Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri Genealogical Records Information

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Ste. Genevieve County History and Information

Ste. Genevieve County Facts

Ste. Genevieve County was organized October 1, 1812, as one of the five original counties and named for the French saint, patroness of Paris. The County Seat is Sainte Genevieve. See also County History or Courthouse History for more historical details.

Ste. Genevieve County has records of genealogical interest available: Recorder of Deeds: Index to deeds, 1804-1896; Deed records, 1804-1902; Index to marriage records, (no dates); Marriage records, 1807-1929; Index to miscellaneous records, 1761-1854; Miscellaneous records (Concessions, Contracts, Deeds and Slave Deeds), 1761-1837. Court of Common Pleas: Record of common pleas, 1804-1819. Clerk of the County Court: Register of births and stillbirths, 1883-1892; Permanent record of births, 1883-1892; Register of deaths, 1883-1892; Permanent record of deaths, 1883-1892. Clerk of the Circuit Court: Index to circuit court records, 1819-1902; Circuit court records, 1819-1893; Naturalization records, 1888-1930. Clerk of the Probate Court: Index to probate records, 1807-1917; Probate records, 1828-1886; Index to administrator’s/executor’s letters, bonds and records, 1807-1917; Administrator’s/executor’s letters, bonds and records, 1879-1915; Index to will records, 1807-1917; Will records, 1807-1917. The Health Department has Birth & Death Records from 1910-Present. See Court Records for more details on whats available from the courthouse.

Counties adjacent to Ste. Genevieve County are Jefferson County (northwest), Monroe County, Illinois (northeast), Randolph County, Illinois (east), Perry County (southeast), St. Francois County (southwest). Cities and Towns include Bloomsdale, Clearwater, Coffman, New Offenburg, River aux Vases, Rocky Ridge, St. Mary, Ste. Genevieve, Weingarten, Womack

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There are free downloadable and printable forms to help with your research. These include U.S. Census Extraction Forms, U.K. Census Extraction Forms, Research Calendar, Ancestral Chart, Research Extract, Correspondence Record , Family Group Sheet , Source Summary Form.

Ste. Genevieve County Court Records

See Also Missouri Land Records, Marriage Records, Court & Probate Records

PLEASE READ!! Please call the clerk's department to confirm hours, mailing address, fees and other specifics before visiting or requesting information because of sometimes changing contact information.

All Departments below are in the Ste. Genevieve County Courthouse located at 55 S. 3rd St., Rm. 3, Sainte Genevieve, MO 63670; Telephone: (573) 883-2706 , unless otherwise noted below. The Official County website is located at ? . See also Courthouse History. NOTE: The record dates below are from the earliest date to present time.

Ste. Genevieve County Clerk of the Court has Birth & Death Records from 1883-92.
In this office in each county is located an index to common pleas, records of all extant proceedings, chancery minute books, records of births and deaths, county court records, right-of-way and road records, as well as surveyor's records (including field notes and plats made by the county surveyor). This office usually holds the county treasurer's notes, bonds and commissions, records of marks and brands, wolf scalps, stray notices, real estate assessments, and tax books. In some counties, early terms for this court included “Chancery” or the “Court of Common Pleas.”

Ste. Genevieve Register of Deeds / Recorder has Marriage Records from 1807 and Land Records from 1804.
The Office of Recorder of Deeds records and files instruments of writing affecting real property or personal property, subdivision plats, federal and state tax liens, and other instruments of writing. Also, the Recorder’s Office issues marriage licenses, and in accordance with the Uniform Commercial Code files termination statements. All recorded instruments are available for public research.

Ste. Genevieve County Probate Court Clerk has Probate Records from 1807 .
In the smaller counties, probate matters are handled in the same office as the associate circuit court office. (In larger counties, there will be a separate probate court clerk's office and separate probate judges/commissioners).

Ste. Genevieve County Circuit Court Clerk has Court Records from 1804.
This office holds the direct index to records such as divorces, debt, dissolution of partnerships, adoptions, judgment, and tax fee books including direct and indirect indexes. They also retain the index to criminal records and criminal files of the circuit court. Adoptions are under the jurisdiction of the circuit court. Naturalization records, including petitions, declarations of intention, certificates, and certificates of allegiance, and granting of citizenship are also located in the clerk's office, as well as an index to civil case files. Some naturalization records have been found with the deeds.

There are a few online databases for Court, Land and Probate Records which include:Missouri Marriages, 1766-1983, Missouri Marriages to 1850, Missouri Marriages, 1851-1900. You may also search the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) or Land Patents: 1831 - 1969. Many pioneers and settelers bought land from the government instead of individuals.

Click Here to Search Missouri Court, Land, Wills & Financial Records! - Researchers often overlook the importance of court records, probate records, and land records as a source of family history information.

Below is a list of online resources for Ste. Genevieve County Court Records. Email us with websites containing Ste. Genevieve County Court Records by clicking the link below:

Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri Court Books at Amazon.com
Missouri Immigration & Emigration Records - Immigration records help the family historian to understand the movements of their ancestry as they relocated to different parts of the world.

Ste. Genevieve County Vital Records

See Also Research In Tax Records

The Missouri Historical Society has some original tax records; others can be found in the Western Historical Manuscript Collection at the University of Missouri, but most extant records remain in the office of the clerk of the county court. The Missouri State Archives has microfilmed some tax records for the counties of Boone, Callaway, Cape Girardeau, Chariton, Clay, Cooper, Franklin, Howard, Marion, Monroe, Montgomery, St. Charles, St. Francois, and Ste. Genevieve.

Prior to 1850, purchasers of the federal lands in Missouri were exempt from land taxes for five years after purchase. If one finds an ancestor on a Missouri tax list with livestock, etc., but no land being taxed, the individual may have purchased his land from the government within the preceding five years.
Some early delinquent tax lists were sent to the state auditor's office and are now located in the Capitol Fire Documents held by the Missouri State Archives

Below is a list of online resources for Ste. Genevieve County Tax Records. Email us with websites containing Ste. Genevieve County Tax Records by clicking the link below:

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Ste. Genevieve County Genealogical Addresses

See Also Other Missouri Genealogical Addresses

The Repositories in this section are Archives, Libraries, Museums, Genealogical and Historical Societies. Many County Historical and Genealogical Societies publish magazines and/or news letters on a monthly, quarterly, bi-annual or annual basis. Contacting the local societies should not be over looked. State Archives and Societies are usually much larger and better organized with much larger archived materials than their smaller county cousins but they can be more generalized and over look the smaller details that local societies tend to have. Libraries can also be a good place to look for local information. Some libraries have a genealogy section and may have some resources that are not located at archives or societies. Also, take a special look at any museums in the area. They sometimes have photos and items from years gone by as well as information of a genealogical interest. All these places are vitally important to the family genealogist and must not be passed over.

Below is a list of online resources for Ste. Genevieve County Genealogical Addresses. Email us with websites containing Ste. Genevieve County Genealogical Addresses by clicking the link below:

Ste. Genevieve Historical/Genealogical Society, 255 Market Street, Ste. Genevieve, MO 63670
Ste. Genevieve Museum, Merchant and Dubourg, Ste. Genevieve, MO 63670; Phone: (573) 883-3881
Foundation for Restoration of Ste. Genevieve, P.O. Box 88, 198 South Second, Ste. Genevieve, MO 63670; Phone: (573) 883-9622
Local Missouri Researchers, Find a local researcher or become a local researcher.
Missouri State Archives, Missouri State Information Center, [EMAIL]
P.O. Box 1747, 600 West Main Str, Jefferson City, MO 65102; Phone:(573) 751-3280, Fax: (573) 526-7333
State Historical Society of Missouri, 1020 Lowry Str., Columbia, MO 65201-7298; (573) 882-7083, [EMAIL]
Missouri State Genealogical Association, P.O. Box 833, Columbia, MO 65205-0833
Missouri Newspapers & Periodicals Records - Newspapers and periodicals are the diaries of local communities. They are excellent sources of family history details - often recorded nowhere else. Look for obituaries, marriages, legal notices, and more found in our Historical Newspaper Archives.
See the Society page for more statewide Societies and archives
Missouri Genealogical Society Books at Amazon.com

Ste. Genevieve County Church & Cemeteries

Click Here to Search Missouri Obituary Records! - This database is a compilation of obituaries published in U.S. newspapers, collected from various online sources. Obituaries can vary in the amount of information they contain, but many of them are genealogical goldmines, including information such as names, dates, places of birth and death, marriage information, and family relationships.

There are many churches and cemeteries in Ste. Genevieve County. Some transcriptions are online. A great site is the Ste. Genevieve County Tombstone Transcription Project.

The Missouri State Archives has published A Brief Guide to Church Records on Microfilm which is a county by county listing, but it is currently out of print. The available church records can be located by using the Archives' Manuscript Register. Church microfilm rolls are not available for purchase, without written consent of the individual church, and must otherwise be used at the Missouri State Archives. The Western Historical Manuscript Collection on the University of Missouri-Columbia campus holds some church records. These can be located by using their descriptive catalogue or microfiche guide. Most church records in Missouri are scattered and remain in private hands

There is no central registry for cemeteries located in Missouri. The following national cemeteries are located in Missouri:

Springfield National Cemetery, 1702 E. Seminole Street, Springfield, Missouri 65804. All known soldiers buried there, including those transferred from towns throughout southwest Missouri were published in Ozar'kin
Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, 101 Memorial Drive, St. Louis, Missouri 63125. There is a card file reference to persons interred there. Inquiries may be made by phone or mail.
Jefferson City National Cemetery, 1024 E. McCarty Street, Jefferson City, Missouri 65101. The researcher may phone or write the Jefferson Barracks for information.

Below is a list of online resources for Ste. Genevieve County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing Ste. Genevieve County Cemetery & Church Records by clicking the link below:

Missouri Bible Records, Volume 1: The database is the first volume in a series of Bible records that includes such information as births, marriages, probate information, and deaths of individuals who settled in Missouri.
Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri Cemetery Books at Amazon.com
Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri Church Books at Amazon.com

Family Trees & Genealogy Tidbits

Click Here to Search Missouri Family Tree Records! - The use of published genealogies, electronic files containing genealogical lineage, and other compiled sources can be of tremendous value to a researcher.

When view family trees online or not, be sure to only take the info at face value and always follow up with your own sources or verify the ones they provide. Below is a list of online resources for Ste. Genevieve County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information. Email us with websites containing Ste. Genevieve County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information by clicking the link below:

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County History

Courthouse History
Early courts in Ste. Genevieve County met in homes. A tax levy in 1821 enabled construction on the first courthouse to begin. During 1821-22, while construction was underway, courts continued meeting in the home of Henry Dodge, who was commissioner of the courthouse. The county paid more than $1,000 to contractors Loper and McCullough in February 1823, but so many entries in available records relate to construction costs, it is difficult to determine the actual final cost. Interior finishing continued into 1826.

Surprisingly, no known photographs exist, although the building stood until the 1880s. A few references in the County Court records and descriptions of authorized repairs indicate it was a two-story, brick building with the courtroom on the first floor and three rooms and a gallery upstairs. The cupola had glass windows and was topped by a gilded ball and weathervane. Shutters and blinds were green; trim was white. The plan proved to be inconvenient, however, and interior remodeling changed the room and stair arrangement during 1853 and again in 1855.

Military personnel occupied the building during the Civil War. After the war, in 1865, the court appropriated more than $1,500 for repairs. In July 1843 the court appropriated funds to build an 18-by-23-foot clerk's office. The county Court Record provides a careful description of the building and indicates the site was to be aligned with the front of the courthouse, but 30 feet to the north. The court later rescinded the order.

After 32 years the plan revived. Construction of the fireproof clerk's office began in 1875 on the northeast corner of the square facing Merchant Street and aligned with the courthouse, near the originally proposed site. At the same time, the county built a jail on the southeast corner of the square.

The court had appropriated $5,000 for the jail January 28, 1875, and accepted the proposal of John S. Whitlock, a local builder-architect, paying him $125 for the plans and specifications. Whitlock acted as superintendent for both the jail and clerk's office. Peter J. Pauley and Bros. contracted for the jail construction.

In April 1875 the court appropriated $2,500 for the clerk's office. About a month later Joseph B. Jennings contracted a low bid of $2,500 for the fireproof clerk's building. Plans for both buildings originally called for brick trim, but in May 1875 white sandstone quoins (dressed stones at the corners of a building) and door and window moldings were substituted.

The court received the jail September 23, 1875; on November 25 two county officials moved into the new fireproof building. Both the jail and the clerk's office still stand flanking the courthouse, but are now used for different purposes.

In May 1884 a grand jury found the courthouse, built in the 1820s, dilapidated. After involved planning and legal maneuvering, the court started building a new courthouse in 1885 under the deliberately misleading designation of "repairing." In March 1885 the court accepted a design from Jerome B. Legg, requesting plans and specifications before April 1, 1885. The court appropriated $5,884.60 on May 16 for building costs. Legg supervised construction of the 36-by-48-foot brick building with Ste. Genevieve sandstone trim, built in part on foundations of the previous courthouse. Albert A. Boyer contracted the building. Final costs reached almost $8,000 by the time the building was completed in the fall of 1886.

Originally, five offices and a hall occupied the first floor, and a 40-foot-square courtroom occupied the second floor with an 11-by-16-foot jury room in the north corner. This courthouse is very similar to the one Legg designed for St. Francois County at the same time.

In 1915 the McCarthy Construction Co., built a rear extension planned by architect Robert G. Kirsch. The court appropriated $11,000 in November 1914 for the addition to the courthouse that still houses Ste. Genevieve County offices.

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