Howard County, Iowa Genealogy

Guide to Howard 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 for Tilghman Howard. The County has Cresco as its seat and the County was created 1851. The County is located in the northeast area of the state.

Parent County
There have been two Howard counties in Iowa. 1816-- The first Howard County was established. It became part of the Missouri Territory. 1851--Howard County was created 15 January 1851 from unorganized territory. It was attached to Floyd County prior to organization 15 September 1855. County seat: Cresco

Record Loss
1876 The courthouse was destroyed by fire on December 1. Most 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
Chickasaw • Floyd •  Mitchell •  Winneshiek •  Fillmore County, Minnesota •  Mower County, Minnesota

Cemeteries

 * Calvary Cemetery, Riceville BillionGraves

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 American Lutheran Church, Cresco, in Evangelical Lutheran Church in America database at Archives.com ($).

Local Histories

 * Alexander, W E. History of Chickasaw and Howard counties, Iowa. Decorah, Iowa : Western Publishing Company, 1883.
 * Online at Internetarchive (Free) and at FamilySearch (Free)
 * Fairbairn, Robert Herd. History of Chickasaw and Howard Counties, Iowa. Chicago, Illinois : S. J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1919.
 * Online at FamilySearch (Free)

Military

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

Civil War

 * - 9th Regiment, Iowa Infantry, Company I
 * - 12th Regiment, Iowa Infantry, Company G
 * - 12th Regiment, Iowa Infantry, Company G :- 9th Regiment, Iowa Infantry, Company I

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.


 * Lime Springs Herald. 1932-35, 1939-42, 1946-62. Lime Springs, IA, USA. Online at: Ancestry.com ($)
 * The Sun Herald.1916-32. Lime Springs, IA, USA. Online at: Ancestry.com ($)
 * The Lime Springs Sun.1897 and 1902-05. Lime Springs, IA, USA. Online at: Ancestry.com ($)
 * The Times Plain Dealer. 1966. Cresco, IA, USA. Online at: Ancestry.com ($)

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

Societies and Libraries
Howard-Winneshiek Genealogical Society P.O. Box 362 Cresco, Iowa 52136 Telephone:563-547-2540 E-mail: [mailto:webmaster@cresco.lib.ia.us webmaster@cresco.lib.ia.us] Website