Spokane County, Washington Genealogy

County Courthouse
Spokane County Courthouse 1116 W. Broadway Spokane, WA 99260

Spokane County Courthouse finished in 1895, see history of building.

History
Abolished 19 January 1863 and merged with Stevens County. Recreated in 1879 from Stevens County.

Parent County

 * 1858--Spokane County was created 29 January 1858 from Walla Walla County. County seat: Spokane

Neighboring Counties
&lt;a href="Lincoln County, Washington"&gt;Lincoln&lt;/a&gt; | &lt;a href="Pend Oreille County, Washington"&gt;Pend Oreille&lt;/a&gt; | &lt;a href="Stevens County, Washington"&gt;Stevens&lt;/a&gt; | &lt;a href="Whitman County, Washington"&gt;Whitman&lt;/a&gt; | &lt;a href="Benewah County, Idaho"&gt;Benewah&lt;/a&gt; | &lt;a href="Bonner County, Idaho"&gt;Bonner&lt;/a&gt; | &lt;a href="Kootenai County, Idaho"&gt;Kootenai&lt;/a&gt;

Cemeteries
Spokane Cemeteries:

&lt;a href="http://www.fairmountmemorial.com/"&gt;Fairmount Memorial Association&lt;/a&gt;

They don't list the burials, but you can contact each cemetery for burial information. There are Random Acts of Kindess volunteers who will take photos if you request one. They do have some online memorials.


 * &lt;a href="http://www.fairmountmemorial.com/cem_thegrounds_fairmount.shtml"&gt;Fairmount Memorial Park&lt;/a&gt; is located at 5200 West Wellesley, Spokane, WA 99205. Their phone is (509) 326-3800. You can also find memorials and photos at &lt;a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&amp;CRid=76786&amp;CScn=fairmount+memorial+park&amp;CScntry=4&amp;CSst=50&amp;"&gt;http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&amp;CRid=76786&amp;CScn=fairmount+memorial+park&amp;CScntry=4&amp;CSst=50&amp;&lt;/a&gt;.  You can also find some memorials at &lt;a href="http://www.interment.net/data/us/wa/spokane/fairmount/fairmount.htm"&gt;www.interment.net/data/us/wa/spokane/fairmount/fairmount.htm&lt;/a&gt;
 * &lt;a href="http://www.fairmountmemorial.com/cem_thegrounds_greenwood.shtml"&gt;Greenwood Memorial Terrace&lt;/a&gt; is located at 211 N. Government Way, Spokane, WA 99224. Their phone is (509) 838-1405. You can find some memorials at &lt;a href="http://www.interment.net/data/us/wa/spokane/greenterrace/greenwoodter.htm"&gt;www.interment.net/data/us/wa/spokane/greenterrace/greenwoodter.htm&lt;/a&gt;  Other memials and photos are at &lt;a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&amp;CRid=76838&amp;CScn=greenwood+memorial+terrace&amp;CScntry=4&amp;CSst=50&amp;"&gt;www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&amp;CRid=76838&amp;CScn=greenwood+memorial+terrace&amp;CScntry=4&amp;CSst=50&amp;&lt;/a&gt;
 * &lt;a href="http://www.fairmountmemorial.com/cem_thegrounds_riverside.shtml"&gt;Riverside Memorial Park&lt;/a&gt; is located at 508 N. Government Way, Spokane, WA 99224. Their phone is (509) 838-1405. Memorials are at &lt;a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&amp;CRid=77015&amp;CScn=riverside+memorial+park&amp;CScntry=4&amp;CSst=50&amp;"&gt;www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&amp;CRid=77015&amp;CScn=riverside+memorial+park&amp;CScntry=4&amp;CSst=50&amp;&lt;/a&gt;  and &lt;a href="http://www.interment.net/data/us/wa/spokane/riverside/index.htm"&gt;www.interment.net/data/us/wa/spokane/riverside/index.htm&lt;/a&gt;
 * &lt;a href="http://www.fairmountmemorial.com/cem_thegrounds_spokane.shtml"&gt;Spokane Memorial Gardens&lt;/a&gt; is located at South 5909 Cheney-Spokane Road, Spokane, WA 99224. Their phone is (509) 448-2620. Some memorials are at &lt;a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&amp;CRid=77059&amp;CScn=spokane+memorial+gardens&amp;CScntry=4&amp;CSst=50&amp;"&gt;www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&amp;CRid=77059&amp;CScn=spokane+memorial+gardens&amp;CScntry=4&amp;CSst=50&amp;&lt;/a&gt; and at &lt;a href="http://www.interment.net/data/us/wa/spokane/smg/index.htm"&gt;www.interment.net/data/us/wa/spokane/smg/index.htm&lt;/a&gt;
 * &lt;a href="http://www.fairmountmemorial.com/cem_thegrounds_woodlawn.shtml"&gt;Woodlawn Cemetery&lt;/a&gt; is located at 909 S. Thierman Road, Spokane, WA 99212. Their phone is (509) 326-3800. Memorials can be seen at &lt;a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&amp;CRid=2143377&amp;CScn=woodlawn+cemetery&amp;CScntry=4&amp;CSst=50&amp;"&gt;www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&amp;CRid=2143377&amp;CScn=woodlawn+cemetery&amp;CScntry=4&amp;CSst=50&amp;&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="Www.interment.net/data/us/wa/spokane/woodlawn/woodlawn cemetery.htm"&gt;data/us/wa/spokane/woodlawn/woodlawn_cemetery.htm&lt;/a&gt;

Census

 * 1860
 * 1870
 * 1880
 * 1885 Territorial Census Available at Washington State Digital Archives
 * 1887 Territorial Census Available at Washington State Digital Archives
 * 1890 Veterans
 * 1900
 * 1910 Available at Washington State Digital Archives
 * 1920
 * 1930

Church
LDS Ward and Branch Records


 * Dishman
 * Spokane
 * Spokane Central
 * Spokane N.

Court
Spokane County Courthouse has Superior Court Records from 1880 to present. Criminal cases, divorces, probates, and other civil cases. Adopotion records sealed by court order.

Military
World Ward I soldiers' miscellaneous lists for this county have been digitized at the &lt;a href="http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/RecordSeriesInfo.aspx?rsid=6"&gt;Washington State Digital Archives&lt;/a&gt;.

Naturalization
&lt;a href="http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/RecordSeriesInfo.aspx?rsid=2"&gt;Washington State Digital Archives&lt;/a&gt; has digitized various types of naturalization-related records, including declarations of intentions, delayed birth files, naturalization affidavits, notifications of application for admission to US citizenship, orders fixing naturalization terms, petitions and records, petitions, receipts for certificates of citizenship, record of final decrees of citizenship and record of petitions dockets. Depending on the county, records range from 1854-1988.

Newspapers

 * See the Vital Records section below for obit indexes
 * Spokane Chronicle - 2,800+ issues from 1982-1992 available online; via Google News Archive
 * Spokane Falls Daily Chronicle - 250+ issues from 1890 available online; via Google News Archive
 * Spokane Falls Review - 770+ issues from 1883-1891 avaible online; via Google News Archive
 * Spokane Daily Chronicle - 27,000+ issues from 1884-1982 freely available online via Google News Archive
 * Spokane Review - 1,000+ issues from 1891-1994 available online; via Google News Archive
 * Spokane Weekly Review - 100+ issues from 1892-1894 available online; via Google News Archive
 * Spokesman-Review - 31,000+ issues from 1889-2007 available online; via Google News Archive
 * Current newspapers include the Spokesman Review; Spokane Daily Chronicle

Probate
Courthouse has Probate files from 1880 to present

Births

 * Spokane County Birth Records -- people born in Spokane County from 1890-1907; via the Washington State Digital Archives. The names were taken from the Spokane County Birth returns.


 * Family History Library has Washington State Birth Index 1907-1954 on microfilm and also the Birth Certificates are on microfilm

Marriages

 * Marriages from 9 Jan 1880 to 10 Dec 1910 - available on the Western States Marriage Index website
 * Spokane County Marriage Certificates 1880-present - available at Washington State Digital Archives 

Deaths

 * Spokane County Death Records - people who died in Spokane County from 1891-1907; via the Washington State Digital Archive
 * Eastern Washington Genealogical Society Obituary Index - covers Spokane and surrounding counties
 * Washington Death Certificates 1907-1960 - no images are available. A transcribed death certificate may contain such information as name of the deceased, date and place of death, age, gender, birth date and birth place, mother’s maiden name and name of spouse, place of residence, occupation and certificate numbers. Family History Library has Washington State Death Certificates on microfilm 1907-1961; via FamilySearch

Societies and Libraries
&lt;a href="Www.spokanelibrary.org"&gt;Spokane Public Library&lt;/a&gt; has a &lt;a href="http://www.spokanelibrary.org/index.php?page=research&amp;cat=resources&amp;id=40"&gt;genealogy&lt;/a&gt; department. Their &lt;a href="http://www.spokanelibrary.org/index.php?page=downtown"&gt;downtown branch&lt;/a&gt; has a growing genealogy section. I will try to obtain a general list of the types of holdings they have.

Resources of the Spokane Public Library:


 * Obituaries - one source is from the Spokesman Review newspaper which has been indexed by the library. You can now search for a &lt;a href="http://old.spokanelibrary.org/obituaries/"&gt;name&lt;/a&gt;.  You will be given the name/date/newspaper/page number for the obituary.  You can then contact the library at &lt;a href="mailto:telref@spokanelibrary.org"&gt;telref@spokanelibrary.org&lt;/a&gt; for an image of the actual obituary.  The obituaries are complete from January 1, 2008, with other obituaries that have been added on an as requested basis.  To obtain a death date you can check the Washington State Digital Archives site, shown below.  Another location to check is the &lt;a href="http://www.spokesmanreview.com/obits/"&gt;Spokesman Review&lt;/a&gt; site.  They have online obituaries from 2005-date.  Washington Death Index - the library has records of the Washington Death Index on microfilm from 1907-2004.
 * &lt;a href="http://www.ewgsi.org"&gt;Eastern Washington Genealogical Society&lt;/a&gt; is getting ready to celebrate its 75th birthday in 2010. The Society meets the first Saturday of the month in February, March, April, May, November and December. Meetings for January and June are usually luncheon meetings, held in different locations. There are no meetings held in July and August, and the September meeting can sometimes be the second Saturday, depending on how Labor Day falls(we don't meet on Labor Day weekend). The regular meetings officially begin at 1:00pm, but the "Coffee, Cookies &amp; Conversation" part of the meetings begins at 12:30.

&lt;a href="http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/default.aspx"&gt;Washington State Digital Archives&lt;/a&gt; has many genealogical resources. You type in your name which you would like to search. You can also enter the county, type of record you are searching, etc. One of the searches I've done are the marriage searches. Often times you will be able to download the actual marriage certificate. This website is very helpful.

Web Sites

 * Linkpendium: Spokane County, Washington Genelogy and Family History