Records that survive
These are the record series in the Oregon State Archives' inventory of Curry County's records, with where each is kept now (the State Archives, a county office, or a local museum or library) and the earliest and latest years. A span can include gaps. The county's inventory was taken in September 2017.
Marriages, births and deaths
- Marriage Records · local offices1856–1992
- Delayed Birth Records · State Archives1877–1954
Deeds and land
- Mining Claim Records · local offices and online1850–1998
- Surveyor Field Notes and Plats · local offices and online1850–2015
- Deeds and Indexes · local offices1856–1992
- Mortgage Records · local offices1856–1992
- Corner Survey Records · local offices and online1857–1998
- Land Subdivision Records · local offices and online1857–2009
- Federal Land Grant Records · local offices and online1864–1957
- Road Maps and Survey Notes · local offices and online1865–1996
- Foreclosure Records · local offices1891–1917
- Land Title Registers · local offices1910–1945
- Water Rights Records · local offices1915–2012
- Tax Lot Cards · local offices1939–1995
Wills and estates
- Probate Case Files · State Archives and local offices1856–1996
- Probate Registers · State Archives and local offices1859–1979
- Probate Estate Records · State Archives1886–1932
Naturalization
- Naturalization Declarations of Intention · State Archives and local offices1856–1955
- Naturalization Petitions and Orders · State Archives1895–1955
- Naturalization Certificates · State Archives1896–1928
Military and pensions
- Military Records · local offices1856–1992
- Pension and Relief Records · local offices1920–1937
Tax records
- Assessment and Tax Rolls · State Archives, Curry Historical Museum and local offices1857–2015
Census
- Census Records · online1860–1870
Elections and voters
- Election Voting Abstracts · local offices1892–1965
- Election Poll Books · State Archives, Oregon Historical Society and local offices1900–1914
Court records
- Justice Court Dockets · State Archives, Curry Historical Museum, Oregon Historical Society and local offices1854–1943
- Judgment and Execution Records · State Archives and local offices1855–1929
- Circuit Court Dockets · State Archives and local offices1856–1987
- Insane Commitment Records · State Archives and local offices1856–2012
- Circuit Court Journals · State Archives and local offices1858–1966
- County Court Judicial Journals · State Archives and local offices1859–1920
- County Court Case Files · local offices1862–1925
- Circuit Court Case Files · State Archives and local offices1863–1988
- Attachment Records · local offices1878–1935
- Prisoner Registers · Curry Historical Museum1892–1967
- Justice Court Case Files · local offices1929–1940
- Adoption Records · local offices1940–2014
- Coroner and Inquest Records · State Archives1952–1960
Schools
- School District Records · State Archives, Curry Historical Museum and local offices1888–1967
- Superintendent of Schools Records · State Archives, Curry Historical Museum and local offices1925–1967
Other records
- Clerk and Recorder Miscellaneous Recordings · local offices1856–1966
- Road and Bridge Records · local offices and online1856–2008
- Marks and Brands Records · local offices1858–1937
- County Commissioners Orders, Ordinances, and Resolutions · local offices and online1883–2015
- County Officials Reports · local offices1885–1983
- Married Women's Property Registers · State Archives1885–1907
- Animal Bounty Records · local offices1886–1980
- Medical Profession Registration Records · local offices1887–1970
- Assumed Business Names Registers · local offices1913–1964
- Maps, Plans, and Drawings · local offices and online1921–2009
- County Budgets · local offices1922–1979
- Farm Name Registration Records · local offices1924–1929
- Aerial Photographs · Curry Historical Museum and local offices1940–2005
- County Fair Records · local offices1946–1989
- and 5 more series in the full listing
See the full inventory at the Oregon State Archives
Source: Oregon State Archives, Oregon Historical County Records Guide. Records can move after an inventory is taken, so ask before you visit. Oregon began statewide registration of births and deaths in 1903.
Where to find the records
- Curry County official website
Hours, addresses and phone numbers for the county clerk and the circuit court, and any online record search the county offers.
- The county clerk
Deeds and other land records, and marriage licenses and records.
- The circuit court
Civil and criminal cases, divorces, adoptions and, in most counties, wills and estates. In a few counties the county court still handles probate, and elsewhere older probate records may carry the county court's name.
- The Oregon State Archives
In Salem: older county records moved from the courthouses (many probate, court and naturalization files), the Oregon Historical Records Index, and the records of the provisional and territorial governments.
- Oregon State Archives: Curry County records inventoryfree
Every record series the archives inventoried for this county, with each volume's years and where it's kept.
- Oregon Historical Records Indexfree
Search by name. Indexed for Curry County: divorce case files, 1866–1929; delayed births, 1877–1916; women's separate property register entries, 1885–1907; naturalization declaration of intention records, 1904–1929; probate case files, 1856–1922.
- Provisional and Territorial Records Guide: Curry Countyfree
The county's early history and the records of its first years, before statehood in 1859, that survive at the State Archives.
- FamilySearch Catalogfree
Search by place for "Oregon, Curry" to find filmed and digitized records, many viewable free online with a FamilySearch account.
Offices change their hours and access rules; call before you visit.
Boundaries and parent counties
Formed from: Coos County, Jackson County
Check the parent counties for earlier records: Coos County, Jackson County
Later formed partly from Curry County: Josephine County
Records stay with the county that created them. If your ancestor lived here before 1855, search the parent county. The Atlas of Historical County Boundaries shows each boundary change.
Research tip
Settlers who reached Oregon by December 1, 1855 could claim land under the Donation Land Claim Act of 1850 and its amendments; the earliest arrivals could claim the most. The claim files, at the National Archives, often give a settler's birth date and birthplace and the date and place of a marriage, because a married couple could claim twice as much land. Earlier provisional government land claims (1845–1849) are at the Oregon State Archives.