Decatur County, Iowa Genealogy

United States Iowa  Decatur County

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

County Courthouse
Decatur County Courthouse 207 Main Street Leon, IA 50144-1647

(515) 446-4331

History


The county is named after U.S. naval officer Stephen Decatur (1779-1820).

Parent County
1846--Decatur County was created 13 January 1846 from unorganized territory. It was attached to Davis County prior to organization 6 March 1850. County seat: Leon

Boundary Changes
See an interactive map of Iowa boundary changes.

Record Loss
March 31, 1874 -- 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

Neighboring Counties
Clarke | Lucas | Ringgold | Union | Wayne | Harrison County, Missouri | Mercer County, Missouri

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.

Church
LDS Ward and Branch Records


 * Garden Grove

Migration
Early migration routes to and from for European settlers included:


 * Mormon Trail 1846 from Nauvoo, Illinois to Salt Lake City, Utah

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

Web Sites

 * Decatur County, Iowa Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
 * Decatur County, Iowa Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)