Douglas County, Oregon Genealogy

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

Oregon Online Genealogy Records

Description
The County was named for Stephen A. Douglas, an American politician who supported Oregon statehood. The County is located in the west central area of the state.

County Courthouse
County Clerk has marriage, burial, divorce, land, probate, military discharge and court records from 1853 and naturalization records from 1850.

Records Held at the Courthouse

 * County Records Inventory listing the records held at the Douglas County Court House as of June 2005.


 * Record Loss:

A wiki article describing an online collection is found at:

Oregon, Douglas County Records (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Quick Facts


Named for U.S. Senator of Illinois.

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

Parent County
7 January 1852: Created from the part of Umpqua County lying east of Coast Range summit.

Boundary Changes
11 January 1854: Part was taken to form Wasco County.

1856: Camas Valley of Umpqua County was annexed to Douglas County.

1862: Douglas County absorbed the remaining parts of Umpqua County.

1915: Boundary adjustments were made with Jackson and Lane counties.

For animated maps illustrating Oregon County boundary changes, "Rotating Formation Oregon County Boundary Maps" (1843-1975) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Record Loss
There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

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:

Neighboring Counties
Coos | Curry | Jackson | Josephine | Klamath | Lane

Trivia Tidbits
Information about localities, too small or too brief to describe in separate pages. Exception to this are Post Offices. &gt; Trivia Tidbits

Cemeteries

 * Oregon Metro
 * Oregon Genealogy Cemeteries

Territorial

 * 1853 Territorial Transcription and Index

Church History and Records
List of Churches and Church Parishes
 * FamilySearch Places

Civil War

 * 1861-1865 - at FamilySearch — index

World War I

 * 1919-1920 - at FamilySearch — index
 * 1921-1938 - at FamilySearch — index and 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 Records
 * 1833 – 1963 Oregon Wills and Probate Records 1833-1963 at Ancestry.com — index and images $

Rivers and Waterways
Details about the rivers and waterways where farms and settlements are often found along them. &gt;&gt; Rivers and Waterways

Vital Records
The Family History Library has copies of some county records as following:

Douglas County coroner inquests, 1896 to 1946

See also How to order Oregon Vital Records, order electronically online or download an application for Oregon Birth Certificate, Marriage Certificate, Divorce Certificate, Death Certificate Application to mail.

Birth Records

 * 1860 - 1952 - at FamilySearch — index

Delayed Birth Certificates

Birth Registers

Marriage Records

 * 1) 1826-1975 - Oregon, United States Marriages at FindMyPast — index $
 * 2) 1849-1884; 1991-2006 - at FamilySearch — index and images; collection is incomplete.
 * 3) Extractions of early marriages are listed on the Western States Marriage Index
 * 4) Marriage Index 1885-1896 Actually is a book of affiants reporting the marriages. Historical Records Collection

Societies, Libraries and Museums
Genealogical Society-Douglas 1036 SE Douglas Ave # 111 Roseburg, OR 97470 Telephone: 541-440-6178 Website

Family History Centers

 * Reedsport Oregon Family History Center
 * Roseburg Oregon Family History Center
 * South Umpqua Oregon Family History Center

Websites

 * Douglas County, OR History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
 * Oregon Genealogy Network Community on Google+
 * Oregon Genealogy Network Group on Facebook
 * The Douglas County GenWeb Project; part of The ORGenWeb Project
 * Linkpendium
 * The USGenWeb Archives Project
 * The USGenWeb Archives Project (backup site)
 * FamilySearch Catalog for Douglas County.

A wiki article describing an online collection is found at:

Oregon, Couglas County Records - FamilySearch Historical Records