Marion County, Oregon Genealogy

United States Oregon  Marion County

Quick Facts


The county is named after "The Swamp Fox" Revolutionary War (c1732-1795).

County Courthouse
In August of 2010, the building at 555 Court Street NE, known as Courthouse Square was evacuated and declared unsafe for use. All of the county offices in this building were relocated to other places in the county. You can follow updates on the Marion County page at http://www.co.marion.or.us/BOC/csi.htm. In the meantime, the county clerk can be contacted for specific information on the files you are requesting:

Clerk's Office Mailing Address: P.O. Box 14500, Salem, Oregon 97309 E-mail: ClerksOffice@co.marion.or.us Web Site: http://clerk.co.marion.or.us/ Phone: (503) 588-5225

Archives/ Records Management 100 High ST NE # 1331, Salem, Oregon 97301 Email: ClerksOffice@co.marion.or.us Web Site: http://clerk.co.marion.or.us/ Phone: (503) 588-5490

Records held at County Courthouse

 * County Records Inventory listing the records held at the Marion County Court House as of July 2006.


 * Record Loss:

Quick Facts
3 September 1849: Marion county was renamed from Champoeg County. Named for Francis Marion, a Continental Army general in the American Revolutionary War.

Trivia Tidbits: Little biographic bits associated with the names of non-population localities.

Parent County
None, one of original counties.

Boundary Changes
Originally one of the four districts named in July of 1843, Champooick District (later called Champoeg) ranged from the Willamette river on the west to the Continental Divide on the east and south to California.

In 1845 the districts were renamed counties, and in 1849, the name of Champoeg District was changed to Marion County to honor Revolutionary War hero General Francis Marion. Marion County was already smaller than when it started, because 28 Dec 1847 the Provisional Legislature created Linn County out of the southern portion of Champoeg, establishing the boundary at the North Fork of the Santiam River. Then, on 11 Jan 1854, the Territorial Legislature created Wasco County from the eastern parts of Marion, Linn, Clackamas and Lane Counties. This set the eastern border of Marion County at the Cascade Range, where it remains today.

Originally the county had a county court form of government, but as the state judiciary branch of state government grew, there was less need of a county court. In 1941 the county court system was stripped of judicial function and the remaining probate and civil cases were transferred to the Circuit Court. In 1963 the county changed to a county commissioner form of government.

Cities
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Aumsville | Aurora | Detroit | Donald | Gates | Gervais | Hubbard | Idanha | Jefferson | Keizer | Mill City | Mt. Angel | St. Paul | Salem | Scotts Mills | Silverton | Stayton | Sublimity | Turner | Woodburn

Communities
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Brooks | Butteville | Breitenbush | Champoeg | Clear Lake | Four Corners | Hayesville | Labish Village | Marion | Mehama | Monitor | Pratum | Saint Benedict | Saint Louis | West Stayton

Neighboring Counties
Clackamas | Jefferson | Linn | Polk | Wasco | Yamhill |

Census

 * 1845 (as Champoeg County)
 * 1849 (as Champoeg County)
 * 1850
 * 1853 State Census Transcriptions and Indexes
 * 1860
 * 1870
 * 1880
 * 1890
 * 1895 State
 * 1900
 * 1905 State
 * 1910
 * 1920
 * 1930

Websites

 * The Marion County GenWeb Project a member of The ORGenWeb Project
 * Linkpendium
 * The USGenWeb Archives Project
 * The USGenWeb Archives Project (Backup site)
 * FamilySearch.org