Teton County, Idaho Genealogy

History and Tidbits
Teton County was established January 26, 1915 from portions of Madison, Bingham and Fremont Counties, with its county seat at Driggs. It was named for the adjacent Teton mountains and the valley which covers most of the county. It is believed to have been first visited in 1808 by John Colter who had been a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition. No particular Indian tribe made their permanent homes in the valley, but councils were held here and it was a hunting ground for many tribes. In 1822, the first permanent settlers came into the valley but substantial growth did not begin until 1888 when Mormon settlers from Salt Lake City began to establish the town of Driggs followed closely in 1889 by more Mormon settlers from the Cache Valley who formed Victor. The county population is roughly 8,000, up from 7,467 in 2005 and 5,999 in the 2000 census, which itself was up 74% from the 1990 census. The county's beauty and wide open spaces are attracting significant growth.

Cities
There are three incorporated communities in Teton County. Driggs is the county seat, with an estimated population of 1253, up from the 1,100 counted during the 2000 census. Victor currently has an estimated population of 1,454 making it the largest city in the county. It has almost doubled in population from the 840 counted in 2000. The third incorporated community is Tetonia, with an estimated population of 242, down very slightly from the 2000 census enumeration of 247.

Unorganized Communities
There are quite a number of small, unincorporated communities in the county, including Bates, Cache, Cedron, Chapin, Clawson, Clementsville, Darby, and Felt.

County Government Site
The current 85 year old courthouse is located at: 89 N Main #1, Driggs ID 83422. On June 13th in 2008, ground was broken for a new courthouse on the west side of Driggs. You can see a picture of the planned structure at: tetoncountyidaho.gov/courthouse.php. The county government website is at: tetoncountyidaho.gov/index.php.

Neighboring Counties
Bonneville | Fremont | Madison | Teton County, Wyoming

Cemeteries
The county is organized into 6 cemetery districts (see www.tetonid.us/images/cemetery_districts.jpg) which govern 8 cemeteries. Two of the districts have two cemeteries each. In addition, there is another cemetery located just across the border in Teton County Wyoming in which many county residents have been buried historically. These 9 cemeteries are: Bates, Cache-Clawson, Cedron, Darby, Driggs, Felt, Haden, Victor (all in the county) and Pratt (in adjacent Teton county Wyoming).

For more information about these cemeteries, including their location, GPS coordinates, maps with directions, photos, and further detail, see the following page at USGenWeb: www.tetonid.us/main_teton_cemeteries.php

Genealogy and History Websites
The Teton County ID GenWeb Project, a member of The IDGenWeb Project, an affiliate of The USGenWeb Project.

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