Buena Vista County, Iowa Genealogy

United States Iowa  Buena Vista County

Guide to Buena Vista County Iowa genealogy. Birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

County Courthouse
Buena Vista County Courthouse 215 E. 5th St. P. O. Box 1186 Storm Lake, IA 50588-1186

(712) 749-2546

Parent County
1851--Buena Vista County was created 15 January 1851 from unorganized territory. It was attached to Woodbury County prior to organization 20 November 1858. County seat:  Storm Lake

Boundary Changes
January 1, 1877-- Courthouse burned and many records were damaged.

For further information on researching in burned counties, see the following:


 * Burned Counties Research in FamilySearch Wiki
 * Michael John Neill, Burned Counties in Family History Circle

Populated Places
For a list of cities and townships go to hometownlocator.com or wikipedia.org.

Neighboring Counties
Calhoun | Cherokee | Clay | Ida | O'Brien | Palo Alto | Pocahontas | Sac

Cemeteries

 * Gravestone pictures I have in my collection (e-mail me). Barnes Township Cemetery Buena Vista Memorial Park Cemetery, Cooke Cemetery, Daily Burial Ground, Elk Cemetery, Fairfield Cemetery, First M E Church Cemetery,Garton Graveyard,Hayes Township Cemetery, Lincoln Township Cemetery, Little Sioux Valley Cemetery, Lone Tree Cemetery,Maple Valley Cemetery, Newell Catholic Cemetery, Newell Cemetery,Plainview Cemetery,Poland Cemetery,Saint John's Cemetery, Saint John's Lutheran Cemetery, Saint Johns Church Of Christ Cemetery, Saint Joseph's Cemetery, Saint Mary's Cemetery, Scandinavian Cemetery, Smith Cemetery, Storm Lake Municipal Cemetery, Trinity Lutheran Cemetery, Varina Cemetery, Woodlawn Cemetery, Zion Lutheran Cemetery I will look up any gravestone from the list. Please provide full name, cemetery and DOD if possible.

Census
Iowa recorded not only the federal census but state census through out the years too. The state census contains very valuable genealogical information. Where the census information can be found, what years it was taken, mortality schedules, census substitutions and much more is discussed in the very informative Iowa Census article.

Lutheran

 * Records of the American Lutheran Church, Buena Vista County, in Evangelical Lutheran Church in America database at Archives.com ($).

Newspapers
NewspaperArchive.com ($) has a large collection of digitized Iowa newspapers online. This database is sometimes free at libraries.

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers
 * Storm Lake Iowa Family History Center

Web Sites

 * Buena Vista County, Iowa Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
 * Buena Vista County, Iowa Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)