Records that survive
These are the record series in the Oregon State Archives' inventory of Wasco 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 May 2018.
Marriages, births and deaths
- Marriage Records · State Archives, local offices and online1854–1972
- Delayed Birth Records · State Archives1859–1963
- Birth Records · State Archives and local offices1865–1941
- Death Records · State Archives and local offices1865–1941
Deeds and land
- Mining Claim Records · local offices and online1850–1985
- Surveyor Field Notes and Plats · State Archives, local offices and online1850–2006
- Federal Land Grant Records · State Archives, local offices and online1853–1957
- Deeds and Indexes · local offices and online1854–1997
- Mortgage Records · local offices1857–1985
- Road Maps and Survey Notes · local offices and online1857–1974
- Water Rights Records · local offices1859–1985
- Corner Survey Records · local offices and online1860–1968
- Foreclosure Records · State Archives and local offices1860–1997
- Land Subdivision Records · local offices and online1861–2012
- Land Title Registers · Columbia Gorge Discovery Center & Museum and local offices1865–1967
- Tax Lot Cards · local offices1950–1994
Wills and estates
- Probate Registers · State Archives and local offices1855–1989
- Probate Case Files · State Archives and local offices1860–2012
- Probate Estate Records · State Archives and local offices1860–1962
Naturalization
- Naturalization Declarations of Intention · State Archives and local offices1854–1958
- Naturalization Petitions and Orders · State Archives and local offices1854–1962
- Naturalization Certificates · State Archives1885–1962
Military and pensions
- Military Records · State Archives and local offices1855–1987
- Pension and Relief Records · State Archives and local offices1860–1972
Tax records
- Assessment and Tax Rolls · State Archives, Columbia Gorge Discovery Center & Museum, local offices and online1858–2016
Census
- Census Records · State Archives, local offices and online1860–1900
Elections and voters
- Election Poll Books · State Archives and local offices1857–1944
- Election Voting Abstracts · State Archives and local offices1857–1960
Court records
- Circuit Court Case Files · State Archives and local offices1848–1989
- Circuit Court Journals · State Archives and local offices1854–1962
- Coroner and Inquest Records · State Archives1854–1964
- Justice Court Case Files · State Archives and local offices1855–1940
- County Court Judicial Journals · State Archives and local offices1858–1915
- Justice Court Dockets · State Archives, Oregon Historical Society and local offices1858–1940
- Circuit Court Dockets · State Archives and local offices1859–1990
- County Court Case Files · State Archives1859–1912
- Judgment and Execution Records · State Archives and local offices1859–1934
- Attachment Records · State Archives and local offices1862–1953
- Insane Commitment Records · State Archives and local offices1862–2004
- Adoption Records · State Archives and local offices1865–2013
- Prisoner Registers · local offices1892–1970
Schools
- Superintendent of Schools Records · State Archives and local offices1861–1972
- School District Records · local offices1882–1974
Other records
- County Commissioners Administrative Journals · State Archives, local offices and online1854–2018
- Marks and Brands Records · State Archives and local offices1856–1949
- Road and Bridge Records · State Archives, local offices and online1857–1995
- County Officials Reports · State Archives and local offices1859–1972
- Married Women's Property Registers · State Archives1861–1893
- Clerk and Recorder Miscellaneous Recordings · local offices1871–1983
- Maps, Plans, and Drawings · State Archives, local offices and online1881–2003
- Medical Profession Registration Records · local offices1887–1972
- Animal Bounty Records · local offices1900–1901
- Farm Name Registration Records · local offices1911–1931
- Assumed Business Names Registers · local offices1913–1962
- County Commissioners Orders, Ordinances, and Resolutions · local offices and online1914–2012
- Zoning Records · local offices and online1919–2018
- County Budgets · local offices and online1923–2014
- 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
- Wasco 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: Wasco 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 Wasco County: divorce case files, 1859–1916; coroner's reports, 1855–1908; delayed births, 1859–1910; military lists, 1863–1865, 1872; naturalizations, 1851–1962; naturalizations, 1851–1962; and more.
- Provisional and Territorial Records Guide: Wasco 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, Wasco" 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: Clackamas County, Jackson County, Lane County, Linn County, Marion County
Check the parent counties for earlier records: Clackamas County, Jackson County, Lane County, Linn County, Marion County
Later formed partly from Wasco County: Baker County, Crook County, Gilliam County, Grant County, Hood River County, Lake County, Morrow County, Sherman County, Umatilla County
Records stay with the county that created them. If your ancestor lived here before 1854, 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.