Shawnee County, Kansas Genealogy

United States Kansas  Shawnee County

Guide to Shawnee County, Kansas ancestry, family history and genealogy and courthouse sources including birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, wills, deeds and land records, Civil War records, family histories, cemeteries, churches, tax records, newspapers, and obituaries.

County Courthouse
Shawnee County Courthouse 200 E 7th Topeka, KS 66603 Phone: 785.233.8200 County Clerk has birth, marriage, and death records 1894-1911. Probate Court has marriage records 1856-1906. Clerk District Court has divorce, probate and court records. Register of Deeds has land records from 1855.

Parent County
1855--Shawnee County was created 30 August 1855 as an original county. County seat: Topeka

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

Neighboring Counties



 * Douglas
 * Jackson
 * Jefferson
 * Osage
 * Pottawatomie
 * Wabaunsee

African American
Cox. Thomas C. Blacks in Topeaka, (Shawnee County) Kansas, 1865-1915. :a social history - Baton Rouge: Louisiana State university Press c.1982 236 p. F689.T6 C69 1982

Biographies
All of the family biographies from the History of Shawnee County, Kansas and Representative Citizens (1905) by James L. King, published by Richmond &amp; Arnold are available free online at My Genealogy Hound.

Cemeteries
The Topeka State Hospital, a publicly funded institution for the care and treatment of the mentally ill in Topeka, Kansas, was in operation from 1872 to 1997. For some, the grounds of the hospital became their final resting place. There is a searchable index to the 1157 individuals buried in the hospital cemetery. With only a few exceptions, individuals were buried without a headstone.

Because most individuals were buried in unmarked graves, hospital officials used a grid pattern and designated gravesites by their distance from stone markers placed at the end of each row. The 'Location' is the distance in feet and inches from the eastern marker west to the gravesite.

Church
LDS Ward and Branch Records


 * Topeka

Migration
Early migration routes to and from for European and African American settlers included:


 * Kansas River
 * Oregon Trail 1830s to 1890s from western Missouri to Oregon City, Oregon
 * California Trail 1846 to 1869 from western Missouri to northern California
 * Mormon Trail 1846 to 1869 from Nauvoo, Illinois to Salt Lake City, Utah

Military

 * During the Civil War men from this county enlisted in the 1st Kansas Infantry Regiment, Company A, Second Kansas Infantry Regiment, Second Kansas Cavalry Regiment, Third Kansas Cavalry Regiment, Fifth Kansas Cavalry Regiment, Sixth Kansas Cavalry Regiment, Seventh Kansas Cavalry Regiment, Eighth Kansas Infantry Regiment, Ninth Kansas Cavalry Regiment, 10th Kansas Infantry Regiment, 11th Kansas Cavalry Regiment, 12th Kansas Infantry Regiment, 14th Kansas Cavalry Regiment, 15th Regiment, Kansas Cavalry, Company F, 16th Regiment Kansas Cavalry, 17th Regiment Kansas Infantry, First Kansas Colored Regiment, Second Kansas Colored Infantry Regiment, First Regiment Kansas Battery, Third Regiment Kansas Battery, Eighth Regiment Kansas United States Volunteers, 18th Regiment Kansas Cavalry and 19th Regiment Kansas Cavalry.

Newspapers
Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library Newspaper Index. Click on "newspaper index". The keyword index contains articles, obituaries and events in the Topeka Capital Journal from 1989-1999.

Obituaries
Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library Obituaries Index. Click on "obituary index". The Index covers 1906-1935 and 1971 to the present.

Also, many obituaries from 1936-1971 have been indexed.

Probate
Online Records


 * 1803 – 1987 Kansas Wills and Probate Records 1803-1987 at Ancestry.com — index and images $

Birth Records

 * 1818 - 1936 at FamilySearch.org — index
 * 1885 - 1911 Kansas, Births and Christenings Index, 1885-1911 at Ancestry.com — index $

Death Records

 * 1885 - 1930 at FamilySearch.org — index
 * 1885 - 1930 Kansas, Deaths and Burials, Index, 1885-1930 at Ancestry.com — index $

Marriage Records

 * 1840 - 1935 at FamilySearch.org — index
 * 1855 - 1911 Kansas, County Marriages, 1855-1911 at Ancestry.com — images $

Societies and Libraries
Shawnee County Historical Society

Family History Centers

 * Topeka Kansas Family History Center

Web Sites

 * USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county.
 * Shawnee County, Kansas Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
 * Shawnee County, Kansas Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)