Union County, Oregon Genealogy

United States

Oregon

Union County

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

Oregon Online Genealogy Records

Union County, Oregon
Map
Location in the state of Oregon, United States Genealogy
Location of Oregon in the U.S.
Facts
Founded	October 14, 1864
County Seat	LaGrande
Courthouse
Address	Union County Courthouse 1106 K Avenue LaGrande, Or 97850 Phone: 541-963-1006 Union County Website

County Information

Description

The County was named for the town of Union. The County is located in the northeast area of the state.

Union County, Oregon Record Dates

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1905	1864	1905	1854	1864	1854	1845
*Statewide registration for births and deaths in 1903. General compliance year unknown.

County Courthouse

County Clerk has marriage and land records from 1875,
and naturalization records 1900-1975.
Clerk Circuit Court has divorce, probate and court records from 1854.

Union County Government

County Records Inventory listing the records held at the Union County Court House as of August 2018.

Union County Court is structured differently. Check the County Records Inventory link for addresses for location of records (left column).

Union was the former county seat until after 1 February 1901.

Historical Facts

14 October 1864: Union county was created from Baker County.

Named for the city of Union which is located within the boundaries, a county seat at the time of the creation of the county.

• Records Held at the Courthouse

County Records Inventory listing the records held at the Union County Court House as of October 2005.

Record Loss

There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

Boundary Changes

11 February 1887: Wallowa County was set off.

1 February 1901: Southeast portion of Union known as the Panhandle was annexed to Baker County by the order of the State Legislature.

For animated maps illustrating Oregon County boundary changes, "Rotating Formation Oregon County Boundary Maps" (1843-1975) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Places / Localities

Populated Places

For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit HomeTown Locator.

The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:

Cities
Cove Elgin Imbler	Island City La Grande North Powder	Summerville Union
Unincorporated communities
Alicel Camp Elkanah Hilgard Hot Lake	Kamela Medical Springs Orodell Perry	Pondosa Starkey Telocaset
Native American communities
Umatilla
Ghost towns
Nibley

Defunct Post Offices

• Alicel: Alicel is a station on the Joseph branch of the Union Pacific Railroad. It is reported when this branch line was built about 1890, Charles Ladd, a local resident, had the station named for his wife, Alcie Ladd. After the death of Mr. Ladd his widow married a Mr. Tucker and subsequently lived in Seattle. Alicel is located in the Grande Ronde Valley. Had a post office from 1890 until 1972. Alicel was platted in 1890.

Trivia Tidbits

Information about localities, too small or too brief to describe in separate pages. Exception to this are Post Offices. > Trivia Tidbits

Resources

Cemeteries

Tombstone Transcriptions Online	Tombstone Transcriptions in Print	List of Cemeteries in the county
Findagrave.com	Family History Library	Findagrave.com
ORGenWeb	WorldCat	Billion Graves
ORGenWeb Archives		FamilySearch Places
Tombstone Project
ORInterment
ORGravestones
Billion Graves
See Oregon Cemeteries for more information.

United States, Cemetery Abstracts, 1949-1969
Vol. 21 page 177 - Lower Cove Cemetery, Alical

• Oregon Metro
• Oregon Genealogy Cemeteries

Census

Historical populations
Census	Pop.	%±
1870	2,552	—
1880	6,550	156.7%
1890	12,044	83.9%
1900	16,070	33.4%
1910	16,191	0.8%
1920	16,636	2.7%
1930	17,492	5.1%
1940	17,399	−0.5%
1950	17,962	3.2%
1960	18,180	1.2%
1970	19,377	6.6%
1980	23,921	23.5%
1990	23,598	−1.4%
2000	24,530	3.9%
2010	25,748	5.0%
Source: "Wikipedia.org".

Church History and Records

List of Churches and Church Parishes

• FamilySearch Places
  

Maps

• FamilySearch Places:Cities and Towns- How to Use FS Places

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

Migration

Early migration routes to and from Union County, Oregon Genealogy for European and African American settlers included:

• Oregon Trail 1830s to 1890s from western Missouri to Oregon City, Oregon

Military

Civil War

• 1861-1865 - Oregon, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 at FamilySearch — index

World War I

• 1919-1920 - Oregon, World War I, County Military Service Records, 1919-1920 at FamilySearch — index
• 1921-1938 - Oregon, World War I, Veteran State Aid Applications, 1921-1938 at FamilySearch — index and images

Newspapers

Oregon Online Historical Newspapers - identifies historical archived and digitized newspapers available online on both free and pay-to-access websites.

Probate Records

Online Records

• 1833 – 1963 Oregon Wills and Probate Records 1833-1963 at Ancestry.com — index and images $

Rivers and Waterways

Details about the rivers and waterways where farms and settlements are often found along them. Rivers and Waterways

Vital Records

Many early marriages are listed on the Western States Marriage Index.

See also How to order Oregon Vital Records, order electronically online or download an application for Oregon Birth Certificate, Marriage Certificate, Divorce Certificate, Death Certificate Application to mail.

Birth Records

• 1860 - 1952 - Oregon Births, 1860-1952 at FamilySearch — index

Delayed Birth Certificates

Birth Registers

Marriage Records

1. 1826-1975 - Oregon, United States Marriages at FindMyPast — index $
2. 1849-1884; 1991-2006 - Oregon Marriage Index, 1849-1884; 1991-2006 at FamilySearch — index and images; collection is incomplete.
3. Extractions of early marriages are listed on the Western States Marriage Index
4. Marriage Index 1885-1896 Actually is a book of affiants reporting the marriages. Historical Records Collection

Societies, Libraries and Museums

Union County Historical Society
333 S Main St
Union 97883
Website
Facebook Page

Cook Memorial Library
2006 Fourth St
La Grande, OR 97850
541-962-1339
Website
Facebook Page

Family History Centers

Family History Centers provide one-on-one assistance, free access to center-only databases, and to premium genealogical websites.
FamilySearch Affiliate Libraries have access to most center-only databases, but may not always have full services normally provided by a family history center.

• Family History Center and Affiliate Library Locator

Local Centers and Affiliate Libraries

• Elgin Oregon Family History Center
• La Grande Oregon Family History Center

Websites

• Union County, OR History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
• Oregon Genealogy Network Group on Facebook
• The Union County GenWeb Project, part of The ORGenWeb Project
• Linkpendium
• USGenWeb Archives
• USGenWeb Archives backup site
• FamilySearch FamilySearch Catalog