St. Louis County, Missouri Genealogy

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

Description
The county was named for St. Francis River. The County is located in the east central area of the state.

County Courthouse
St. Louis County Courthouse 41 S. Central Avenue Clayton, MO 63105 Phone: 314-889-2041 St. Louis County Website County Clerk has birth records 1877-1910. Recorder of Deeds has marriage and land records. Clerk of the Circuit Court has divorce and court records.

Populated Places
For a complete list of populated places in St. Louis County, MO, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit HomeTown Locator. The State Historical Society of Missouri has information on historical Missouri place names for all 114 Missouri Counties. The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:

Resources

 * St. Louis Public Library (St. Louis City) owns a large collection of books, periodicals, maps, and other miscellaneous materials that deal with the history of St. Louis City, and Library staff have indexed many previously unindexed books and materials on that topic. They also own a large local history card file, and a large vertical file consisting of articles clipped from local newspapers and other local publications. St. Louis Public Library Local History Indexes and Bibliographies
 * St. Louis County Library has a large collection of genealogical records for St. Louis City and St. Louis County in its Special Collections Department located at its main headquarters. The collection includes holdings from the St. Louis Genealogical Society as well as parish records from the Archdiocese of St. Louis. In addition to its holdings, the staff of the Special Collections Department has created indexes for many records including St. Louis newspapers as well as birth, naturalization, probate, and church records.
 * Missouri History Museum Library and Research Center has a collection of books, manuscripts, periodicals, newspapers, maps, and photographs including: Biographies, yearbooks, business and trade catalogs and military records. Their website has a searchable genealogy index that covers many of these collections.

Biographies

 * St. Louis City/County Biographies

Cemeteries

 * Search the Archdiocese of St. Louis Cemetery records for burials in seventeen Catholic cemeteries from the St. Louis area.
 * New Mt. Sinai Cemetery records (Jewish) are available online.
 * The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has burial records for Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery and other Veterans Affairs National Cemeteries around the country.
 * List of St Louis Area Cemeteries with records on Cd available for purchase from the St. Louis Genealogical Society.
 * Missouri Cemeteries Missouri Access Genealogy

Census Records

 * 1732-1933 at FamilySearch — index and images

Church Records
List of Churches and Church Parishes
 * FamilySearch Places

Catholic
 * Catholic resources at The St. Louis County Library.

Evangelical and United Church of Christ
 * Evangelical resources at The St. Louis County Library.

Lutheran
 * Lutheran resources at The St. Louis County Library.

Presbyterian Fairmount Presbyterian Church, St. Louis


 * 1871-1875 Fairmount Presbyterian Church, St. Louis, Baptism Index 1871-1875. Batch  at FamilySearch.
 * 1871-1879 Fairmount Presbyterian Church, St. Louis, Marriage Index 1871-1879. Batch  at FamilySearch.

North Presbyterian Church, St. Louis


 * 1850-1857 North Presbyterian Church, St. Louis, Baptism Index 1850-1857. Batch  at FamilySearch.

Third Presbyterian Church, St. Louis


 * 1842-1850 Third Presbyterian Church, St. Louis, Baptism Index 1842-1850. Batch  at FamilySearch.
 * 1843-1846 Third Presbyterian Church, St. Louis, Marriage Index 1843-1846. Batch  at FamilySearch.

Court Records

 * 1800-1991 at FamilySearch — index and images

Directories

 * The St. Louis County Directory for 1893 is available on Google Books.
 * St. Louis City and County Directories, The St. Louis County Library

Emigration and Immigration

 * A Preservation Plan for St. Louis Part I: Historic Contexts, 9-Peopling St. Louis: the Immigration Experience

African Americans

 * Emancipations, 1817-1865 - information taken from St. Louis Circuit Court Record Books at the Civil Courts Building at Tucker and Market Streets, and the examination of papers at the Missouri Historical Society
 * Freedom Licenses Database, 1835-1865 - St. Louis City and County, records at Missouri Historical Society
 * Freedom Suit Case Files, 1814-1860 - database and images by St. Louis Circuit Court Historical Records Project
 * Freedom Suits, 1804-1865 index - St. Louis Court records
 * Urban life for African Americans during 1804-1865 - as taken from St. Louis court records

Germans

 * Germans in St. Louis

Jews

 * Jews in St. Louis

Genealogies

 * Fold3.com ($) has Civil War and other military records available online. Some libraries including the St. Louis County Library provide free access to this database.

Local Histories

 * The Annals of St. Louis and a Brief Account of its Foundation and Progress, 1764-1928. 1928. St Louis: Mound City Press. Available online at FamilySearch
 * Annals of St. Louis in its Territorial Days, From 1804 to 1821 : being a continuation of the author's previous work the Annals of the French and Spanish period. By Frederic Louis Billon. 1888. St. Louis, Missouri : F.L. Billon. Available online at FamilySearch; InternetArchives
 * ''The Early History of St. Louis and Missouri : from its first exploration by white men in 1673 to 1843. By Elihu H. Shepard. 1870. Saint Louis : Southwestern Book and Pub. Co. Available online at FamilySearch; GoogleBooks
 * Heritage of St. Louis. 1964. St. Louis, Mo. : St. Louis Public Schools. Available online at FamilySearch
 * History of Saint Louis City and County. By John Thomas Scharf. 1883. Philadelphia : L. H. Everts &amp; Co. Vol 1 available online at FamilySearch; Vol 2 available online at FamilySearch
 * A Souvenir of the Diamond Jubilee of St. Anthony Parish. by St. Anthony Parish (St. Louis, Missouri). 1938. St. Louis : Blackwell Wielandy Company. Available online at FamilySearch
 * History of Missouri's Counties, county seats, and courthouse squares. by Marian M. Ohman. Missouri State Library : 1983. Online at Missouri Digital Heritage
 * History of St. Louis County, Missouri. 1920. N.p. : Missouri State Library. Online at Missouri Digital Heritage
 * History of St. Louis County, Missouri Volume 1. 1911. by William Lyman Thomas. N.p. : N.p. Missouri State Library. Online at Missouri Digital Heritage
 * History of St. Louis County, Missouri Volume 2. 1911. by William Lyman Thomas. N.p. Missouri State Library. Online at Missouri Digital Heritage
 * Missouri As It Is In 1867. 1867. by Nathan Howe Parker. N.p. : Missouri State Library. Online at Missouri Digital Heritage
 * State of Missouri. 1904. by Missouri. Commission to the Louisiana Purchase Exposition; Williams, Walter, 1864-1935. Columbia, Mo. : Press of E.W. Stephens. Online at Missouri Digital Heritage.

Maps and Gazetteers

 * Maps of Missouri (1804-1889)
 * Map of modern day St. Louis County townships (Histopolis) - also shows the locaton of cemeteries from the St. Louis area.
 * The University of Missouri Digital Library has digital copies of Missouri county plat books (ca. 1930) for all Missouri counties including St. Louis County. The city of St. Louis is not included in this collection.
 * Map of 1904 St. Louis County with numerous small settlements (My Genealogy Hound)
 * An Atlas of St. Louis County
 * Pitzman's New Atlas of the City and County of Saint Louis, Missouri
 * FamilySearch Places:Cities and Towns- How to Use FS Places

Civil War
Online Records
 * 1861-1865  at FamilySearch — index
 * 1861-1865  at FamilySearch — index
 * 1911-1938  at FamilySearch — index and images

Regiments Civil War service men from St. Louis County served in various regiments. Men often joined a company (within a regiment) that originated in their county. Listed below are companies or regiments that were formed of men of St. Louis County; men from St. Louis County also served in Illinois companies, which are included in the below list.

World War II

 * 1940-1945 at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1941-1946 at FamilySearch — index

Naturalization and Citizenship

 * 1800-1991 at FamilySearch — index and images
 * St. Louis County Library has created an Index to Naturalizationssite provides information on the various naturalization records from the U.S. Circuit Court.

Abbreviations found in the Naturalization Records of St. Louis Court records


 * CCC for Court of Criminal Corrections
 * CCCC for Criminal Court
 * Cir for Circuit Court
 * Com Pl for Court of Common Pleas
 * Law for Law of Common Court

Obituaries

 * St. Louis Obituary index: Compiled from the St. Louis Post Dispatch Newspaper covering the years 1880-1930, 1942-1945, 1960-1969, and 1992-2009. Sponsored by the St. Louis Public Library.

Probate Records

 * Missouri State Archives - Online access to St. Louis Probate records (original documents)

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

Social Security Records

 * 1935-2014 at FamilySearch - How to use this collection; index. Also at Ancestry, findmypast, Fold3, GenealogyBank, MyHeritage, and Steve Morse. Click here for more information.
 * 1936-2007 U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 at Ancestry ($) — index, click here for more information.

Vital Records
See St. Louis County, Missouri Vital Records for information on St. Louis County vital records and their indexes.

Birth

 * Pre-1910 Missouri Birth and Death Records Database, Pre-1910 at Missouri Digital Heritage - index.
 * 1817-1939 at FamilySearch — index
 * 1827-1935 at FamilySearch — index
 * 1851-1910 Missouri Birth Records, 1851-1910 at Ancestry — index/images ($)
 * Pre-1910 Missouri Birth and Death Records Database, Pre-1910 at Missouri Digital Heritage - index.
 * 1920-2015 Reclaim the Records: Missouri Birth Index at Archive.org - images of index

Marriage

 * 1750-1920 at FamilySearch — index
 * 1776-1988 Missouri, United States Marriages at FindMyPast — index $
 * 1800-1991 at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1805-2002 Missouri, Marriage Records, 1805-2002 at Ancestry ($)
 * 1850 Missouri Marriages to 1850 at Ancestry — index ($)

Death

 * 1834-1910 Missouri, Death Records, 1834-1910 at Ancestry — index/images ($)
 * 1867-1976 at FamilySearch — index
 * 1883-1930 at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1910-1960 Missouri Death Certificates, 1910 - 1960 at MyHeritage ($) — index
 * 1910-1960 Missouri Death Certificates, 1910-1969 at Missouri Digital Heritage - index and images.

Family History Centers

 * Riverview Missouri Family History Center
 * St Louis Missouri Family History Center
 * St Louis Missouri North Family History Center
 * Warrenton Missouri Family History Center

Societies

 * Florissant Valley Historical Society P.O. Box 298 Florissant, MO 63032 Website
 * St. Louis Genealogical Society P.O. Box 43010 #4 Sunnen Drive, Suite 140 St. Louis, MO 63143-0010 Phone: 314-647-8547 Website Also:
 * 9011 Manchester, Suite 3 St. Louis, MO 63144-2543


 * German American Heritage Society 10 Maryland Plaza St. Louis, MO 63108 Phone: 314-367-4303
 * German Cultural Society 3652 S. Jefferson St. Louis, MO 63118 Phone: 314-771-8368 Website

Websites

 * Missouri Digital Heritage. Free. digital images of many types of records from institutions across the State
 * MOGenWeb. Free. Data may be submitted by individuals or complete transcriptions
 * USGenWeb Archives. Free. Data may be submitted by individuals or may be complete transcriptions
 * . Free. - The FamilySearch catalog contains descriptions and access information for all genealogical materials (including books, online materials, microfilm, microfiche, and publications) in their collection.  Use Historical Records to search for specific individuals in genealogical records
 * RootsWeb resources. Free. Data may be submitted by individuals or may be complete transcriptions
 * Linkpendium. Free. Click links. Some sites they link to may have fees ($)
 * CyndisList. Free. Click links. Some sites they link to may have fees ($)
 * StateofUS. Free. family history resources and government records
 * Missouri Genealogy. Free. Click links. Some sites they link to may have fees ($)