Cooper County, Missouri Genealogy

United States Missouri  Cooper County

County Court House
County Clerk has birth and death records 1883-1893 and burial records; Circuit Clerk has marriage, divorce, court and naturalization records from 1819 and land records from 1812; Associate Circuit Court has probate record from 1828

Parent County
1818--Cooper County was created 17 December 1818 from Howard County. County seat: Boonville

Boundary Changes
See an interactive map of Cooper County boundary changes at N2Genealogy.

Places/Localities

 * The State Historical Society of Missouri has information on historical Missouri place names for all 114 Missouri Counties.

Neighboring Counties

 * Boone
 * Howard
 * Moniteau
 * Morgan
 * Pettis
 * Saline

Local Histories
A history of Cooper County, Missouri from the first visit by white men, in February, 1804, to the fifth day of July, 1876 by Levens and Drake (1876) is available online free from Google Books.

Maps

 * Map of Cooper County townships (Histopolis)


 * The University of Missouri Digital Library has digital copies of Missouri county plat books (ca. 1930) for all Missouri counties including Cooper County. The city of St. Louis is not included in this collection.

Civil War Battle
The following Civil War Battle was fought in Cooper County

June 17, 1861 = Boonville also known as First Battle of Boonville

Map showing Civil War battles in Missouri

Newspapers

 * Newspaperarchive.com ($) has historical newspapers available on-line. Their database has Jefferson City newspapers and Sedalia newspapers from the late 1800's and early 1900's covering local news that included residents from Cooper County communities.

Deaths

 * Missouri State Archives provides on-line access to Missouri Death Certificates more than 50 yrs old starting in 1910.

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers

Web Sites

 * USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.