Daviess County, Missouri Genealogy

Guide to Daviess County, Missouri ancestry, family history, and genealogy birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

County Courthouse
Recorder of Deeds has land records; Probate Court has probate records.

History
The History of Daviess County, Missouri (1882) is available online free from Google Books.

Parent County
1836 Daviess County was created 29 December 1836 from Ray County. County seat: Gallatin

Boundary Changes
For animated maps illustrating Missouri county boundary changes, "Rotating Formation Missouri County Boundary Maps" (1804-1889) 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




 * Arthur Paul Moser has short descriptions of towns in Daviess county, many of them no longer exist.


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

Neighboring Counties
Caldwell •  Dekalb  •  Gentry  •  Grundy  •  Harrison  •  Livingston

Cemeteries

 * Daviess County Cemeteries has about 70 transcriptions of Daviess county cemeteries. Many of these transcriptions are current only to the 1970s.  The page also includes a historical description of all known Daviess county cemeteries and directions to their location.
 * Winston Cemetery Transcriptions and Muddy Cemetery Transcriptions; more Muddy Cemetery Transcriptions and more Muddy Cemetery Transcriptions.
 * Daviess County, Missouri, Cemetery Records, Vol. 2 at Ancestry.com ($)


 * Missouri Cemeteries Missouri Genealogy Cemeteries

Census

 * 1732-1933 - at FamilySearch — index and images

The 1876 State Census for Daviess county is available at Ancestry.com or on microfilm ($15) from the Missouri State Archives.

Church

 * Daviess County Churches, USGS -- Login required.

Baptist

 * Daviess County, Missouri - Primitive Baptist Library in Carthage, IL


 * Grand River Baptist Church, History and list of early members - Missouri Genealogy


 * William Jewell College - William Jewell College, a major repository for Missouri Baptist records

Catholic
Gallatin


 * 1871 - 1875 Catholic Church, Gallatin, Baptism Index 1871-1875. Batch  at FamilySearch - free.

Court

 * 1800 - 1991 at FamilySearch — index and images

Land
There are two types of patents. Those issued by the state and those by the Federal Government.

The Missouri Secretary of State sponsors a site with land patents for Daviess county 1831-1969.

Patents issued by the Federal Government for land in Daviess County. Enter Missouri and your ancestor's surname. If you find a record for your ancestor you will be able to download a PDF of the patent. You should also consider ordering the associated case file.

Local Histories

 * Daviess County Historical Society lists a variety of county and family histories and other resources.
 * Leopard, John C. History of Daviess and Gentry counties, Missouri. Tucson, Arizona : W.C. Cox, 1974.
 * Online at FamilySearch (Free)
 * The History of Daviess County, Missouri : an encyclopedia of useful information, and a compendium of actual facts .... Kansas City, Missouri : Birdsall &amp; Dean, 1882.
 * Online at FamilySearch (Free)
 * Jordin, John F. Memories : being a story of early times in Daviess County, Missouri, and character sketches of some of the men who helped to develop its latent resources. Gallatin, Mo. : North Missourian Press, [1904?].
 * Online at FamilySearch (Free)

Maps



 * Maps of Missouri (1804-1889)
 * Family Maps of (land patent maps) at HistoryGeo.com ($). Free surname search.


 * This map shows Daviess County townships and known cemeteries within each.


 * Interactive map of Daviess County townships (Histopolis)


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

Military

 * 1900 - 1941 at FamilySearch — images


 * Names of soldiers are engraved in the pavement bricks of the war memorial near the courthouse.

Civil War
Online Records
 * 1861 - 1865  at FamilySearch — index
 * 1861 - 1865  at FamilySearch — index
 * at FamilySearch — images

Regiments

Service men in Daviess County, Missouri served in various regiments. Men often joined a company (within a regiment) that originated in their county. Listed below are companies that were specifically formed in Daviess County, Missouri:

World War II

 * 1941-1946 - at FamilySearch — index

Naturalization and Citizenship

 * 1800 - 1991 at FamilySearch — index

Newspapers

 * The Genealogy Department of the Daviess County Library, given a specific date, will do lookups in the newspapers listed on their website for a small fee.


 * The Archives of The Chillicothe Constitution Tribune (1889-2009) provides free access to their newspapers online. Their newspapers covered local news that included residents from Daviess County communities.

Newspapers

 * The Genealogy Department of the Daviess County Library, given a specific date, will do lookups in the newspapers listed on their website for a small fee.


 * The Archives of The Chillicothe Constitution Tribune (1889-2009) provides free access to their newspapers online. Their newspapers covered local news that included residents from Daviess County communities.

Probate
Online Probate Records
 * 1750 - 1988 at FamilySearch — images
 * 1766 - 1988 Missouri Wills and Probate Records 1766-1988 at Ancestry.com — index and images $

Taxation
As of Mar 2013 neither the Missouri State Archives, nor the FHL appear to have early tax lists in their microfilm collections for Daviess County. So if they exist, they are probably held by the county clerks office at the courthouse.

Births

 * 1827 - 1935 at FamilySearch.org — index
 * 1851 - 1910 Missouri Birth Records, 1851-1910 at Ancestry.com — index/images $
 * 1883 - 1891 Daviess County Birth Index 1883-1891. Batch at FamilySearch - free.

Marriages

 * 1750 - 1920 at FamilySearch.org — index
 * 1776-1988 - Missouri, United States Marriages at FindMyPast — index $
 * 1800 - 1991 at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1805 - 2002 Missouri, Marriage Records, 1805-2002 at Ancestry.com $
 * 1836 - 1855 Daviess County, Missouri Marriages, 1836-55 at Ancestry.com $
 * 1837 - 1899 Daviess County Marriages 1837 - 1899
 * 1838 - 1881 Daviess County Marriage Books A, C and D Index 1838-1881. Batch at FamilySearch - free.
 * 1850 Missouri Marriages to 1850 at Ancestry.com — index $
 * 1878 - 1885 Daviess County Marriage Books E thru G Index 1878-1885. Batch at FamilySearch - free.

Deaths

 * 1834 - 1910 Missouri, Death Records, 1834-1910 at Ancestry.com — index/images $
 * 1867 - 1976 at FamilySearch.org — index
 * 1883 - 1891 Daviess County Death Index 1883-1891. Batch at FamilySearch - free.
 * The Missouri Secretary of State has Missouri Death Certificates more than 50 yrs old starting in 1910, a few earlier. Some certificates were never completed or filed, others have creative spellings. The information is only as good as the informant could recall at the time.

Genealogy Societies, Archives and Libraries

 * List of Missouri Archives, Libraries, Publications, Historical &amp; Genealogical Societies


 * Daviess County Library Main Library 306 West Grand Gallatin, MO 64640 Phone: 660-663-3222 (birth and death records on microfilm 1883-1893 and local census for 1876)


 * Midwest Genealogy Center 3440 S. Lee's Summit Road Independence, MO 64055 Phone: 816-252-7228


 * State Historical Society of Missouri Website has links to the different research centers in Missouri


 * State Archives 600 West Main Street Jefferson City, MO 65101 Main Office: 573-751-4936 Email: [mailto:Info@sos.mo.gov Info@sos.mo.gov]


 * Daviess County Genealogical Society


 * Daviess County Historical Society

Family History Centers



 * Gallatin Missouri Family History Center 211 Ash St, Gallatin, MO 64640 United States Location Map