Fayette County, Iowa Genealogy

Fayette County
	Fayette County, Iowa
	Map
	; Location in the state of Iowa
	; Location of Iowa in the U.S.
	Facts
Founded	December 21, 1837
County Seat	West Union
	Courthouse
Address	Fayette County Courthouse; 114 North Vine Street; P.O. Box 226; West Union, IA 52175 ; Phone:(563) 422-3687; Fayette County Website

Guide to Fayette County, Iowa 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 Marquis de Lafayette. The County has West Union as its seat and the County was created 1837. The County is located in the north east area of the state.^[1]

Fayette County, Iowa Record Dates[edit | edit source]

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records^[2]
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1880	1851	1880	1852	1855	1869	1847
Statewide registration started for births in July 1880 and for deaths Jan 1891. General compliance by 1924.

Quick Reference Facts[edit | edit source]

Parent County[edit | edit source]

1837--Fayette County was created 21 December 1837 from Dubuque County. it was attached to Clayton County prior to organiztoin 7 February 1859. County seat: West Union ^[3]

Boundary Changes[edit | edit source]

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.

Places/Localities[edit | edit source]

Town/city records in the FamilySearch Catalog

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:^[4]

Cities
Arlington Clermont Elgin Fairbank Fayette	Hawkeye Maynard Oelwein Randalia St. Lucas	Stanley Wadena Waucoma West Union Westgate
Unincorporated communities
Alpha Donnan	Oran	Richfield
Townships
Auburn Banks Bethel Center Clermont Dover Eden	Fairfield Fremont Harlan Illyria Jefferson Oran Pleasant Valley	Putnam Scott Smithfield Union Westfield Windsor

Neighboring Counties[edit | edit source]

Allamakee • Black Hawk • Bremer • Buchanan • Chickasaw • Clayton • Delaware • Winnishiek

Record Loss[edit | edit source]

1872 Courthouse was burned.

For suggestions about research in places that suffered historic record losses, see:

Burned Counties. By Michael John Neill. Online at: Family History Circle.
When the Records are Gone. By Arlene Eakle. Online at: Tennessee Genealogy Blog.
Burned Counties Research in the FamilySearch Research Wiki.

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
IAGenWeb	WorldCat	Billion Graves
IAGenWeb Archives
Tombstone Project
Iowa Gravestones
Billion Graves
See Iowa Cemeteries for more information.

Census[edit | edit source]

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 Records[edit | edit source]

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[edit | edit source]

Clermont

Records of the American Lutheran Church, Clermont, in Evangelical Lutheran Church in America database at Archives.com ($).

Hope Lutheran Church, Westgate

Records of the Hope Lutheran Church, Westgate, in Evangelical Lutheran Church in America database at Archives.com ($).

Richfield

Records of the American Lutheran Church, Richfield, in Evangelical Lutheran Church in America database at Archives.com ($).

West Union

Records of the American Lutheran Church, West Union, in Evangelical Lutheran Church in America database at Archives.com ($).

Court Records[edit | edit source]

Land and Property[edit | edit source]

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.

History[edit | edit source]

Local histories are available for Fayette 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.

Past and present of Fayette County, Iowa at Ancestry.com ($)
Fayette County Historical Society. Heritage of Fayette County, Iowa, 1996. West Union, Iowa] : Fayette County, IA Heritage Book Committee, c1996.
- Online at FamilySearch (Free)
Peterman, Thomas Draper. Historical sketches of Fayette County, Iowa, in the 40's and 50's. [S.l. : s.n., 19--?].
- Online at FamilySearch (Free)
The History of Fayette County, Iowa : containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., a biographical directory of its citizens, war record of its volunteers, history of the northwest, history of Iowa, map of Fayette County. Chicago : Western Historical Co., 1878.
- Online at Internetarchive (Free)
Past and present of Fayette County, Iowa : illustrated. Marceline, Mo. : Walsworth, [197-?].
- Vol 1 Online at FamilySearch (Free)
- Vol 2 Online at FamilySearch (Free)

Maps[edit | edit source]

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

Old Antique Atlases & Maps of Iowa

Military[edit | edit source]

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[edit | edit source]

Regiments. Service men in Fayette 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 Fayette County, Iowa Genealogy:

- 3rd Regiment, Iowa Infantry, Company F

- 6th Regiment, Iowa Cavalry, Company C

- 9th Regiment, Iowa Infantry, Company F

- 12th Regiment, Iowa Infantry, Company C

- 15th Regiment, Wisconsin Infantry, Company H

- 18th Regiment, Iowa Infantry, Company H

- 46th Regiment, Iowa Infantry (100 days, 1864), Company D

Naturalization and Citizenship[edit | edit source]

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

Newspapers[edit | edit source]

Wikipedia has more about this subject: List of online newspaper archives

NewspaperArchive.com ($) has historical newspapers online including Waterloo newspapers that may have included Fayette County residents. This database is free at some libraries.
The Oelwein Daily Register. 1841-1848 Oelwein, IA, USA. Online at: Ancestry.com ($)

Probate Records[edit | edit source]

Online Probate Records

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

In most counties in Iowa, probate records have been kept by the county judge. They include wills, fee books, claim registers, legacy records, inheritance records, probate ticklers, and dockets. The records are available at the county courthouse.

The FamilySearch Catalog lists films of probate records. To find the records for this county, use the Place Search for Iowa - Adair - Probate records.

Fayette County probate case files are scheduled to become available for free online at FamilySearch as images become available. For more information, click here.

A wiki article describing an online collection is found at:

Iowa, Fayette County Probate Case Files (FamilySearch Historical Records)

1851-1928 — Fayette County Probate Records at FamilySearch.org — browsable images only;

Taxation[edit | edit source]

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[edit | edit source]

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.

Repositories[edit | edit source]

Archives, Libraries, and Museums[edit | edit source]

Courthouses [edit | edit source]

Fayette County Courthouse
114 North Vine Street
P.O. Box 226
West Union, IA 52175
(563) 422-3687
Fayette County

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

Cedar Falls/Waterloo Iowa Family History Center 3006 Pleasant Drive, Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613 United States; Phone: 319-266-6374; Location Map

Societies[edit | edit source]

Fayette County Historical & Genealogical Society
100 North Walnut Street
West Union, Iowa 52175
Telephone:563-422-5797
E-mail: fayettehistorical@gmail.com
Website

Oelwein Area Genealogical Society
P.O. Box 389
Oelwein, IA 50662-0389
E-mail: Oelwein_Area_Genealogical_Society@hotmail.com
Website

Places[edit | edit source]