Missouri Court Records

United States U.S. Court Records  Missouri  Court Records

Introduction
Major Missouri courts that kept records of genealogical value include the following:


 * Circuit courts are county-wide courts with jurisdiction over criminal and civil matters.
 * Courts of common pleas were county-wide courts that existed in some counties before the 1880s. They had jurisdiction over minor civil and criminal matters.
 * Magistrate courts have citywide jurisdiction over minor criminal offenses and some small claims.

Records

 * National Archives—Central Plains Region (Kansas City, Missouri) has U.S. circuit and district court records dating from 1820.


 * The Family History Library has a variety of statewide court records including those from the French and Spanish archives and also a digest of the decisions of the Supreme Court of Missouri. The may be accessed through the FamilySearch Catalog at

The Family History Library has microfilmed many Missouri court records in each county. To access these records use the Place-names search function in the Family History Library catalog for:


 * MISSOURI,[COUNTY] - COURT RECORDS


 * For more information about federal court records, see William D. White, Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the United States Courts for the Western District of Missouri, (Kansas City, Missouri: Federal Records Center, 1969)