Kansas, United States Genealogy

United States  Kansas

Guide to Kansas ancestry, family history and genealogy birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records. Welcome to the Kansas page, the Sunflower State Most unique genealogical features:
 * KS was often a staging area for the Santa Fe, Oregon, Mormon, and California trails.
 * The Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway was the 2nd transcontinental railroad.

Counties
Click on the map below to go to a county page. Hover over a county to see its name. To see a larger version of the map, click here. Extinct, Renamed, or Ceded Counties: Arapahoe (1855) | Arapahoe (1883) | Billings | Breckenridge | Broderick | Buffalo | Calhoun | Davis | Dorn | El Paso | Foote | Fremont | Garfield | Godfrey | Howard | Hunter | Kansas | Lykins | Madison | McGee | Montana | Oro | Otoe | Peketon | Richardson | Sequoyah | Seward (old) | Shirley | St. John | Washington (old) | Weller | Wise

Major Repositories
Kansas Historical Society· Kansas Genealogical Society· Kansas Department of Health and Environment· Topeka Genealogical Society· Iola Public Library· American Historical Society of Germans from Russia· National Orphan Train Complex· Wichita State University Library· Wichita Public Library Genealogy Center · University of Kansas Library· National Archives Central Plains Region (Kansas City)· National Archives I· Family History Library

Migration Routes
Abilene Trail· California Trail· Cherokee Trail· Chisholm Trail· Great Western Cattle Trail· Jones and Plummer Trail· Leavenworth Pike's Peak Express· Mormon Trail· Oregon Trail· Santa Fe Trail· Smoky Hill Trail· Texas Road or Shawnee Trail· Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway

Featured Content
The Kansas Historical Society holds one of the largest newspaper collections in the United States. They have almost every newspaper that was printed in Kansas (well over 61,000 volumes) and more than 12,000 out-of-state-volumes. These papers are in the Newspaper and Census Division, and many are on microfilm.

Research Tools

 * The The Kansas GenWeb Project provides county information about formation date, parent county, county seat, bibliography, cemeteries, census, churches, towns, history, look ups, obituaries, queries, repositories, surname registry, and many Internet links.
 * David Rumsey Map Collection is a large online collection of rare, old, antique historical atlases, globes, maps, charts plus other cartographic treasures.

Wiki articles describing online collections are found at:


 * Kansas Births and Christenings (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Kansas Deaths and Burials (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Kansas Marriages (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Kansas County Marriages (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Did You Know?

 * The Kansas Historical Society at http://www.kshs.org/ has several important facilities for genealogists. The Reference Library houses printed materials and the Department of Archives maintains original records of Kansas government jurisdictions, newspapers, and other historical documents. The Manuscript Department has unpublished papers, maps, and photographs.
 * The Kansas Historical Society announced the launch of Kansas Memory, an ongoing digital project. This online site will feature the largest collection of photographs and manuscripts from Kansas history.
 * Before 1900 the largest religious groups in Kansas were the Methodist-Episcopal, Catholic, Baptist, Presbyterian, and Disciples of Christ. Read more about the availability of church records in the Kansas Church Records article.[[Image:Kansas flag.png|right|180px|Kansas flag.png]]

Obtain additional help

 * Call or chat with an experienced researcher
 * Join a Facebook Group
 * Consult a Professional Genealogist

Help with the Kansas Wiki pages
In order to make this wiki a better research tool, we need your help! Many tasks need willing volunteers. You can help:


 * Expand county articles
 * Check links on pages
 * ...and more

Find more opportunities to help with the Kansas pages. To add your knowledge and help expand the wiki click here: