Wapello County, Iowa Genealogy

United States

Iowa

Wapello County

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

Wapello County, Iowa
Map
Location in the state of Iowa
Location of Iowa in the U.S.
Facts
Founded	February 17, 1843
County Seat	Ottumwa
Courthouse

County Information

Description

The County was named for Wapello, a Meskwaki chief. The County has Ottumwa as its seat and the County was created December 7, 1843. The County is located in the southeast area of the state.

Wapello County, Iowa Record Dates

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1880	1844	1880	1844	1844	1844	1847
Statewide registration started for births in July 1880 and for deaths Jan 1891. General compliance by 1924.

Quick Facts

Parent County

1843 Wapello County was created 17 February 1843 from unorganized territory. It was attached to Jefferson County prior to organization 1 March 1844.  County seat: Ottumwa

Boundary Changes

For animated maps illustrating Iowa County boundary changes, "Rotating Formation Iowa County Boundary Maps" (1816-1872) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Record Loss

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

Places/Localities

Town/city records in the FamilySearch Catalog

• Ormanville

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:

Cities
Agency Blakesburg Chillicothe	Eddyville Eldon	Kirkville Ottumwa
Unincorporated communities
Ashland Bladensburg Dahlonega Dudley	Farson Munterville Phillips	Pickwick Ottumwa Junction Rutledge
Townships
Adams Agency Cass Center Columbia	Competine Dahlonega Green Highland Keokuk	Pleasant Polk Richland Washington

Neighboring Counties

Appanoose • Davis • Jefferson • Keokuk • Mahaska • Monroe • Van Buren

Resources

Biography

• A History of Wapello County, Iowa : containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., including a biographical directory at books.google.com
• Portrait and biographical album of Wapello County, Iowa : containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent at Ancestry.com ($)

Cemeteries

Tombstone Transcriptions Online	Tombstone Transcriptions in Print	List of Cemeteries in the county
Findagrave.com	Family History Library	Findagrave.com
IAGenWeb	WorldCat	Billion Graves
IAGenWeb Archives
Tombstone Project
Iowa Gravestones
Billion Graves
See Iowa Cemeteries for more information.

Census

State Census

• 1895 - Iowa State Census, 1895 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1905 - Iowa State Census, 1905 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1915 - Iowa State Census, 1915 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1925 - Iowa State Census. 1925 at FamilySearch — index and images

Church

Most church records are held by individual churches. For contact information, check a phone directory, such as SearchBug or Dex Knows. Some denominations are gathering their records into a central repository. For more information about these major repositories, see Iowa Church Records.

Lutheran

• Records of the St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Ottumwa, in Evangelical Lutheran Church in America database at Archives.com ($).

Land

Land and property records can place an ancestor in a particular location, provide economic information, and reveal family relationships. Land records include: deeds, abstracts and indexes, mortgages, leases, grants and land patents.

See Iowa Land and Property for additional information about early Iowa land grants. After land was transferred to private ownership, subsequent transactions were usually recorded at the county courthouse, where records are currently housed.

Local Histories

Local histories are available for Wapello County, Iowa Genealogy. County histories may include biographies, church, school and government history, and military information. For more information about local histories, see the wiki page section Iowa Local Histories.

• A History of Wapello County, Iowa : containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., including a biographical directory at books.google.com

• History of Wapello County, Iowa at Ancestry.com ($)

• Portrait and biographical album of Wapello County, Iowa : containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent at Ancestry.com ($)

• History of Wapello County, Iowa, and representative citizens. By S. B. Evans. Chicago : Biographical pub., 1901. Online at: FamilySearch Digital Library, Internet Archive, HathiTrust.

Maps

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

• Old Antique Atlases & Maps of Iowa

Military

• 1835-1998 - Iowa, Armed Forces Grave Registrations, ca. 1835-1998 at FamilySearch — index
• 1861-1949 - Iowa, Grand Army of the Republic Membership Records, 1861-1949 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1862-1910 - Iowa, Records of Persons Subject to Military Duty, 1862-1910 at FamilySearch — index

Civil War

Regiments. Service men in Wapello County, Iowa Genealogy served in various regiments. Men often joined a company (within a regiment) that originated in their county. Listed below are companies that were specifically formed in Wapello County, Iowa Genealogy:

- 2nd Regiment, Iowa Infantry, Company K

- 7th Regiment, Iowa Infantry, Company F

- 7th Regiment, Iowa Infantry, Company I

- 7th Regiment, Iowa Infantry, Company K

- 15th Regiment, Iowa Infantry, Company D

- 15th Regiment, Iowa Infantry, Company K

- 17th Regiment, Iowa Infantry, Company D

- 17th Regiment, Iowa Infantry, Company E

- 18th Regiment, Iowa Infantry, Company F

- 22nd Regiment, Iowa Infantry, Company E

- 36th Regiment, Iowa Infantry, Company B

- 36th Regiment, Iowa Infantry, Company D

- 36th Regiment, Iowa Infantry, Company E

- 36th Regiment, Iowa Infantry, Company H

- 47th Regiment, Iowa Infantry (100 days, 1864), Company C

- 47th Regiment, Iowa Infantry (100 days, 1864), Company K

- 1st Regiment, Iowa Cavalry, Company I

Naturalization and Citizenship

• 1859-1990 - United States, Iowa Naturalization Records, 1859-1990 at FamilySearch — index and images

Newspapers

Additional newspapers abstracts can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Wapello County, Iowa Genealogy newspapers in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat
• FamilySearch. Do a Wapello County, Iowa Genealogy Place-name search for these and other records in the FamilySearch Catalog (For instructions see, FamilySearch Catalog Place-name Search).

• 1903 — Ottumwa Daily Courier at Ancestry.com ($) — Ottumwa, IA, USA

Probate

Online Probate Records

• 1758 - 1997 Iowa Wills and Probate Records 1758-1997 at Ancestry.com — index and images $

Taxation

• 1934-1958 - Iowa, Old Age Tax Assistance Records, 1934-1958 at FamilySearch — index

Iowa tax records complement land records and can be used to supplement the years between censuses. Tax lists were usually made every year, however, there may be gaps of several years. For more information, see the wiki page Iowa Taxation.

Vital Records

Vital Records consist of births, adoptions, marriages, divorces, and deaths recorded on registers, certificates, and documents. A copy or an extract of most original records can be purchased from the Iowa Department of Public Health or the County Clerk's office of the county where the event occurred. See also How to order Iowa Vital Records or order electronically online.

Births

• 1850-1939 - Iowa, Delayed Birth Records, 1850-1939 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1921-1942 - Iowa, Birth Records, 1921-1942 at FamilySearch — index and images

Marriages

• 1518-1996 - Iowa, United States Marriages at FindMyPast — index $
• 1838-1934 - Iowa, County Marriages, 1838-1934 at FamilySearch — index and images

Death

• 1850-1990 - Iowa, Deaths and Burials 1850-1990 at FamilySearch
• 1880-1992 - Iowa, County Death Records, 1880-1992 at FamilySearch — index
  
• 1904-1951 - Iowa, Death Records, 1904-1951 at FamilySearch — index and images

Societies and Libraries

Wapello County Genealogical Society
PO Box 163
210 West Main Street
Ottumwa, IA 52501
E-mail: info@wapellocountygs.com
Website

Wapello County Historical Museum
210 West Main St
Ottumwa, Iowa
Telephone:641-682-8676
Website

Family History Centers

• Family History Centers provide one-on-one assistance and free access to premium genealogical websites. In addition, many centers have free how-to genealogy classes.
  
• For current information about a center near you, go to the Family History Center Map

• Ottumwa Iowa Family History Center 303 W Rochester, Ottumwa,IA 52501 United States Location Map

Websites

• Wapello County, IA History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
• Iowa Genealogy Network Community on Google+
• Iowa Genealogy Network Group on Facebook
• FamilySearch Catalog
• Wapello County, Iowa Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)

To access available information, first log into FamilySearch.