Iron County, Missouri Genealogy

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

County Courthouse
County Clerk has birth records 1883-1885, marriage, divorce, probate and land records.

History
The unusual shape of Iron County, Missouri, according to Goodspeed's 1888 History of Southeast Missouri, resulted from the difficulty inherent in creating the county. Land was taken from six other counties in order to form Iron County, but it became a challenge to accomplish this without reducing the size of those counties below their constitutional limits.

Iron County derives its name from its prevalence of iron ore. The county is located in a part of southeast Missouri that at one time was important as a mining center.

The county court first met 4 Aug 1857 at Arcadia. That was when Iron County was subdivided into the townships of Dent, Kaolin, Iron, Pilot Knob, Arcadia, Liberty, and Union.

The county is home to Pilot Knob, known as the site of Fort Davidson. This is where a significant Civil War battle, the Battle of Pilot Knob, took place in 1864.

For more about the history of Iron County, Missouri, see:


 * Battle of Fort Davidson (Wikipedia)
 * History of Iron County (Iron Co. Hist. Soc.)

Parent County
1857 Iron County was created by a legislative act of 17 February 1857 from Dent, Madison, Reynolds, St. Francois Washington, and Wayne Counties. County seat: Ironton

Boundary Changes
For animated maps illustrating Missouri county boundary changes, "Rotating Formation Missouri County Boundary Maps" (1804-1889) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

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

Places/Localities
Town/city records in the FamilySearch Catalog




 * The State Historical Society of Missouri has information on historical Missouri place names for all 114 Missouri Counties.

Populated Places

 * Annapolis (ePodunk page | Wikipedia page)
 * Arcadia (ePodunk page | Wikipedia page)
 * Belleview (Wikipedia page)
 * Bixby (Wikipedia page)
 * Des Arc (Wikipedia page)
 * Glover (Wikipedia page)
 * Goodland (Wikipedia page)
 * Hogan
 * Ironton (county seat) (ePodunk page | Wikipedia page)
 * Middle Brook (Wikipedia page)
 * Pilot Knob (ePodunk page | MO Historic Towns page | Wikipedia page)
 * Viburnum (ePodunk page | Wikipedia page)
 * Vulcan (Wikipedia page)

In addition, see:


 * Alphabetical List of Towns, 1885, Iron County, Missouri (U.S. GenWeb Archives)

Neighboring Counties
Crawford •  Dent  •  Madison  •  Reynolds  •  St. Francois  •  Washington  •  Wayne

Cemeteries

 * Links to Iron County Cemeteries (Tom Caulley's Iron Co., MO Gen. Page)


 * Missouri Cemeteries Missouri Genealogy Cemeteries

Census

 * The Iron County Genealogical Society has surname indexes for the 1860-1930 Federal Censuses.
 * The U.S. GenWeb Archives website has the following transcriptions:


 * 1860 Mortality Schedules - partial listing for Iron County
 * 1890 Special Census - transcription for Iron County of the names of Civil War Union veterans and widows of veterans enumerated in the 1890 Veterans Schedules, also known as the 1890 Special Census.


 * The 1910-1930 Federal censuses for Iron County are covered in the following three books:


 * Iron County, Missouri 1910 Census. WorldCat.
 * 1920 Iron County, Missouri Census. WorldCat.
 * 1930 Iron County, Missouri Census. WorldCat.

Catholic
Hogan Settlement


 * Church records (contains baptisms, marriages, deaths, first communions), 1882-1913, Hogan, Missouri are available on microfilm at the Family History Library.
 * On the mission in Missouri, 1857-1868, a book by John Joseph Hogan which describes experiences on the Missouri frontier by this Catholic missionary. View a digital version of this book at FamilySearch.

Lutheran

 * Lohman, Marcine. Immanuel Ev. Lutheran Church of Pilot Knob, Missouri, Iron County, 1861-1931. Firestone, CO: Self-published, 2007?. WorldCat page.

Court

 * 1800 - 1991 at FamilySearch — index and images
 * Hackworth, Sharon. Iron County, Missouri Naturalizations, 1871-1906. Arcadia: Iron County Genealogy Society, 2007. WorldCat page.
 * Petition, Iron County Citizens to Joseph Washington McClurg, n.d. (MO Digital Heritage)
 * Petition, Iron County Citizens to Silas B. Woodson, 1871 (MO Digital Heritage)
 * Petition, Iron County Citizens to Silas B. Woodson, 9 Nov 1874 (MO Digital Heritage)
 * Petition, Iron County Citizens to Thomas Clement Fletcher, n.d. (MO Digital Heritage)

Local Histories

 * Barnes, Thomas S. (biography, from "Goodspeed Brothers, 1894") (U.S. GenWeb Archives)
 * Citizens of Iron County: History of Southeast Missouri Biographical Appendix (Iron County Gen. Soc.)
 * Early History of Iron County: 1850-1899 (timeline; U.S. GenWeb Archives)
 * First Families of Iron County, Missouri. Arcadia, MO: Iron County Genealogy Society, 2007. WorldCat page.
 * Iron County Biographies (Tom Caulley's Iron Co., MO Gen. Page)
 * Iron County, Missouri Records. Signal Mountain, TN: Mountain Press, 2006. WorldCat page.
 * Ironton in 1868 (Iron Co. Hist. Soc.)
 * History of southeast Missouri. Embracing an historical account of the counties of Ste. Genevieve, St. Francois, Perry, Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, Madison, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Dunklin, Scott, Mississippi, Stoddard, Butler, Wayne and Iron. Chicago, The Goodspeed publishing co., 1888.
 * Online at MissouriDigitalHeritage (Free)

Maps



 * Maps of Missouri (1804-1889)
 * Map of Iron County, Missouri (Secs. T30 and T31, R3E and R4E) (MO Digital Heritage)
 * Plat Book of Iron County, Missouri (n.d.; MO Digital Heritage)
 * Plat Book of Iron County, Missouri, 1930 (MO Digital Heritage)
 * Maps of townships (Histopolis)

Military

 * 1900 - 1941 at FamilySearch — images

Civil War
Online Records
 * 1861 - 1865 at FamilySearch — index
 * 1861 - 1865 at FamilySearch — index
 * at FamilySearch — images

Regiments

Service men in Iron County, Missouri served in various regiments. Men often joined a company (within a regiment) that originated in their county. Listed below are companies that were specifically formed in Iron County, Missouri:


 * Iron County Genealogy Society. When the Smoke Settled: Civil War Soldier Stories. Arcadia, MO: Iron County Genealogy Society, 2001?. WorldCat page.
 * Letter, from C.R. Peck, Ironton, Iron County, to Thomas Clement Fletcher,10 Apr 1865 (MO Digital Heritage)
 * Letter, from J.V. Logan, Ironton, Iron County, to Thomas Clement Fletcher, 2 Jan 1866 (MO Digital Heritage)
 * Missouri Historic Towns: Explore Pilot Knob, Missouri History
 * Petition, Iron County Unconditional Loyal Union Men, to Thomas Clement Fletcher, 26 Dec 1865 (MO Digital Heritage)

Civil War Battle
The following Civil War Battle was fought in Iron County:


 * September 27, 1864 = Fort Davidson also known as Pilot Knob

Map showing Civil War battles in Missouri.


 * Battle of Fort Davidson (Wikipedia)
 * Battle of Pilot Knob and Fort Davidson, Missouri

World War II

 * 1941-1946 - at FamilySearch — index

Naturalization and Citizenship

 * 1800 - 1991 at FamilySearch — index

Current newspapers

 * The Mountain Echo (Ironton, MO)

Historic newspapers

 * Early Iron County, Missouri Newspaper Items (U.S. GenWeb Archives)
 * Iron County, Missouri Newspapers (MO-AHGP)

Probate
Online Probate Records
 * 1750 - 1988 at FamilySearch — images
 * 1766 - 1988 Missouri Wills and Probate Records 1766-1988 at Ancestry.com — index and images $

Schools

 * Iron County, Missouri Schools (U.S. GenWeb Archives)

Births

 * 1802 - 1969 at FamilySearch.org — index/images
 * 1883 Iron County Birth Index 1883. Batch  at FamilySearch - free.
 * 1884 - 1887 Iron County Births and Stillbirths 1884-1887
 * Missouri State Archives: Missouri Birth &amp; Death Records Database, Pre-1910 (includes Iron County data)

Marriages

 * 1750 - 1920 at FamilySearch.org — index
 * 1800 - 1991 at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1805 - 2002 Missouri, Marriage Records, 1805-2002 at Ancestry.com $
 * 1850 Missouri Marriages to 1850 at Ancestry.com — index $
 * 1857 - 1881 Iron County Marriages 1857-1881 (U.S. GenWeb Archives)
 * 1857 - 1885 Iron County Marriage Books 1 thru 3 Index 1857-1885. Batch  at FamilySearch - free.
 * 1857 - 1998 Iron County Marriages 1857-1998 (Tom Caulley's Iron Co., MO Gen. Page)
 * Brian Oster Missouri Marriage Records site

Deaths

 * 1867 - 1976 at FamilySearch.org — index
 * 1834 - 1910 Missouri, Death Records, 1834-1910 at Ancestry.com — index/images $
 * Iron County, Missouri Deaths (U.S. GenWeb Archives)
 * Links to Iron County Births, Deaths, and Obituaries (Tom Caulley's Iron Co., MO Gen. Page)
 * Missouri State Archives: Missouri Death Certificates (includes direct access to Iron County death certificates in pdf form)

Genealogy Societies, Archives and Libraries

 * List of Missouri Archives, Libraries, Publications, Historical &amp; Genealogical Societies
 * Iron County Historical Society
 * Iron County, Missouri Genealogy Society