Palo Alto County, Iowa Genealogy

United States Iowa  Palo Alto County

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

Parent County
1851 Palo Alto County was created 15 January 1851 from unorganized territory. It was attached to Boone and Webster Counties prior to organization 29 December 1858. County seat: Emmetsburg

Boundary Changes
For animated maps illustrating Iowa County boundary changes, "Rotating Formation Iowa County Boundary Maps" (1816-1872) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Record Loss
For a list of record loss in Iowa Counties see: Iowa Counties with Burned Courthouses

Places/Localities
Town/city records in the FamilySearch Catalog

Neighboring Counties
Buena Vista • Clay • Dickinson • Emmet • Humboldt • Kossuth • Pocahontas

Lutheran

 * Records of the American Lutheran Church, Palo Alto County, in Evangelical Lutheran Church in America database at Archives.com ($).

History

 * History of Palo Alto County, Iowa. By Dwight G. McCarty. Cedar Rapids, Iowa : Torch Press, 1910. Online at:, Internet Archive;.


 * Official souvenir program of the semi-centennial of Palo Alto County, Iowa : at Emmetsburg, Iowa July 4th, 5th, and 6th, 1906. By Palo Alto County, Iowa Old Settlers Committee. Emmetsburg, Iowa : Tribune Pub. Co., 1906. Online at: ;.
 * History of Palo Alto County, Iowas at Ancestry.com ($)

Map

 * Old Antique Atlases & Maps of Iowa

Newspapers
NewspaperArchive.com ($) has a large collection of digitized Iowa newspapers online. This database is sometimes free at libraries.
 * The Ruthven Free Press. 1917-32 and 1934-44. Ruthven, IA, USA. Online at: Ancestry.com ($)
 * West Bend Journal. 1956. West Bend, IA, USA. Online at: Ancestry.com ($)

Societies, Libraries and Museums
See also a List of Iowa Archives, Libraries, Publications, Historical & Genealogical Societies

The county library is located in Emmetsburg. It has an on-line searchable newspaper system which is available in the library for research. Contact the library for availability of a user name and password to access the system outside the library.

They have indexed listing for interments in the local cemeteries,