Spokane County, Washington Genealogy

United States   Washington   Spokan County

County Courthouse
Spokane County Courthouse 1116 W. Broadway Spokane, WA 99260

Spokane County Courthouse finished in 1895, see history of building.

History
Abolished 19 January 1863 and merged with Stevens County. Recreated in 1879 from Stevens County.

Parent County

 * 1858--Spokane County was created 29 January 1858 from Walla Walla County. County seat: Spokane

Boundary Changes:
==== Spokane County was created by legislative act four times. Twice it was not organized by the agents appointed for that purpose. Once it had, after organization, a short and precarious existance, and was merged into Stevens county. From a manuscript by W.P. Winans, who served two terms, beginning in 1862, as auditor of the original county of Spokane, when the county seat was Pinkney City. With free-handed disregard of actual needs and conditions, the early legislatures of Washington territory parceled out the interior in county forms long before towns or even crossroad settlements had come into existence, A number of these counties never had other than mere legal or fictional being, and in that class for several years, belonged the first county of Spokane, that was attempted to be set up by the legislative session of 1857-8, when a bill was enacted January 29, “to create and organize Spokane county,” as follows”

“Be it enacted, That all that portion of the county of Walla Walla embraced within the following boundaries, to wit: Commencing at the mouth of the Snake River, following up said river mid channel to the forty-sixth parallel of north latitude; thence east along said parallel to the summit of the Rocky mountains; thence north along said summit to the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude; thence west along said parallel to the Columbia river; thence down mid channel of said river to the place of beginning; the same is hereby constituted and organized into a separate county, to be known and called Spokane County. That the county seat of said county is hereby temporarily located on the land claim of Angus McLeod.”

Vast, wild and untenanted by civilization was the region embraced within the designated boundaries-- a stretch of plain and mountains, of prairie and forest, of placid lakes and foaming torrents, 200 miles wide and nearly 400 miles long, comprising an area of more than 75,000 square miles, and with scarcely one white person to each thousand square miles of territory. Settlers along the Spokane river, there were none of the white race. The Indians were warlike, insolent and aggressive, and the county was conjured into fictional being on the eve of the allied outbreak of the Indian tribes north of the Snake river.

Public office went begging then in eastern Washington, and found no takers in the remote, unsettled and moneyless county of Spokane; for the officials named in the first legislative act failed to qualify or organize the county government; and one year later the legislature, made a second effort. An act of January 18, 1859 named new commissioners for the proposed new county all to hold office till the next election. No location for a county seat was specified.

This attempt was as futile as the first, but undaunted, the legislature tried again. After a brilliant campaign of 1858, and thorough pacification of the Indians by the troops under Colonel George Wright, it passed another act, in January of 1860, to reestablish the county of Spokane. The boundaries were defined as before, but this time the county seat was temporarily located “on the land claim of Dr. Bates.” in the Colville valley. It flourished for four years; then in honor of the gallant memory of Isaac I. Stevens, first territorial governor, who had fallen in one of the early battles of the civil war, the legislature changed the county's name to Stevens.

On the 8th of May, 1860, the board met and designated Pinkney City the county seat, which was the town or trading post adjoining the site of Fort Colville, three miles north of the present site of Colville. Pinkney City, which was built just across the creek from Fort Colville reserve, was named in honor of the commanding officer of the fort, Major Pinkney Lougenbeel.

Dismemberment of Stevens county began November 27, 1871, with the formation of Whitman county, Then in chronological order, came the formation of Spokane county, October 30, 1879; Kittitas and Lincoln counties, November 24, 1883; Adams, Franklin and Douglas counties, November 28, 1883; Okanogan county February 2, 1888; Ferry county February 21, 1889; and Chelan county, March 13, 1889. So the present Spokane county was formed October 30, 1879 from Stevens county. This is from the book Spokane and the Inland Empire, page 265 by Nelson W. Durham 1912

====

Populated Places

 * Airway Heights
 * Cheney
 * Country Homes
 * Deer Park
 * Fairchild Air Force Base
 * Fairfield
 * Fairwood
 * Latah
 * Liberty Lake
 * Medical Lake
 * Millwood
 * Otis Orchards
 * Rockford
 * Spangle
 * Spokane
 * Spokane Valley
 * Waverly

Neighboring Counties

 * Lincoln
 * Pend Oreille
 * Stevens
 * Whitman
 * Benewah
 * Bonner
 * Kootenai

Cemeteries
Spokane Cemeteries:

Fairmount Memorial Association

They don't list the burials, but you can contact each cemetery for burial information. There are Random Acts of Kindess volunteers who will take photos if you request one. They do have some online memorials.


 * Memorial Park is located at 5200 West Wellesley, Spokane, WA 99205. Their phone is (509) 326-3800. You can also find memorials and photos at .  You can also find some memorials at
 * Memorial Terrace is located at 211 N. Government Way, Spokane, WA 99224. Their phone is (509) 838-1405. You can find some memorials at   Other memials and photos are at
 * Memorial Park is located at 508 N. Government Way, Spokane, WA 99224. Their phone is (509) 838-1405. Memorials are at   and
 * Memorial Gardens is located at South 5909 Cheney-Spokane Road, Spokane, WA 99224. Their phone is (509) 448-2620. Some memorials are at  and at
 * Cemetery is located at 909 S. Thierman Road, Spokane, WA 99212. Their phone is (509) 326-3800. Memorials can be seen at  and [Www.interment.net/data/us/wa/spokane/woodlawn/woodlawn cemetery.htmdata/us/wa/spokane/woodlawn/woodlawn_cemetery.htm]

Other Spokane Cemeteries can be searched here:

Census

 * 1860
 * 1870
 * 1880
 * 1885 Territorial Census Available at Washington State Digital Archives
 * 1887 Territorial Census Available at Washington State Digital Archives
 * 1890 Veterans
 * 1900
 * 1910 Available at Washington State Digital Archives
 * 1920
 * 1930
 * 1940 Available at Family Search

Church
LDS Ward and Branch Records


 * Dishman
 * Spokane
 * Spokane Central
 * Spokane N.

Court
Spokane County Courthouse has Superior Court Records from 1880 to present. Criminal cases, divorces, probates, and other civil cases. Adopotion records sealed by court order.

Local Histories
History of Spokane County Washington by Jonathan Edwards 1900 Available on Google Books

Military
World Ward I soldiers' miscellaneous lists for this county have been digitized at the Washington State Digital Archives

Naturalization
Washington State Digital Archives has digitized various types of naturalization-related records, including declarations of intentions, delayed birth files, naturalization affidavits, notifications of application for admission to US citizenship, orders fixing naturalization terms, petitions and records, petitions, receipts for certificates of citizenship, record of final decrees of citizenship and record of petitions dockets. Depending on the county, records range from 1854-1988.

Newspapers
Spokesman Review; Spokane Daily Chronicle; Spokane Valley Herald

Probate
Courthouse has Probate files from 1880 to present

Vital Records

 * Washington State Digital Archives has a database of Spokane County Birth Records. This database contains the names of people who were born in Spokane County from 1890-1907 . The names were taken from the Spokane County Birth returns.


 * For FHL entries, 1890-1905,&lt;img _fck_mw_template="true" _fckrealelement="7" _fckfakelement="true" src="https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/extensions/FCKeditor/fckeditor/editor/images/spacer.gif" class="FCK__MWTemplate"&gt;

Family History Library has Washington State Birth Index 1907-1954 on microfilm and also the Birth Certificates are on microfilm


 * Marriages from 9 Jan 1880 to 10 Dec 1910 are available on the Western States Marriage Index website.

Spokane County Marriage Certificates 1880-present Available at Washington State Digital Archives


 * Washington State Digital Archives has a database of Spokane County Death Records. This database contains names of people who died in Spokane County from 1891-1907. For FHL entries, 1891-1907, &lt;img _fck_mw_template="true" _fckrealelement="5" _fckfakelement="true" src="https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/extensions/FCKeditor/fckeditor/editor/images/spacer.gif" class="FCK__MWTemplate"&gt;.


 * Washington Death Certificates 1907-1960 A free internet index to the 1907-1960 death certificates can be found at FamilySearch Record Search, no images are available. A transcribed death certificate may contain such information as name of the deceased, date and place of death, age, gender, birth date and birth place, mother’s maiden name and name of spouse, place of residence, occupation and certificate numbers. Family History Library has Washington State Death Certificates on microfilm 1907-1961

Societies and Libraries
[Www.spokanelibrary.org Spokane Public Library] has a genealog department. Their "&gt;downtown branch has a growing genealogy section. I will try to obtain a general list of the types of holdings they have.

Resources of the Spokane Public Library:


 * Obituaries - one source is from the Spokesman Review newspaper which has been indexed by the library. You can now search for a name. You will be given the name/date/newspaper/page number for the obituary.  You can then contact the library at [mailto:telref@spokanelibrary.org telref@spokanelibrary.org] for an image of the actual obituary.  The obituaries are complete from January 1, 2008, with other obituaries that have been added on an as requested basis.  To obtain a death date you can check the Washington State Digital Archives site, shown below.  Another location to check is the Spokesman Review site.  They have online obituaries from 2005-date.  Washington Death Index - the library has records of the Washington Death Index on microfilm from 1907-2004.
 * Eastern Washington Genealogical Society celebrated its 75th birthday in 2010. The Society meets the first Saturday of the month in February, March, April, May, November and December. Meetings for January and June are usually luncheon meetings, held in different locations. There are no meetings held in July and August, and the September meeting can sometimes be the second Saturday, depending on how Labor Day falls(we don't meet on Labor Day weekend). The regular meetings officially begin at 1:00pm, but the "Coffee, Cookies &amp; Conversation" part of the meetings begins at 12:30.

Washington State Digital Archives has many genealogical resources. You type in your name which you would like to search. You can also enter the county, type of record you are searching, etc. One of the searches I've done are the marriage searches. Often times you will be able to download the actual marriage certificate. This website is very helpful.

Web Sites

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 * Spokane County, Washington Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)