Polk County, Oregon Genealogy

Polk County
	Polk County, Oregon
	Map
	; Location in the state of Oregon
	; Location of Oregon in the U.S.
	Facts
Founded	Decemeber 22, 1845
County Seat	Dallas
	Courthouse
Address	Polk County Courthouse; 850 Main Street Rm 201; Dallas, OR 97338; Phone: 503.623.9217; Polk County Website

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

County Information[edit | edit source]

Description[edit | edit source]

The County was named for James Knox Polk, the 11th president of the United States. The County is located in the northwest area of the state. ^[1]

Polk County, Oregon Record Dates[edit | edit source]

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records^[2]
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1903	1848	1903	1846	1851	1847	1845
Statewide registration for births and deaths in 1903. General compliance year unknown.

County Courthouse[edit | edit source]

County Clerk has marriage, probate and land records. ^[3]

Clerk of Polk County

Dallas was formerly named Cynthian.

Quick Facts[edit | edit source]

22 Decemeber 1845: Polk county was created from Yamhill County. Named James K. Polk, the 11th president of the United States. ^[4]

County Records Inventory listing the records held at the Polk County Court House as of August 2007.
Record Loss:

Boundary Changes[edit | edit source]

23 Dec 1847: Benton County set off.

15 Dec 1853: Tillamook County set off.

20 February 1893: Lincoln County set off.

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[edit | edit source]

1898 Fire destroyed courthouse.

Places / Localities[edit | edit source]

Populated Places[edit | edit source]

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:^[5]

Cities
Dallas Falls City	Independence Monmouth	Salem Willamina
Unincorporated communities
Airlie Ballston Bethel Bridgeport Brunks Corner	Buena Vista Crowley Derry Lewisville McCoy	Modeville Pedee Perrydale Salt Creek Valley Junction
Native American communities
Grand Ronde Community
Census-designated places
Eola Fort Hill	Grand Ronde	Rickreall
Ghost towns
Black Rock Ellendale	Valsetz	Zena

Neighboring Counties[edit | edit source]

Trivia Tidbits[edit | edit source]

Information about localities, too small or too brief to describe in separate pages.

Resources[edit | edit source]

Cemeteries[edit | edit source]

Tombstone Transcriptions Online	Tombstone Transcriptions in Print	List of Cemeteries in the county
Findagrave.com	Family History Library	Findagrave.com
ORGenWeb	WorldCat	Billion Graves
ORGenWeb Archives
Tombstone Project
ORGravestones
EPodunk
Billion Graves
See Oregon Cemeteries for more information.

Census[edit | edit source]

1849 Transcription and Index
1856 Transcription and Index

Church History and Records[edit | edit source]

Court Records[edit | edit source]

A wiki artaicle describing an online collection is found Oregon, Polk County Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Gazetteers[edit | edit source]

Land and Property[edit | edit source]

Wiki articles describing land records online are found at Oregon, Polk County Records - FamilySearch Historical Records.

Maps[edit | edit source]

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

Military History and Records[edit | edit source]

Civil War[edit | edit source]

1861-1865 - Oregon, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 at FamilySearch — index

World War I[edit | edit source]

1919-1920 - Oregon, World War I, County Military Service Records, 1919-1920 at FamilySearch — index
1921-1938 - Oregon, World War I, Veteran State Aid Applications, 1921-1938 at FamilySearch — index and images

Newspapers[edit | edit source]

Probate Records[edit | edit source]

Online Records

1833 – 1963 Oregon Wills and Probate Records 1833-1963 at Ancestry.com — index and images $

Rivers and Waterways[edit | edit source]

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

Vital Records[edit | edit source]

Birth Records[edit | edit source]

1860 - 1952 - Oregon Births, 1860-1952 at FamilySearch — index

Delayed Birth Certificates

Birth Registers

Marriage Records[edit | edit source]

1826-1975 - Oregon, United States Marriages at FindMyPast — index $
Extractions of early marriages are listed on the Western States Marriage Index
Marriage Index 1885-1896 Actually is a book of affiants reporting the marriages. Historical Records Collection

Death Records[edit | edit source]

Linn County records of deaths 1903-1915, 1915-1947 (the cover title of this one is "Register of Physicians, Midwives and Undertakers", death certificates 1903-1947, coroner's inquest 1909-1960, index 1909-1960.

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.

Societies, Libraries and Museums[edit | edit source]

Polk County Museum
560 S. Pacific Highway West
Rickreall OR 97371
PO Box 67
Monmouth OR 97361
Telephone: 503-623-6251
E-mail:PCHSOregon@gmail.com
Website

Family History Centers[edit | edit source]

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
Monmouth Oregon Family History Center

Websites[edit | edit source]