Appanoose County, Iowa Genealogy

United States  Iowa   Appanoose County

County Courthouse
Appanoose County Courthouse 201 North 12th Street Centerville, IA 52544 Phone:(515)856-6101

Appanoose County

Parent County
1843--Appanoose County was created 17 February 1843 ;from unorganized territory. The county was attached to Davis and Van Buren Counties prior to organization 3 August 1846. ; County seat: Centerville

Neighboring Counties
Davis | Lucas | Monroe | Wapello | Wayne | Putnam County, Missouri | Schuyler County, Missouri

Biographies

 * Biographical and Historical Record of Wayne and Appanoose Counties, Iowa.
 * Biographical Records Online on RootsWeb freepages with index.
 * Biographies from Biographical and Historical Record of Wayne and Appanoose Counties, Iowa are transcribed in Iowa Biographies Project.
 * Centerville: Oral interviews in Centerville, Iowa, conducted on 13 October 1981
 * Mystic: Oral interviews in Mystic, Iowa, conducted in 1981
 * Who's Who in Iowa, a Biographical Record of Iowa's Leaders in Business, Professional and Public Life.
 * Who's Who in 1940 online on the Appanoose County IAGenWeb page

Cemeteries

 * Cemetery Transcriptions:
 * A list of Appanoose County cemeteries that have been identified and transcribed is available on the USGenWeb site.
 * Iowa Gravestones.org has many Appanoose County gravestone photos.
 * List of 92 Cemeteries in Appanoose County findagrave.com
 * Children Buried in Iowa Cemeteries: Appanoose County
 * Military Buried in Iowa Cemeteries: Appanoose County

Census
Iowa recorded not only the federal census but state census through out the years too. The state census contains very valuable genealogical information. Where the census information can be found, what years it was taken, mortality schedules, census substitutions and much more is discussed in the very informative Iowa Census article.

Church Records and Histories

 * LDS Ward and Branch;Records
 * Camp of Israel
 * United Methodist Church
 * Iowa Churches: A File at the Iowa Wesleyan College in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. This file consists of church histories, anniversary programs, and newspaper clippings. It is arranged by towns or by the name of the church.
 * Ministerial Biographies: A File in the Iowa Wesleyan College in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. These films contain biographies, mainly of Methodist ministers.

County Histories

 * Abandoned Towns of Appanoose County from Abandoned Towns, Villages and Post Office
 * Appanoose County Historical Atlas; Centerville, IA: Appanoose County Sesquicentennial Commission, 1996
 * The History of Appanoose County, Iowa - 1986
 * A Pictorial History of Appanoose County, Iowa
 * A Pictorial History of Appanoose County, Iowa.
 * 100th Anniversary: Iowa Trust and Savings Bank, Centerville, Iowa, 1896-1996.
 * A Report on the Rathbun Dam
 * Rathbun Dam History.
 * Early Pioneer Stories
 * The Place-Names of Appanoose County, Iowa
 * Historical Sketches of Pioneer Days in Appanoose County, Iowa
 * A Pictorial History of the Towns of Appanoose County Past and Present
 * Heusinkveld, W. M. Cemeteries of Appanoose County, Iowa. [Centerville, IA: W. M. Heusinkveld, 1999]
 * Heusinkveld, Willis M., Editor. Mormon Trails Across Appanoose County, Iowa. [Centerville, IA: Appanoose County Mormon Trail Association, 1995]
 * Heusinkveld, W. M. Nine Appanoose Regiments in the Civil War. [Centerville, IA: W. M. Heusinkveld, 2007]
 * Heusinkveld, W. M. The History of Coal Mining in Appanoose County, Iowa. [Centerville, IA: W. M. Heusinkveld, 2007]
 * Heusinkveld, W. M. This Day in Iowa History.  [Centerville, IA: Appanoose County Sesquicentennial Commission, 1995]


 * Rural School Memories, Appanoose County, Iowa. Information, memories and pictures contributed by many volunteers about the 140 schools in Appanoose County in 1912.
 * Postoffices and Postmasters of Appanoose County, Iowa, 1846 to 1988.
 * Inventory of County Records - Appanoose County, Iowa.
 * Lewis, S. Thompson. Biographical and Genealogical History of Appanoose and Monroe Counties, Iowa. New York Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1903. Online on the Internet Archive.
 * Biographies from Biographical and Genealogical History of Appanoose and Monroe Counties, Iowa, transcribed in Iowa Biographies Project.
 * Iowa State Planning Board. An Approach to County Planning, Appanoose County. [Des Moines, IA: Iowa State Planning Board, April 1936]  Online Appanoose County Planning and Zoning Homepage.
 * Iowa State Planning Board, Committee on Business and Industry. The Industrial History of Appanoose County, Iowa.  [Des Moines, IA: Iowa State Planning Board, Committee on Business and Industry, 1935]  Online in the Iowa Digital Library.
 * "National Register of Historic Places in Appanoose County, Iowa." Online in Wikipedia.
 * "Pioneer Roll of Honor" published in the Daily Iowegian, 10 January 1934, and reprinted by the Appanoose County Genealogical Society.
 * "Post Offices in Appanoose County, 1865" from Iowa State Gazetteer, compiled and edited by James T. Hair [Chicago: Bailey &amp; Hair, 1865]
 * Ramsey, Guy R. "Names of Old Towns Fading into Haze of Past Memories,"  The Daily Iowegian, 28 November 1948.
 * Stamps, Maurice. Shoal Creek Legends.  [Seymour, IA: Seymour Community Club, April 2007]  The three volumes of Shoal Creek Legends were originally newspaper articles published in The Seymour Herald; printed and sold by the Seymour Community Club as fundraising projects.  Maurice Stamps grew up around Shoal Creek in Franklin Township, Appanoose County, and served many years as a teacher and administrator in the Seymour Community Schools.
 * Stamps, Maurice. More Shoal Creek Legends. [Seymour, IA: Seymour Community Club, August 2007]
 * Stamps, Maurice.  Shoal Creek Legends 3. [Seymour, IA: Seymour Community Club, 2009]
 * The History of Appanoose County, Iowa [Chicago: Western Historical Company, 1878] Online in Internet Archive. Online in Google Books.  Biographies from The History of Appanoose County, Iowa, are transcribed in Iowa Biographies Project.
 * Taylor, L. L., Editor. Past and Present of Appanoose County, Iowa - Volume 1 [Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1913] Online in Google eBookstore.  Online in Internet Archive.
 * Taylor, L. L. Editor. Past and Present of Appanoose County, Iowa - Volume II [Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company,m 1913] Online in Google eBookstore.  Online in Internet Archive. Biographies from Past and Present of Appanoose County, Iowa, transcribed in Iowa Biographies Project.
 * "Tour of Iowa Counties: Appanoose County" published in the Daily State Register, February 10, 11 and 12, 1869. Online in America's GenealogyBank.
 * Worth, Goldie, Compiled by. The History of Medicine in Appanoose County.  [Centerville, IA: Presented to Appanoose County Medical Society, November 1962]
 * Young, Ann E. and Mary Jo Den Hartog. One Solid Comfort.  [Centerville, IA: Printed by Town Crier, LTD, Pella, Iowa, for the Mercy Medical Center, 2010]  A history of St. Joseph's Mercy Hospital in celebration of its 100th Anniversary.

.* Iowa Labor History Oral Project Davis, Merle O., Interviewer Iowa Labor History Oral Project .Cedar Rapids, IA: Heritage Microfilm Inc., 2001 State Historical Society of Iowa Special Collections.


 * Shoal Creek Legends. The three volumes of Shoal Creek Legends were originally newspaper articles published in The Seymour Herald; printed and sold by the Seymour Community Club as fundraising projects. Maurice Stamps grew up around Shoal Creek in Franklin Township, Appanoose County, and served many years as a teacher and administrator in the Seymour Community Schools.
 * More Shoal Creek Legends.
 * 'Shoal Creek Legends 3''

Maps and Atlases
David Rumsey Map Collection is a large online collection of rare, old, antique historical atlases, globes, maps, charts plus other cartographic treasures.

Migration
Early migration routes to and from for European settlers included:
 * Mormon Trail 1846 from Nauvoo, Illinois to Salt Lake City, Utah

Museums Archives and Libraries

 * Appanoose County Historical and Coal Mining Museum 100 West Maple Centerville, Iowa 52544
 * Drake Public Library 115 Drake Avenue, Centerville, Iowa 52544 See it's collections and resources for local and family history research related to Appanoose County. The Genealogical Society of Appanoose County collection is housed at the Drake Public Library. The genealogy section features family histories, local plat maps, historic phone directories, school yearbooks from area schools, and miscellaneous histories of ghost towns. A microfilm reader is provided at the library to view the microfilm collection which includes: Centerville newspapers 1861-Present, Circuit Court Records, Miscellaneous Church Records, Appanoose County Probate Records, Census Records, Other Iowa Newspapers, Land Records, and Marriage Records.
 * Iowa Genealogical Society Library 628 East Grand Avenue Des Moines, Iowa 50309-1924 See it's collections and resources for local and family history research related to Appanoose County.
 * Prairie Trails Museum of Wayne County and Historical and Genealogical Library 515 East Jefferson Street (Route #2) Corydon, Iowa 50060 See it's collections and resources for local and family history research.
 * State Historical Society of Iowa's archives, libraries and museum See it's collections and resources for local and family history research related to Appanoose County.
 * The Wabash Depot Museum 800 West North Street Moravia, Iowa Obtained from the Norfolk and Southern Railroad in 1976 when the line was discontinued through Moravia, Iowa. Displays include a section car used on the rails in the early 1900s, an operational signal board for signaling train crews before modern radio communications were used, models of trains and railroads that once crossed Appanoose County and Moravia, and artifacts of local history providing a look at how people once lived in Moravia.

Newspapers
The Newspaper Directory on the Library of Congress' Chronicling America lists 21 newspapers which have been published in Appanoose County, Iowa. The site tells the years in which each newspaper was published, detailed information about each paper, and identifies the major libraries that have holdings of it and which issues each library holds. There were other newspapers (in Mystic and Cincinnati) published in Appanoose County, but no copies of them exist. Also, information on Appanoose County often appeared in newspapers in neighboring counties -- Wayne County, Davis County, Lucas County, Monroe County, Wapello County in Iowa; and Putnam County and Schuyler County in Missouri.

Societies
Meets in the Iowa Room at the Drake Public Library See list of their publications which are available. Information on coal mines in Appanoose County, this museum is a treasure trove of information. It stores hundreds of books from the old mines. There are also old mortgages and other bank records that can be found here, though they are not organized.
 * Appanoose County Genealogical Society P.O. Box 684 Centerville, Iowa Phone: 52544-0684

Birth Records

 * Early births in Appanoose County, Iowa 1880-1901
 * Birth records, 1880-1935 

Marriage Records

 * Index to early marriages, Appanoose County, Iowa  Contains: Vol 1. Bride's index, 1846-1900 -- Vol 2. Groom's index, 1847- 1900
 *  Iowa, 1851-1900 Marriages from 1851 to 1900
 * Marriage records, 1842-1928 

Death Records

 * Early deaths in Appanoose County, Iowa Index to early death records, Appanoose County, Iowa. Contains Vol. 1. 1880-1903

Obituaries

 * Book of obituaries, Appanoose County, Iowa Newspapers clippings 1899-1939 and 1910-1950

Web Sites

 * The Appanoose County IA GenWeb Project
 * Appanoose County, Iowa Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
 * The Jerome Journal -- This blog contains information about the history of Jerome and Lincoln Township in Appanoose County and the people who have lived in Jerome and the surrounding area.
 * The Musings of Midwest Ancestree, blog contains many references to Appanoose County families.
 * The Iowa Heritage Digital Collections. The Iowa Heritage Digital Collections is an online repository of Iowa history and culture, maintained by the State Library of Iowa, which brings together digital resources of Iowa libraries, museums, historical societies and other cultural institutions to enhance access to and preserve long–term accessibility of these valuable materials.
 * Iowa Publications Online -- a service of the State Library of Iowa. Their website is an electronic depository of documents intended for the general public produced by Iowa state agencies.
 * Miscellaneous information on Appanoose County Research
 * Miscellaneous information on Appanoose County Research