Cowlitz County, Washington Genealogy Records

Listed record inventories

Selected holdings and indexes for Cowlitz County, checked against the repository descriptions linked below. Date spans may contain gaps; an index is not a complete set of original records.

See the repository's descriptions and search options

Repository access note: Selected digital collection links from Washington State Library county research guides. Collections may include local towns, schools, cemeteries and other organizations within the county. Guide dates can change; consult each Digital Archives collection for actual coverage, restrictions and available images.

Sources: the catalogs and repository descriptions linked on the entries above. Selected inventories do not establish complete coverage of every record type or online access to original documents. Read the repository access note for source dates and limitations.

Where to find the records

• Cowlitz County official website

  Hours, addresses and phone numbers for the county auditor and the clerk of the superior court, and any online record search the county offers.

• The county auditor

  Deeds and other land records, and marriage licenses.

• The clerk of the superior court

  Probate (wills and estates), divorces, naturalizations and court cases.

• The Washington State Archives

  In Olympia and regional branches: county records, and the Digital Archives with searchable indexes.

• Washington State Digital Archivesfree

  Searchable indexes to Washington records, including births, marriages, deaths, censuses and naturalizations, from the State Archives.

• FamilySearch Catalogfree

  Search by place for "Washington, Cowlitz" 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: Lewis County

Check the parent county for earlier records: Lewis County

Later formed partly from Cowlitz County: Wahkiakum 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.