Benton County, Missouri Genealogy

United States Missouri  Benton County

Benton County; PO Box 1238; Warsaw, MO 65355-1238; Ph. 660.438.7326 Details: (Benton remained unorganized until Jan 1837; in 1845, 24 sq. miles of northwest part of Benton became part of Pettis Co &amp; Hickory Co was created, reducing Benton to its present size) (Co Clk has b &amp; d rec from 1883 &amp; m rec from 1839; Clk Cir Ct has div &amp; ct rec; Pro Ct has pro rec; Redr Deeds has land rec)

Parent County
1835--Benton County was created 3 January 1835 from Pettis and St. Clair Counties. County seat: Warsaw

Boundary Changes
See an interactive map of Benton County border changes at N2Genealogy.

Places/Localities

 * The State Historical Society of Missouri has information on historical Missouri place names for all 114 Missouri Counties.

Neighboring Counties

 * Camden
 * Henry
 * Hickory
 * Morgan
 * Pettis
 * St. Clair

Local Histories
A sketch of the history of Benton County, Missouri by James Henry Lay (1876), only 76 pages, is available online free from Google Books.

Maps
Map of Benton County townships (Histopolis)

The University of Missouri Digital Library has digital copies of Missouri county plat books (ca. 1930) for all Missouri counties including Benton County. The city of St. Louis is not included in this collection.

Newspapers
Newspaperarchive.com ($) has historical newspapers available on-line. Their database has Sedalia newspapers from the late 1800's and early 1900's that sometimes included Benton County residents.

Deaths

 * Missouri State Archives provides on-line access to Missouri Death Certificates more than 50 yrs old starting in 1910.

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers

Web Sites

 * USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.