Oregon, Polk County Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States  Oregon Polk County

What is in the Collection?
This collection includes digital images of records from the Polk County Courthouse in Dallas, Oregon. More records will be added to this collection as images become available.


 * Land (1857-1945)
 * Probate - Wills (1925-1945)
 * Other records (1934-1936)

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The records may contain any of the following:


 * Name of deceased
 * Date and place of event
 * Residence
 * Age and gender
 * Names of parents
 * Occupation
 * Biographical information about parents such as date and place of birth
 * Names of heirs, such as spouse, children, other relatives, or friends
 * Names of the executor, administrator, or guardian
 * Names of witnesses
 * Dates the documents were written and recorded (used to approximate event dates since a will was usually written near the time of death)
 * Description and value of property or land

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search, it is helpful to know at least some of the following:
 * The name of your ancestor.
 * The age of your ancestor.
 * The names of relatives.
 * The type of event such as marriage or naturalization.
 * The approximate date of the event.

Compare the information on the image to what you already know about your ancestor to determine if it is the correct family or person. You may need to compare several images before you find your ancestor.

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Pagethen: ⇒Select the appropriate "Record Category" ⇒Select the appropriate Record Type, Year Range and Volume.

For tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line article FamilySearch Search Tips and Tricks.

What Do I Do Next?
Whenever possible, view the original records to verify the information and to find additional information that might not be reported. These pieces of information can lead you to additional records and family members.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Use the age to calculate the birth date to find other records such as birth, christening, marriage, census, and death records.
 * Use the probate date as a substitute death date.
 * Use the name of the undertaker, mortuary, or cemetery to find funeral and cemetery records.
 * Use the parents' birth places to find former residences and to establish a migration pattern for the family.
 * Use the occupations to find employment or military records.
 * Use the information to find additional family members.
 * Repeat this process with additional family members found, to find more generations of the family.
 * Church Records often were kept years before government records were required and are a good source for finding ancestors before 1900.

I Can’t Find Who I’m Looking for, What Now?

 * Try viewing the original record to see if there were errors in the transcription of the name, age, residence, etc. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * Collect entries for every person who has the same surname. This list can help you identify possible relations that can be verified by records.
 * If you cannot locate your ancestor in the locality in which you believe they lived, then try searching records of a nearby locality in an area search.
 * Standard spelling of names typically did not exist during the periods our ancestors lived in. Try variations of your ancestor’s name while searching the index or browsing through images.
 * Remember that sometimes individuals went by nicknames or alternated between using first and middle names. Try searching for these names as well.
 * Search the indexes and records of Oregon, United States Genealogy.
 * Search in the Oregon Archives and Libraries.

For a summary of this information see the wiki article United States, How to Use the Records Summary (FamilySearch Historical Records).

Citing this Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

Collection Citation:

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