Sedgwick County, Kansas Genealogy

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

Description
The County was named for John Sedgwick. The County has Wichita as its seat and the County was created February 26, 1867. The County is located in the south central area of the state.

County Courthouse
Sedgwick County Courthouse 525 N Main Street Wichita, KS 67203 Phone: 316.383.7666 Website District Probate Court has marriage and probate records from 1870. District Civil Court has court records. County Clerk has land records from 1887. Community Health Department (1900 E. 9th, Wichita, KS 67214) has birth and death records.

Populated Places
The following are locations in Sedgwick County, Kansas:

Cemeteries
BillionGraves: Each page has Google map, and searchable database of photographed headstones.
 * Cheney Cemetery, Cheney
 * Eldridge Cemetery, Union
 * Harrington Cemetery, Conway Springs
 * Highland Cemetery, Wichita
 * Pleasant Ridge Cemetery, Goddard
 * Ressurection Cemetery, Wichita
 * Viola Cemetery, Viola

State and Territorial Census Records

 * 1855-1925 - Kansas State Census Collection, 1855-1925 at Ancestry — ($), Index and images; covers census years 1855-1859, 1865, 1875, 1885, 1895, 1905, 1915, 1925
 * 1860 - at FamilySearch — Index and images
 * 1860 - 1860 U.S. Federal Census for Kansas Territory at Ancestry — ($), Index and images
 * 1865 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1875 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1885 - at FamilySearch — images
 * 1895 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1919-1961 - Kansas, City and County Census Records, 1919-1961 at Ancestry — Partial index (4 counties) and images

Federal Census Records
The 1870 Census was the first Federal Census taken for Kansas after it became a state in 1861. For links to Federal Census indexes, see Kansas Census.

Land and Property Records
Online Land Records
 * Land records at Kansas Historical Society
 * 1882 Land Plat book for Sedgwick County - image of plat book
 * 1905 Land Plat book for Sedgwick County - image of plat book

For more information see Kansas Land and Property
 * Land Patent Search - index to federal patents and homesteads on the Bureau of Land Management website, some images available
 * 1796-1907 - U.S. General Land Office Records, 1796-1907 at Ancestry - index, info taken from Bureau of Land Management website
 * 1861-1936 - U.S. Homestead Records 1861-1936 at Ancestry.com - ($), index and images

Local Histories
Online County Histories
 * Historical Atlas of Sedgwick County, Kansas.  1982.  By John P. Edwards.  Wichita, Kansas : Midwest Historical and Genealogical Society.   Online at: ;.
 * History of Wichita and Sedgwick County, Kansas. 1910, 1994.  Editor-in-chief Orsemus Hills Bentley. Mount Vernon, Indiana : Windmill Publications. (Originally published: Chicago : C. F. Cooper, 1910). Online at: Hathitrust, Internet Archive, vol. 1, Internet Archive, vol. 2, Ancestry ($);.
 * Portrait and Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan. 1888.  Chicago, Illinois : Chapman Brothers.  Online at:  Hathitrust,  Internet Archive, Google Books;.
 * ''The Wichita Photo Archives - over 1,000 photographs of Wichita and Sedgwick County.

Maps and Gazetteers

 * Early Township maps of Sedgwick County http://specialcollections.wichita.edu/wcf/townships/index.asp
 * Township Map of 1887 Sedgwick County, Kansas with enlarged views of each township (My Genealogy Hound)

Atlas

[1882] Historical Atlas of Sedgwick County, Kansas, published by John P. Edwards, 1882. The 1982 reprint has a 17 page index of names. Kansas memory item 224001

[1905] Standard Atlas of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Including a Plat Book of the Villages, Cities and Townships of the County, published by George A. Ogle and Company. Kansas memory item 209421

Military Records

 * For information about Civil War records see Butler and Marion counties.

Newspapers
Kansas Newspapers Online Kansas Newspaper Catalogs
 * Kansas Newspapers at Newspapers.com - ($), free to Kansas residents through Kansas Historical Society
 * GenealogyBank - ($), contains images of Kansas newspapers
 * Newspaper Archive - ($), contains images of Kansas newspapers
 * Chronicling America - contains images of some Kansas newspapers; searching tips
 * Elephind - Free; search engine that retrieves newspaper images from other free newspaper websites
 * Tihen Notes - Dr. Edward N. Tihen read and took notes from nearly every issue of Wichita's newspapers dating from 1872 to 1982. Presented as PDF documents are nearly 6000 transcribed pages of the "Tihen Notes," as they have become known. Dr. Tihen's notes reflect the people, places and events that have shaped Wichita's history.
 * Kansas Online Historical Newspapers - contains a list of known Kansas newspapers online and the websites they are found on
 * U.S. Newspaper Directory, 1690-Present on Chronicling America - contains a list of all known newspapers and the dates they cover; once you locate a newspaper name, contact the local library to see if they have copies of the newspaper

Obituaries
Midwest Historical and Genealogical Society Library has three Indexes of the obituaries in scrapbooks in their library.


 * Index of obituaries from The Wichita Eagle and Beacon for the period 1955 to 2014.
 * Obituaries from the Catholic Advance for 1999.
 * Miscellaneous obituaries which they have indexed.

Probate Records
'''Online Records


 * 1803 – 1987 Kansas Wills and Probate Records 1803-1987 at Ancestry.com — index and images $

Birth

 * 1818 - 1936 at FamilySearch.org — index


 * 1885 - 1911 Kansas, Births and Christenings Index, 1885-1911 at Ancestry.com — index $

Marriage

 * 1811 - 1911 at | FamilySearch — index
 * 1840 - 1935 at FamilySearch.org — index
 * 1855 - 1911 at | FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1855 - 1911 Kansas, County Marriages, 1855-1911 at Ancestry.com — images $

Death

 * 1885 - 1930 at FamilySearch.org — index
 * 1885 - 1930 Kansas, Deaths and Burials, Index, 1885-1930 at Ancestry.com — index $
 * 1887 - 1910 Wichita, Sedgwick County, Kansas, Death Index, 1887-1910. Alphabetical index giving name and certificate number.

Family History Centers

 * Derby Kansas Stake Family History Center
 * Wichita Kansas Auburn Hills Family History Center

Libraries
Lawrence &amp; Lucile Wulfmeyer Genealogy / Special Collections Center Wichita Public Library 223 South Main Street, Wichita, Kansas, 67202. Telephone: 316-261-8509.
 * Open Monday through Thursday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Sunday 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.; Closed Sundays from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Closed major holidays. Contains over 25,000 genealogy books and magazines covering Kansas, the Great Plains, the Midwest, the South, the Colonial States, and Native Americans.  Other major collections include:  Dawes Rolls Applications, Draper Manuscripts, Germans to America, Italians to America, and the Barbour Collection.  Over 15,000 rolls of microfilm cover the city's major newspapers, the Wichita Eagle and the Wichita Beacon, and state and federal census.

Museums
The Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum 204 S. Main Wichita, Kansas 67202 Telephone: 316-265-9314 Fax: 316-265-9319 E-mail:[mailto:wschm@wichitahistory.org wschm@wichitahistory.org] Website

Societies
Midwest Historical Society and Genealogical Society 1203 N Main St Wichita, KS 67203 Telephone: 316-264-3611 Website

Wichita Genealogical Society PO Box 3705 Wichita, KS 67201-3705 E-mail:[mailto:info@wichitagensoc.org info@wichitagensoc.org] Website

Wichita County Historical Society Box 1561, 201 N. 4th St. Leoti KS 67861 Telephone: 620-375-2316 Website

Haysville Genealogy Group Haysville Community Library 210 Hays Haysville, Kansas 67060 316-524-5242

'''Midwest Historical and Genealogical Society

Websites

 * USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county.
 * 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
 * Sedgwick County, Kansas Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)