Lane County, Oregon Genealogy

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

Description
Lane County was named for Joseph Lane, Oregon's first territorial governor. The county is located in the west-central area of the state.

County Courthouse
Lane County Courthouse 125 East 8th Avenue Eugene, OR 97401 Phone: 541-682-4020 County Website
 * Deeds and Records Archives has marriage, land, military and naturalization records from 1855.
 * Court Archives has probate and divorce records.
 * Clerk Circuit Court has court records.
 * County Records Inventory listing the records held at the Lane County Court House as of July/August 2012.

Populated Places
For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit HomeTown Locator. The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:

Defunct Post Offices

 * Ada: Post Office established 1892. Named for Miss Ada Wilkes, a daughter of an old-time resident. She was subsequently Mrs. Ada Cleveland.
 * Alma: Alma is in the southwest part of Lane County on the Siuslaw River. Post Office was established in 1888, with A. P. Condray as first postmaster. Named for Alma Johnson, daughter of Arthur and Alice Johnson, early settlers in the community.
 * Alpha: The post office at Alpha was established in 1890, and was named for Alpha Lundy, the daughter of the first postmaster, Mrs. Flora B. Lundy. Alpha is the first letter of the greek alphabet.
 * Alvadore: Alvadore was named for Alvadore Welch of Portland, who built the Portland, Eugene and Eastern Railway through the community. The railway was later acquired by the Southern Pacific Railroad, but in 1936 the track was torn up. Alvadore post office was established in 1914.

History Timeline
28 January 1851: Lane county was created from Linn (Non-County Area 3) and Umpqua (Non-County Area 4) Counties. (Source: Newberry Library) 11 January 1854: Part was taken to form Wasco 07 January 1852: Lost small area to creation of Douglas. (Ore. Terr. Laws 1851, 3rd reg. sess., p. 18)  22 December 1853: Gained from Umpqua (extinct); gained from Non-County Area 4; exchanged with Douglas. (Ore. Terr. Special Laws, 1853, 5th reg. sess., p. 13)  19 November 1885: Gained from Douglas. (Ore. Laws 1885, gen., 13th sp. sess., p. 3)  16 February 1887: Gained from Linn. (Ore. Laws 1887, gen., 14th reg. sess., p. 126)  19 Feb 1903: Gained from Douglas. (Ore. Laws 1903, 22nd reg. sess., pp. 115-116) 29 January 1907: Exchanged with Linn. (Ore. Laws 1907, gen., 24th reg. sess., ch. 3/pp. 12-14)  19 February 1907: Gained from Linn. (Ore. Laws 1907, gen., 24th reg. sess., ch. 63/pp. 114-115)  12 February 1915: Gained from Linn and exchanged with Douglas. Area annexed from Linn was approximately 120 acres along the Willamette River near the present town of Lancaster [too small to map]. (Ore. Laws 1915, gen., 28th reg. sess., ch. 65/pp. 74-77)  15 February 1923: Lost to Benton and Lincoln. (Ore. Laws 1923, gen., 32nd reg. sess., ch. 92/pp. 129-131)  3 March 1927: Boundary with Lincoln redefined to correct minor errors in 15 February 1923 description [no change]. (Ore. Laws 1927, gen., 34th reg. sess., ch. 278/pp. 350-351) 6 March 1931: Gained small area from Lincoln when boundary was redefined to correct an error in the previous description. (Ore. Laws 1931, gen., 36th reg. sess., ch. 288/p. 514)

Church Records
 Lutheran
 * Records of Bethesda Evangelical Lutheran Church, Eugene, in Evangelical Lutheran Church in America database at Archives.com ($).
 * 1781-1969 U.S., Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Church Records, 1781-1969 at Ancestry — index & images, ($)

 List of Churches and Church Parishes
 * FamilySearch Places: Map of cities and towns in this county - How to Use FS Places

Court Records
Lane County Court is structured differently. Check the County Records Inventory link for addresses for location of records (left column).
 * County Records Inventory listing the records held at the Lane County Court House as of July/August 2012.

Maps and Gazetteers

 * FamilySearch Places: Map of cities and towns in this county - How to Use FS Places

Migration
Details about the rivers and waterways where farms and settlements are often found along them. See Rivers and Waterways

Military Records
 Civil War


 * 1861-1865 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images

World War I
 * 1919-1920 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1921-1938 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images

Newspapers
Oregon Online Historical Newspapers - identifies historical archived and digitized newspapers available online on both free and pay-to-access websites.

Probate Records
Online Probate Indexes and Records
 * 1833-1963 Oregon Wills and Probate Records 1833-1963 at Ancestry.com — index & images ($)

School Records
Lane Education Service District
 * Lane Education Service District 1200 Highway 99 North Eugene, OR 97402 Phone: 541-461-8200

Social Security Records

 * 1935-2014 at FamilySearch — How to use this collection; index. Also at Ancestry, findmypast, Fold3, GenealogyBank, MyHeritage, and Steve Morse. Click here for more information.
 * 1936-2007 U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007

Birth

 * 1842-1917 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images; Also at: Ancestry ($)
 * 1860-1952 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index

Marriage

 * 1826-1975 Oregon, United States Marriages at Findmypast — index ($)
 * 1842-1917 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images; Also at: Ancestry ($)
 * 1849-1884;1991-2006 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1852-1921 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1906-1968 Oregon, U.S., State Marriages, 1906-1968 at Ancestry - index & images ($)
 * Western States Marriage Index at BYU-Idaho
 * 1885-1896 Marriage Index 1885-1896 Actually is a book of affiants reporting the marriages. Historical Records Collection

FamilySearch Centers

 * Cottage Grove Oregon FamilySearch Center
 * Eugene Oregon FamilySearch Center
 * Florence Oregon FamilySearch Center
 * Reedsport Oregon FamilySearch Center
 * Oregon Genealogical Society, Inc. - an affiliate library
 * Siuslaw Public Library - an affiliate library

Libraries
Libraries of Lane County 13 Libraries Listed Website

Museums
Lane County History Museum 740 W 13th Ave Eugene 97402-4010 541-682-4242 Website

Societies
Cottage Grove Genealogical Society 700 Gibbs Ave Cottage Grove, Oregon Phone: 541-942-9570 Email: [mailto:cggenealogy@cggenealogy.org cggenealogy@cggenealogy.org] Website

Websites

 * Lane County GenWeb part of OR GenWeb
 * USGenWeb Archives


 * – The FamilySearch catalog contains descriptions and access information for all genealogical materials (including books, online materials, microfilm, microfiche, and publications) in their collection.  Use Historical Records to search for specific individuals in genealogical records.