Spokane County, Washington Genealogy

United States Washington  Spokane County

Guide to Spokane County Washington genealogy. Birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.


 * Quick start:
 * Census
 * Birth
 * Marriage
 * Death

County Overview

 * Parent County: created 29 January 1858 from Walla Walla
 * Abolished 19 January 1863 and merged with Stevens County
 * Recreated in 1879 from Stevens County
 * County Seat: Spokane
 * Neighboring Counties: Lincoln | Pend Oreille | Stevens | Whitman | Benewah | Bonner | Kootenai

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

Resources
The types of records that follow are used for genealogy and family history. Most tell what you may learn and how to locate the records. Links to Internet sites usually go directly to entries with names, images, or information.

Cemeteries
Spokane Cemeteries


 * Fairmount Memorial Association

Contact each cemetery for burial information.


 * Fairmount Memorial Park, 5200 West Wellesley, Spokane, WA 99205, 509–326-3800. Search memorials at Find A Grave
 * Greenwood Memorial Terrace, 211 N. Government Way, Spokane, WA 99224, 509–838-1405. Search memorials at Find A Grave
 * Riverside Memorial Park] 508 N. Government Way, Spokane, WA 99224, 509–838-1405. Search memorials at Find A Grave
 * Spokane Memorial Gardens, 5909 S. Cheney-Spokane Road, Spokane, WA 99224, 509–448-2620. Search memorials at Find A Grave
 * Woodlawn Cemetery, 909 S. Thierman Road, Spokane, WA 99212, 509–326-3800. Search memorials at Find A Grave

Other Spokane cemeteries

Census

 * 1860
 * 1870
 * 1880
 * 1885 Territorial Census
 * 1887 Territorial Census
 * 1900
 * 1910
 * 1920
 * 1930
 * 1940

Church Records
LDS Ward and Branch Records


 * Dishman
 * Spokane
 * Spokane Central
 * Spokane N.

Court Records
Many of your ancestors may be found in court records as defendants, plaintiffs, witnesses, or jurors. Court records can establish family relationships and places of residence, occupations, and other family history information. See Washington Court Records for the various courts through the years.

For specialized court records, see Divorce · Guardianship · Land · Naturalization · Probate

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

Japanese
World War II Files, 1942-1946

Public Welfare/Social Security Department, (Japanese Internment) Assistance Cases, Evacuee Referrals for Resettlement and Assistance, 1945-1946 from the Washington State Archives – Digital Archives

Genealogy
Washington State Digital Archives has many genealogical resources. Search by name, county, record type. Download marriage certificates.

Guardianship
Guardianship of orphans or adults unable to manage their own affairs were handled by the probate and the Federal District courts. See Washington Court Records.

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

History Timeline
Historical County Boundaries from Newberry Library Emphasis for this timeline is on events that affected migration, records, or record-keeping. Unless otherwise mentioned, the events below were gleaned from Wilma, David. Okanogan County -- Thumbnail History, History Link.org Essay 7608.

Maps



 * Family Maps of Spokane County, Washington (land patent maps) at HistoryGeo.com ($). Free surname search.

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

Naturalization and Citizenship
Declarations of Intent before 1906 often include the nation of origin, his* foreign and "Americanized" names, residence, and date of arrival. See Washington Naturalization and Citizenship for more information. (*Women were not naturalized until 1922 in the United States.)

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

Obituaries

 * Spokesman Review – obituaries 2005 to present


 * Obituaries from the Spokesman Review newspaper have been indexed by the Spokane Public Library. Search by name. Results include name/date/newspaper/page number needed to obtain the obituary. 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 additional obituaries added from requests. To find date of death search the Washington State Digital Archives.

Probate Records
Courthouse has probate files from 1880 to present.

Public Records

 * Original Spokane County Commissioner Journals, 1860-1863, available at Stevens County Commissioner's Office. Images will be available at Crossroads on the Columbia later this year.

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

The Spokane County Courthouse was completed in 1895, see history of building.

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers
 * Spokane Washington Family History Center
 * Spokane Washington North Family History Center
 * Spokane Washington West Family History Center
 * Spokane Washington East Family History Center

Libraries
Spokane Public Library has a genealogy department. The downtown branch has a growing genealogy section.

Resources of the Spokane Public Library:


 * Obituaries from the Spokesman Review newspaper [see Spokane County Obituaries]
 * Washington Death Index The library has records of the Washington Death Index on microfilm 1907-2004.

Societies

 * 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 meeting begins at 12:30.

Birth

 * 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 1890-1907. The names were taken from the Spokane County Birth returns.

The Family History Library has the Washington State Birth Index 1907-1954 and also the birth certificates on microfilm.

Marriage

 * 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 1891-1907

Divorce
Divorce records give the names of the parties and may give the date and place of their marriage. See Washington Vital Records for excellent information.

Death

 * 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.


 * The Family History Library has Washington State Death Certificates on microfilm 1907-1961.

Websites

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

Archives, Libraries, etc.
Resources for are available in libraries, archives, and other repositories at all levels: the town, the county, the state (including universities), and the nation.


 * Check websites and catalogs, such as items in (Utah) or Allen County Public Library (Indiana) for.

Towns and Communities
See a list of towns and communities in Spokane County per Wikipedia.