Bingham County, Idaho Genealogy

United States

Idaho

Bingham County

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

Early settlers of Bingham County plow Main Street in Blackfoot, Idaho

Idaho Online Genealogy Records

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Bingham County, Idaho
Map
Location in the state of Idaho, United States Genealogy
Location of Idaho in the U.S.
Facts
Founded	January 13, 1885
County Seat	Blackfoot
Courthouse
Address	Bingham County Courthouse 602 Bingham Clerk's Office 501 North Maple #205 Blackfoot, Idaho 83221 Phone: 208.945.8040

County Information

Description

The county was named after Henry H. Bingham, a congressman from Pennsylvania and friend of William Bunn, Idaho's Territorial Governor. The County Seat is Blackfoot and was founded January 13, 1885. It is located in the southeast area of the state.

Bingham County, Idaho Record Dates

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1907	1885	1907	1900	1885	1892	1870
*Statewide registration for births and deaths started in 1911. General compliance in the 1920s.

County Courthouse

Bingham County Courthouse
Clerk's Office
501 North Maple #205
Blackfoot, Idaho 83221
Phone: 208.945.8040

County Clerk has marriage and land records from 1885, divorce and
court records from 1900, probate records from 1892, naturalization
commission minutes from 1855, and school census 1898-1933.

Parent County

13 January 1885: Bingham County, Idaho was created from Oneida County. Named for Elisha E. Bingham or Henry H. Bingham.

Boundary Changes

4 March 1893: Fremont County created from parts of Bingham and Lemhi Counties.

7 February 1911: Bonneville County created from a part of Bingham County.

30 January 1913: Power County created from parts of Bingham, Blaine, and Oneida Counties.

26 January 1915: Teton County created from parts of Bingham, Fremont, and Madison Counties.

6 February 1917: Butte County created from a part of Bingham County.

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:

Cities
Aberdeen Atomic City	Basalt Blackfoot	Firth Shelley
Unincorporated communities
Alridge Cerro Grande Clarkson Coffee Point Collins Cox Gibson	Goshen McDonaldville Morgan Pingree Rising River Rose	Springfield Sterling Thomas Wapello Wolverine Woodville
Census-designated places
Fort Hall Groveland	Moreland Riverside	Rockford

The preceding list of places includes incorporated cities and towns, unincorporated towns and communities, and place names that may have been used in family histories. Some have well-organized records and even have web sites. Some are simply social communities with no official records, but which may be referenced in small-town newspapers. The list is provided to help researchers identify localities within the county. As records or histories of these localities are identified, a page will be added for each of these place names.

Resources

The types of records that follow are used for genealogy and family history. Most tell what you may learn and how to locate the records. Links to Internet sites usually go directly to Bingham County, Idaho Genealogy entries with names, images, or information.

Many of the older court, land, naturalization, probate, pension and vital records for Bingham County have been microfilmed and/or digitzed and are available at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and at the Idaho State Archives in Boise. Details of the county records in the Family History Library can be obtained from their online catalog or listings. Original records which have been microfilmed or imaged, and more recent records are in the county courthouse in Blackfoot. A considerable amount of inactive records have been transferred to the Idaho State Historical Society in Boise.

Cemeteries

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

There are many cemeteries in Bingham County. For a list of those that have been identified, and links to transcriptions and/or photographs of tombstones, go to Bingham County, Idaho Cemetery Records.

For the cemeteries in or immediately adjacent to the cities, please see the city pages for the cities listed above.

Census

Historical populations
Census	Pop.		%±
1900	10,447		—
1910	23,306		123.1%
1920	18,310		−21.4%
1930	18,561		1.4%
1940	21,044		13.4%
1950	23,271		10.6%
1960	28,218		21.3%
1970	29,167		3.4%
1980	36,489		25.1%
1990	37,583		3.0%
2000	41,735		11.0%
sources:

The 1890 federal census for Idaho was destroyed. However, the Idaho State Historical Society Public Archives and Research Library is creating a list of 1890 Idaho residents by indexing a variety of records, 1885-1894. This reconstructed list will substitute for the destroyed 1890 federal census.

For a summary of census records for the state of Idaho, see Idaho Census Records.

A school census from 1898 to 1913 is located in the basement storage area at the Bingham County Courthouse. It includes a list of children, ages and name of parents. Contact the County Clerk for details.

Church History and Records

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons)

The usage of "Mormon" and "LDS" on this page is approved according to current policy.

• List of Bingham County stakes and wards to about 1948.

• The following are local congregations (wards) which existed in Bingham County, Idaho prior to 1950.
  • For original or later records, check with the Church History Library in Salt Lake City.
  • Many of the records to about 1948 are available at the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City and at its FamilySearch Centers.

Aberdeen Basalt Blackfoot Blackfoot 1 Blackfoot 2 Blackfoot 3 Blackfoot 4 Camas

Dehlin Firth Fort Hall Goshen Groveland Jamestown Kimball Moreland

Owensdale Pingree Rich Riversides Riverton Rose Shelley Shelley 1

Shelley 2 Shelley 3 Springfield Sterling Thomas Tilden Wapello Woodville

List of Churches and Church Parishes

• FamilySearch Places
  

County Records

• 1885-1920 - Idaho, Bingham County Historical Society, Bingham County Records, 1885-1920 at FamilySearch — index

County Commissioner's Records

The minute books of the County Commissioners contain interesting tidbits of history about the county as well as the names of individuals appealing to the County Commissioners for action on issues of concern to them. Minutes of those meetings were recorded from the formation of the county, for most counties. Some counties now post the minutes of current meetings online.

Most of these records have been preserved in the county courthouses of the State of Idaho. Few have been microfilmed. Contact the county clerk for information about years covered and availability.

Court Records

Some of the early court records of Bingham County, Idaho have been microfilmed and are available at the Idaho State Archives in Boise, Idaho. The records filmed include civil suits, divorce papers, judgment dockets, etc. Copies of these microfilmed court records are also available at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah or at any of the Library's Family History Centers. Additional court records and more recent records are housed at the Bingham County courthouse in Blackfoot, Idaho, and can be accessed by making a visit there.

Some of the Bingham County court records that have been microfilmed are:

• Power of attorney, 1866-1917

History

The book Bingham County History was published in 1985, commemorating the county's first hundred years.

• Taylor Mountain Homesteaders: The Compiled Histories of the Settlers of Bingham & Bonneville Counties of Southwest Idaho
• Settlement of Idaho by Utah Pioneers: Bingham and Jefferson Counties
• People of the Hills
• Historical Sketch of Bingham County, Idaho
• "Old Bingham" the banner county of Idaho at the World's Columbian Exposition, 1893

Online County Histories

• Bingham County History (Idaho) : Commemorating the State's 100th Birthday, 1890-1990. c1990. By The People of Bingham County. Blackfoot, Idaho : Bingham County Historical Society Book Committee. Online at: At various libraries(WorldCat).
• Bingham County history (Idaho) : Written and Compiled by the People of Bingham County Commemorating the County's 100th Birthday, 1885-1985. c1985. By The People of Bingham County. Blackfoot, Idaho : Bingham County Centennial Book Committee. Online at: At various libraries(WorldCat).
• Bingham County History Volume II - A Pictorial : Commemorating the County's 100th Birthday. c1986. By The Bingham County Centennial Book Committee. Blackfoot, Idaho : Bingham County Centennial Book Committee. Online at: At various libraries(WorldCat).
• Firth. N.d. N.p: n.p. Online at At various libraries(WorldCat).
• Histories of the Bingham County Company (Idaho). Daughters of the Utah Pioneers. c1944. By Daughters of Utah Pioneers. Blackfoot, Idaho : n.p. Online at: At various libraries(WorldCat).
• Histories of the Bingham South Company (Idaho), Daughters of Utah Pioneers. c1999. By Daughters of the Utah Pioneers. Blackfoot, Idaho : Daughters of Utah Pioneers. Online at: FamilySearch Digital Library-Vol. 1, FamilySearch Digital Library-Vol. 2; At various libraries(WorldCat).
• Miracle of the Desert: A History of the Thomas Ward and Surrounding Communities. c1957. By Thomas H. Williams. Blackfoot, Idaho : T.H. Williams. Online at: At various libraries(WorldCat).
• The People of the Hills. c1963. By Miranda Campbell Stringham. Idaho Falls, Idaho : n.p. Online at: FamilySearch Digital Library-Vol. 1, FamilySearch Digital Library-Vol. 2; At various libraries(WorldCat).
• Taylor mountain homesteaders : the compiled histories of the settlers of Bingham and Bonneville counties of southwest Idaho. c2008. By Lynn Blatter. Bountiful, Utah : emCole Design. Online at: At various libraries(WorldCat).

Land and Property

Generally speaking, land and property records are held at the county level and may be accessed at the county courthouse where the transactions took place. The Bingham County courthouse is located in Blackfoot, Idaho. Some of the earlier records may have been transferred to the Idaho State Archives, and microfilmed copies of these records maybe viewed at the Archives in Boise, Idaho.

The Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah has microfilmed the following Bingham County land records; Deeds from 1865-1923; Index to Homesteads 1890-1960; Homesteads from 1889 to 1961. These films can be viewed at the Library in Salt Lake City or at any of the Library's Family History Centers.

Maps

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

• An 1895 map of Bingham and surrounding counties is available online.
• A digital Bingham County Idaho map is available online.
• Map of Bingham County, Idaho is available online.
• FamilySearch Places:Cities and Towns- How to Use FS Places

Migration

Early migration routes to and from Bingham County, Idaho Genealogy for European and African American settlers included:

• Oregon Trail 1830s to 1890s from western Missouri to Oregon City, Oregon
• California Trail 1846 to 1869 from western Missouri to northern California

Military History and Records

World War I draft registration cards, 1917-1918, for Bingham County have been microfilmed. Copies of these records are available at the Family History Library (their microfilm numbers 1452108 and 1452109) and are also available online at Ancestry.com, for a subscription fee. The original cards are maintained in the Southeast Regional Archives of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in East Point, Georgia and have been microfilmed by the National Archives as their Microcopy M1509.

Online Records

• 1940-1945 - Idaho, World War II Draft Registration Cards,1940-1945 at FamilySearch — index and images

Miscellaneous Series

Often overlooked by the genealogist, this group of volumes may contain affidavits for citizenship, final disposition of estates, divorce decrees, and many other types of valuable documents. The content varies from county to county, year to year and from clerk to clerk. When the estate case files, civil or criminal files are not available or have been destroyed, you may find key documents recorded here. Most counties will have an index to this series and it is a must search if the information you are seeking is not found elsewhere.

Neither the Idaho State Archives in Boise, Idaho, nor the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah appear to have copies of any Miscellaneous Series in Bingham County. One should check with the Bingham County courthouse in Blackfoot for any possible records which they hold.

Naturalization

Some but not all of the original naturalization records of Bingham County have been transferred to the Idaho State Archives in Boise.

Online Records

• 1892-1990 - Idaho Naturalization Records, 1892-1990 at FamilySearch — index and images

Newspapers

Current

Newspapers being published in Bingham County include the Aberdeen Times, published in Aberdeen; the Shelley Pioneer, published in Shelley; and The Morning News, published in Blackfoot (see the individual towns where these newspapers are published for additional information).

Historical

The Morning News was called the Idaho News in 1891 and the Blackfoot News in 1892. Blackfoot Public Library offers access to historic editions of this news paper on microfilm through interlibrary loan. Blackfoot Public Library will also perform brief searches and provide copies for $.10 each.

The Idaho State Archives has microfilmed many of Bingham County's early newspapers which can be accessed at their facility in Boise, Idaho.

Obituaries

• 1943-2013 - Idaho, Southern Counties Obituaries, 1943-2013 at FamilySearch — index and images

Pension Records

Mothers' Pensions were provided by the State of Idaho for widows and/or orphans, under certain conditions. Petitions for those pensions were filed with the probate court in each county. The original papers for several counties have been transferred to the Idaho State Archives in Boise and have been indexed. Bingham County Mothers' Pensions are included in that index.

Probate Records

Online Probate Records

• 1857 – 1989 Idaho Wills and Probate Records 1857-1989 at Ancestry $

The original estate case files are located in the basement vault of the County Clerk's Office and date from 1885. They are still in their original metal drawers and have to be carefully unfolded to use. Be sure to use the Index to Probate Records (also in the basement vault) for a detailed listing of actions taken by the Probate Court. Some of the probate minute books (sometimes called proceedings) have been transferred to the Idaho State Archives.

The Family History Library in Salt Lake City has microfilmed the following Bingham County Probate Court records--(1885-1932) and Widows and Orphan Records 1913-1927.; These films are available for viewing at the Library in Salt Lake City or in any of the Library's Family History Centers.

Taxation

Any existing tax assessment rolls for Bingham County should be in the courthouse in Blackfoot and would need to be accessed by visiting there.

Vital Records

Birth

Online Records

• 1861-1911 - Idaho, Birth Index, 1861-1911 at FamilySearch — index
• 1883-1929 - Idaho County Birth and Death Records 1883-1929 at FamilySearch — index and images

The Birth Registers for Bingham County, 1907-1911 have been microfilmed and are available at the Idaho State Archives in Boise and at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Birth records, 1911 to present, for individuals born in Bingham County are included in and recorded at the state level. These records are restricted for a period of one hundred years from the time of the individual's birth but can be obtained by following the guidelines as issued by the State of Idaho. See the Vital Records section under the subject Idaho for more details.

Marriages

Online Records

• 1800-1987 - Idaho, United States Marriages at FindMyPast — index $
• 1864-1976 - Idaho Church Marriages, 1864-1976 at FamilySearch — index
• 1864-1950 - Idaho County Marriages, 1864-1950 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1878-1898; 1903-1942 - Idaho Marriages, 1878-1898; 1903-1942 at FamilySearch — index
• 1947-1963 - Idaho Marriage Index, 1947-1961 at FamilySearch — index

6,451 marriages from 8 Jan 1885 to 6 Nov 1949 are listed on the Western States Marriage Index.

Divorce

Online Records

• 1947-1963 - Idaho Divorce Index, 1947-1963 at FamilySearch — index

Deaths

Online Records

• 1883-1929 - Idaho County Birth and Death Records 1883-1929 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1938-1961 - Idaho Death Certificates, 1938-1961 at FamilySearch — index

The Death Registers for Bingham County, 1907-1911, have been microfilmed and are available at the Idaho State Archives in Boise and at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. After 1911, deaths occurring in Bingham County are included in the state-wide registration program. These records are restricted for a period of fifty years from the time of the individual's death but can be obtained by following the guidelines as mandated by the State of Idaho. See the Vital Records section under Idaho for details.

Copies of death certificates from 1911-1954 are on microfilm and can be used at the Idaho State Archives in Boise, the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, BYU-Idaho University Library in Rexburg and several other locations.

A state-wide index to Idaho Deaths, 1911-1956 is available online. Efforts to expand this index to 1960 are underway. Another version is Idaho Death Index 1911-1956.

Deaths from other sources

A significant source of death and related information for eastern Idaho families can be found at the following website Eastern Idaho Death Index.

Societies, Libraries and Museums

Many public libraries provide internet access to sites of value to the family historian. Some have special collections of historical and cultural interest, as well. The following libraries may have some resources of value, but use of some or all of them may require a visit to the library.

• Blackfoot Library‎
  129 North Broadway Street, Blackfoot, ID 83221-2204
  (208) 785-8628‎
  Website
  
• North Bingham County Library‎
  197 West Locust Street, Shelley, ID 83274-1309
  (208) 357-7801‎
  Website
  
• Aberdeen District Library
  76 E Central Ave
  Aberdeen, ID 83210
  Phone: (208) 397-4427
  Website
  
• Snake River School Community Library
  924 West Highway 39
  Blackfoot, ID 83221
  Phone: (208) 684-3063
  Website
• Bingham County Historical Society Museum
  190 North Shilling Avenue
  Blackfoot, ID 83221-2848
  Phone: (208) 785-8040
  ‎
• Bingham County Historical Society Archives
  121 North Shilling
  Blackfoot, ID 83221
  Phone: (208) 785-9906
  

• State Historical Society
  2205 Old Penitentiary Rd
  Boise, Idaho
  208-334-2774
  Website
  

• Idaho Historical Society Facebook Page Website
  

• Idaho State Archives Digital Collections - Enter County in Search Bar

• Idaho State Archives

• National Society Daughters of the American Revolution-Idaho Chapter

• The Idaho Welsh Society -- excellent cultural and historical site

Family History Centers

Family History Centers provide one-on-one assistance, free access to center-only databases, and to premium genealogical websites.
FamilySearch Affiliate Libraries have access to most center-only databases, but may not always have full services normally provided by a family history center.

• Family History Center and Affiliate Library Locator

Local Centers and Affiliate Libraries

• Introduction to Family History Centers
• Blackfoot Idaho Family History Center
• Blackfoot Idaho West Family History Center
• Firth Idaho Family History Center

Websites

• The Bingham County ID GenWeb Project, a member of The IDGenWeb Project, an affiliate of The USGenWeb Project
• FamilySearch Catalog
• Bingham County, Idaho Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)