Oregon, Wasco County Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Collection Time Period
The collection covers the years 1854 to 1960.

Record Description
This collection includes digital images of records filmed at the office of the Wasco County Clerk in The Dalles, Oregon. It includes the following:


 * Land records (1854-1960)
 * Marriage records (1856-1920)

Record Content
Land records generally include the following information:




 * Names of interested individuals
 * Date of transaction
 * Monies exchanged
 * Legal description of the land parcel
 * Name of witnesses
 * Any other pertinent information, such as: death or estate information or names of dependent children

Marriage records generally include the following information:


 * Name of the groom
 * Name of the bride, often including the maiden name of the bride
 * Names of the officiator and witnesses
 * Names of the parents or guardians of the bride and groom
 * Date of the marriage
 * Birthplaces of the bride and groom
 * Residences of the bride and groom
 * Age and races of the bride and groom
 * Marital status of the bride and groom

How to Use the Record
To begin your search in the land records, it is helpful to know the following:


 * Names of interested parties
 * Approximate date of the transaction
 * Location of the property

To begin your search in the marriage records, it is helpful to know the following:


 * The name of the person at the time of marriage
 * The approximate marriage date
 * The marriage place
 * The name of the intended spouse

Identify the record to be searched
From the Record Description list, identify the kind of record you would like to search (land or marriages) and click on the title link to select it.

Find the image
Start searching individual images or pages that you have listed. Compare the information in the records to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct person. You may need to compare the information of more than one person to make this determination.

Using the Information
When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details. Add this new information to your records of each family. The information may also lead you to other records about your ancestors.

The following examples show ways you can use the information:


 * Use the residence and names to locate church and census records.
 * Use the marriage date and place as the basis for compiling a new family group or for verifying existing information.
 * Use the birth date or age along with the place of birth of each partner to find a couple's birth records and parents' names.
 * Use the parents’ birth places to find former residences and to establish a migration pattern for the family.
 * The name of the officiator is a clue to their religion or area of residence in the county. However, ministers may have reported marriages performed in other counties.
 * Occupations listed can lead you to other types of records such as employment or military records.
 * Search for the land transactions of a couple and their children. The parents may have sold or given property to a son or daughter. Such transactions confirm relationships that might not be found in other records.
 * Search for records of people in the county who shared a surname. These may have been the couple’s parents, uncles, or other relatives. Your ancestor may have been an heir who sold inherited land that had belonged to parents or grandparents.
 * To find later generations, search the land records a few years before and after a person’s death. Your ancestor may have sold or given land to his or her heirs before death, or the heirs may have sold the land after the individual died. For daughters, the names of their husbands are often provided. For sons, the given names of their wives may be included. Heirs may have sold their interest in the land to another heir, even though the record may not indicate this. Continue this process for identifying each succeeding generation.
 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.

Tips to Keep in Mind

 * Some counties were subdivided or the boundaries may have changed. Consider searching neighboring counties as well since that courthouse may have been more convenient for the person.
 * When searching land records, one deed does not usually give sufficient information about a couple and their children. A careful study of all deeds for the person or the family will yield a richer return of information.
 * For each parcel of land owned, you should obtain two documents:


 * 1) The deed that documents when ownership transferred to the individual or the family
 * 2) The deed that documents when ownership was transferred to someone else


 * Earlier records may not contain as much information as records created after the late 1800s.
 * There is also some variation in the information given from one marriage record to another record.

If you are unable to find the ancestors you are looking for, try the following:


 * Check for variant spellings of the names.
 * Check for an index. There are often indexes at the beginning of each volume.
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby counties.

Record History
County officials, usually the county clerk, began keeping records from the time the county was formed.

Why the Record Was Created
Land transactions were recorded to document the transfer of land ownership, establish legal rights to land, track responsibilities for tax revenues, and designate persons to serve in various functions of the county, such as maintaining public roads in the early times.

Marriage records were created to legalize marital relationships and to protect the interests of the wife and other heirs to legal claims on property.

Record Reliability
The information in both land records and marriage records is generally reliable.

Related Websites
Wasco County, Oregon Free Public Records

Related Wiki Articles

 * Wasco County, Oregon
 * Oregon Land and Property Records
 * Oregon Vital Records

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information. This will help you or others to find the record again. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records.

A suggested format for keeping track of records that you have searched is found in the wiki article Help:How to Cite FamilySearch Collections.

Example of a Source Citation for a Record Found in a Collection
"Oregon, Waco County Records, 1854-1960" Images, FamilySearch (https://www,familysearch.org: accessed 21 December 2011). entry for Christian F. Peterson and Mike Thornton, Warranty Deed, November 26, 1926; citing County Records, Waco, Deed record, 1926-1927, v.78. Image 5; Waco County Clerk, Roseburg, Oregon, United States.

Citation for This Collection
The following citation refers to the original source of the data and images published on FamilySearch.org Historical Records. It may include the author, custodian, publisher, and archive for the original records.

Oregon. Wasco County Records, 1854-1960. Wasco County Clerk. The Dalles, Oregon.

Information about creating source citations for FamilySearch Historical Collections is listed in the wiki article Help:How to Create Source Citations For FamilySearch Historical Records Collections.