Ida County, Iowa Genealogy

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

Description
The County was named after Ida Smith, the first child of European immigrants to be born in this region. The County has Ida Grove as its seat and the County was created 1851. The County is located in the northwest area of the state.

Parent County
1851--Ida County was created 15 January 1851 from unorganized territory. It was attached to Woodbury County prior to organization 1 January 1859. County seat: Ida Grove

Record Loss
1877 Fire destroyed the courthouse on January 12. Most of the county records were lost.

Places/Localities
Town/city records in the FamilySearch Catalog

Populated Places
For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit HomeTown Locator. The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:

Neighboring Counties
Buena Vista • Cherokee •  Crawford •  Monona •  Sac •  Woodbury

Biography

 * Biographical history of Crawford, Ida and Sac Counties, Iowa : containing portraits of all the presidents of the United States, at Ancestry.com ($)

Census
State Census
 * 1895 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1905 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1915 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1925 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Lutheran

 * Records of the St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Holstein, in Evangelical Lutheran Church in America database at Archives.com ($).

Local Histories

 * Moorehead, G. C. Historical collections of Ida County. [S.l.] : Pioneer Record Press, 1928, 1975 printing.
 * Online at FamilySearch (Free)
 * Biographical history of Crawford, Ida and Sac Counties, Iowa : containing portraits of all the presidents of the United States, at Ancestry.com ($)

Military

 * 1835-1998 - at FamilySearch — index
 * 1861-1949 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1862-1910 - at FamilySearch — index

Naturalization and Citizenship

 * 1859-1990 - at FamilySearch — index and images

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


 * Ida County Pioneer Record.1951-59. Ida County, IA, USA. Online at: Ancestry.com ($)
 * Pioneer Record.1951. Ida Grove, IA, USA. Online at: Ancestry.com ($)

Probate
Online Probate Records


 * 1758 - 1997 Iowa Wills and Probate Records 1758-1997 at Ancestry.com — index and images $

Taxation

 * 1934-1958 - at FamilySearch — index

Births

 * 1850-1939 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1921-1942 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Marriages

 * 1518-1996 - Iowa, United States Marriages at FindMyPast — index $
 * 1838-1934 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Deaths

 * 1850-1990 - at FamilySearch - index
 * 1880-1992 - at FamilySearch — index
 * 1904-1951 - at FamilySearch — index and images