetical and were compiled between 1938 and the 1940s.
 * Iowa. State Department of History and Archives. Biographical Data Collection. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1978. . This collection consists of alphabetical personal-history surveys.
 * Iowa. State Department of History and Archives. Biography Files. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1978. . These files are alphabetized folders of newspaper clippings and correspondence.'

Two representative biographical encyclopedias are:


 * A Memorial and Biographical Record of Iowa. Two volumes. Reprint of 1896 edition, Marceline, Missouri: Walsworth Publishing Co., 1978.
 * Gue, Benjamin F., and Benjamin Franklin Shambaugh. Biographies and Portraits of the Progressive Men of Iowa: Leaders in Business, Politics and the Professions, Together with an Original and Authentic History of the State. Two volumes. Des Moines, Iowa: Conaway and Shaw, 1899.

The following gazetteer contains biographical information: Hair, James T., Iowa State Gazetteer. (Cited fully in Iowa Gazetteers.) See also United States Genealogy and United States History for helpful nationwide indexes such as:


 * Family Finder Index.
 * Biography and Genealogy Master Index (for prominent persons).

Family History Library
The Family History Library has many biographical publications and histories with biographical information. They are generally listed in the the Place Search feature on catalog drop down menu of the Family History Library Catalog to find more records under:


 * IOWA - BIOGRAPHY
 * IOWA, [COUNTY] - BIOGRAPHY
 * IOWA, [COUNTY] - HISTORY

Online Resources

 * Iowa History Special Project - Their mission is to "To place on-line as many out of copyright publications pertaining to all areas of Iowa history." This includes biographical sketches found in many publications.
 * Iowa Biographies Project
 * Iowa Biographies
 * Iowa Biographies (1500 as of Oct 2008)