Pottawattamie County, Iowa Genealogy

United States &gt; Iowa &gt; Pottawattamie County

Parent County
1848--Pottawattamie County was created 21 September 1848 from unorganized territory. County seat: Founded as Kanesville; renamed Council Bluffs 19 January 1953.

Boundary Changes
Apparently the new county, covering over 5,000 sq. miles, once included nearly all of Iowa's Missouri River drainage between the southern halves of what are now Monona and Crawford Counties and the northern edge of Fremont, Page, Taylor, and Ringgold Counties. The following counties were completely formed from within this expanse: Harrison, Shelby, Cass, Mills, Montgomery, and Adams; most of Audubon, along with portions of Union, Adair, Guthrie, Carroll, Crawford, and Monona Counties were also part of Pottawattamie County until 1851. However, the area near Mt. Pisgah was never in Pottawattamie County. Iowa's legislature gave the eastern half of today's Union County to Clarke County in 1846, then shrank both Clarke and neighboring Lucas County in 1847 (before either county became functional). As a result, the Mt. Pisgah community and cemetery were in a non-county area until Union County was formed in 1851 and organized in 1853.

Neighboring Counties
Cass | Harrison | Mills | Montgomery | Shelby | Douglas County, Nebraska | Sarpy County, Nebraska

Church
LDS Ward and Branch Records


 * Council Bluffs
 * Council Bluffs Dist
 * Council Point
 * Lake
 * Pottawatomie
 * Shirtses
 * Union

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


 * Missouri 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

Societies and Libraries

 * Pottawattamie County Genealogical Society Library: This Library is down the street from the Council Bluffs Public Library. Among other things, they have an obituary index for the local papers. You can contact them via their Email address which is given on their webpage.

Web Sites

 * Pottawattamie County Genealogical Society
 * Pottawattamie County -- USGenWeb
 * Mormon Pioneer Trail -- Council Bluffs
 * Mormon Pioneer Companies
 * Pottawattamie County, Iowa Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
 * Pottawattamie County, Iowa Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)