Start with these
- Missouri State Archives
The official state archives: original state and county records, finding aids and research help.
- FamilySearch Wiki: Missourifree
County-by-county guide to what records exist, the years they cover, and where they're held.
- Vital records office (CDC directory)
Where to order Missouri birth, death, marriage and divorce certificates, with fees.
Key record dates
- Statewide birth & death registration
- 1910
- State-level marriage records
- 1881
1881 is when Missouri began requiring marriage licenses, recorded by each county's recorder of deeds. Search the county for marriages.
Births and deaths: the year Missouri began requiring them to be registered with the state. Compliance often took years, and earlier records may be in county, town or church records.
Marriages: the year marriages began to be recorded or indexed at the state level, or in a few states, the year a state law began requiring county marriage licenses. Either way, the original marriage records are usually kept by the county (or town) that issued the license, and most begin well before this date. Start your search there.
Dates are from Family Tree Magazine's vital records chart, with corrections. Laws, compliance and the years a particular office holds can differ, so confirm with the state vital records office. See Finding Ancestors Before Statewide Vital Records.
Missouri highlights
- Missouri Digital Heritage
Free death certificates, land patents, soldiers' records and more.
Newspapers
- Chronicling America: Missouri newspapersfree
Free digitized historic newspapers from the Library of Congress.
Land records
Missouri is a federal-land (public-land) state. The first transfer from the government is a federal land patent, searchable free at the BLM. Later sales are in county deed books.
- BLM General Land Office Recordsfree
Search Missouri land patents by name, county or legal description.
New to land records? Read Land Records: The Paper Trail of Property.
Link directories
- Cyndi's List: Missourifree
Categorized links for statewide and county resources.
- Linkpendium: Missourifree
Links organized by county, including cemetery, church and family pages.
- USGenWeb Projectfree
Volunteer-run Missouri state and county sites with transcribed records.
Research tip
Most pre-1900 records were kept at the county level. Before searching, confirm which county your ancestor's home was in at the time; boundaries changed often. The Atlas of Historical County Boundaries shows every change.