Emmet County, Iowa Genealogy

Guide to Emmet 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 Robert Emmet. The County has Estherville as its seat and the County was created 1851. The County is located in the north central area of the state.

County Courthouse
Estherville City Hall 2 North 7th Street Estherville, Iowa 51334 Phone: 712-362-7771 Fax: 712-362-7773

Emmet County

Parent County
1851--Emmet County was created 15 January 1851 from unorganized territory. It was attaced to Bonne and Webster Counties prior to organization 7 February 1859. County seat:  Estherville

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
There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

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
Clay • Dickinson •  Kossuth •  Palo Alto •  Jackson County, Minnesota •  Martin County, Minnesota

Cemeteries
Armstrong-- Armstrong Grove Armstrong--Mount Calvary Armstrong--St. Mary's Catholic

Dolliver--Lincoln Township Dolliver--Palenstine

Ellsworth--Union

Estherville --East Side Estherville-- East Side Memorial Estherville--Estherville Lutheran Estherville--Norwegian Estherville--Oak Hill Estherville--St. Patrick's Catholic

Gruver--Center Township (Old Swan Lake) Gruver--Swan Lake

High Lake Township-- High Lake-Jack Creek,

Ringsted--Ringsted Memorial Ringsted--St. John's Lutheran Ringsted--St. Paul's Lutheran

Wallingford--Wallingford Lutheran

Census
Iowa recorded not only the federal census but state census through out the years too. The state census contains very valuable genealogical information. Where the census information can be found, what years it was taken, mortality schedules, census substitutions and much more is discussed in the very informative Iowa Census article.

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
Armstrong


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

Emmet County


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

Local Histories

 * History of Emmet County and Dickinson County, Iowa : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement. Chicago, Illinois : Pioneer Pub., 1917.
 * Online at Internetarchive (Free)

Maps

 * Old Antique Atlases &amp; Maps of Iowa

Military

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

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.

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
Emmett County Genealogical Society c/o Estherville Public Library 613 Central Avenue Estherville IA 51334-2294

Emmet County Historical Society Museum 1720 3 Ave S Estherville, IA 51334 Telephone:712-362-2750

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.

Estherville Public Library They have indexed listing for interments in the local cemeteries