A. Janicke & Co. (ca. 1859) Our city, St. Louis, Mo. / lith. by A. Janicke & Co., St. Louis. Saint Louis United States Missouri, ca. 1859. [Publiched sic by Hagen & Pfau at the Anzeiger des Westens] [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/94513619/.
Welcome to our Online Guide to St. Louis Genealogy! The staff of the History & Genealogy Department have been producing Indexes, Finding Aids, and Guides for over 20 years.
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Prior to 1877, St. Louis County encompassed the City of St. Louis plus all other areas within the county boundaries including such towns as Kirkwood and Florissant. During that time, the county seat was the City of St. Louis. Often called the "Great Divorce," the split occurred after the citizens of St. Louis County (that included both city and county) voted on the question of whether the City of St. Louis should separate from the county and become an independent city.
The vote took place 22 Aug 1876, and the initial count indicated that the separation question had failed by just over 100 votes. Supporters of separation then brought charges, including fraud, and a recount was ordered. The recount took four months so it was late 1876 before it was determined that the vote for separation had passed. The story of the split is really much more complex than that, so consult the reading list below for more in-depth material.
This separation of city and county affects where public records of interest to genealogists are housed after 1876. While the split actually occurred in 1876, it was 1877 before parallel record keeping systems-one for the city and one for the county-existed.
If you are looking for a public record in St. Louis, it is helpful to first determine if the event-or the recording of it-took place prior to the end of 1876, or after the beginning of 1877. This division point is best used only as a "rule of thumb" for records in the time period around and after the split as that is often a "gray area." Keep in mind that it was not until December of 1878-two years after the vote-that the newly built St. Louis County Courthouse, located in the new county seat of Clayton, Mo., was ready for occupancy. The number of records found in St. Louis County record books for the years 1877-1878 is sparse.
If your research is in the post-1876 time period, you need to check the records for BOTH city and county. People's lives often involved traveling back and forth between city and county-and the records of events in their lives were recorded based on where the event occurred, not where they lived. This applies to a wide range of records but especially to
If you see a location listed as "St. Louis" when working with family records after 1876, try to find out whether that refers to St. Louis County or to the City of St. Louis.
As an example, an event—such as a marriage—could have occurred in rural St. Louis County before the split, but the officiating minister did not record his records until two and a half years later. By 1879, the new courthouse was built in Clayton and their record keeping system was established, so that is where he went to record the marriage which had occurred in the county. If he had recorded the marriage in a timely manner—just after the wedding—the record would now be housed by the Recorder of Deeds Office in the City of St. Louis with all the other pre-1876 marriages. Because of the delay in recording the marriage, however, the record would now be housed by the Recorder of Deeds Office in the County Courthouse in Clayton, Mo.
All City and County records created prior to the split were kept by the City of St. Louis and are housed by various governmental offices for the City of St. Louis in downtown St. Louis. Many of those records are available on microfilm and many microfilms have been digitized by FamilySearch.
City records created after the split are maintained and housed by city governmental offices for the City of St. Louis in downtown St. Louis. Many of those records are available on microfilm and many have been digitized by Familysearch.
County records created after the split are maintained and housed by county governmental offices for the County of St. Louis. In late 1877, Clayton, Mo. was selected as the new county seat and that is where most of the county governmental offices are located today. Many of those records are available on microfilm and have been digitized by Familysearch
Barclay, Thomas S. Movement for Municipal Home Rule in St. Louis. University of Missouri Studies Series. Columbia, Mo.: University of Missouri, 1943. Q 352.0778 B244M
Barclay, Thomas S. St. Louis Home Rule Charter of 1876: Its Framing and Adoption. University of Missouri Studies Series. Columbia, Mo.: University of Missouri Press, 1962. 352.0778 B244S
Cassella, William N. Jr. "City-County Separation: The 'Great Divorce' of 1876." The Missouri Historical Society Bulletin 15 (Jan 1959). R 977.8 G5591/15 Oct 1958-Jul 1959
Terry, Dickson. Clayton: A History. Clayton, Mo.: Von Hoffmann Press, 1976. R 977.865 T329C
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Partial Index to St. Louis Records is a twenty-three roll microfilm set available in the History and Genealogy Department that indexes the following items:
St. Louis Birth Registers. Index cards include the names of the child, father, and mother; date of birth; and volume and page number of the original record books. Microfilmed copies of birth registers are available in the History and Genealogy Department, but page numbers frequently do not appear in the original registers. Entries are generally arranged chronologically, so the record can still be found by using the date of birth if the page in the register is unnumbered.
St. Louis City Marriages. The index includes name, spouse’s name and date. The Department’s microfilm sets “Index to Marriages, St. Louis City” and “Marriage Licenses, St. Louis City” only go through 1965, so researchers should consult the partial index films for marriages that took place from then through the 1970s. Marriage records after 1965 can be obtained by contacting St. Louis City Hall, Marriage License Bureau, 1200 Market Street, St. Louis, MO 63103-2803.
Medical Case Histories. The index covers records for the following hospitals, 1930s to the 1950s: City Hospital, Homer G. Phillips, Koch and Chronic. For further information about hospital records, contact St. Louis City Hall, Records Retention Office, 1200 Market Street, St. Louis, MO 63103-2803.
Official Oaths. Index cards list name, position oath is being taken for and date. For a copy of the oath, contact St. Louis City Hall, Records Retention Office, 1200 Market Street, St. Louis, MO 63103-2803.
St. Louis City Death Registers. Information on the index cards includes name of the deceased, address, date of death and page number in the death register. Microfilms of the death registers are available in the History and Genealogy Department. These records are also indexed on the St. Louis Genealogical Society’s CD “St. Louis Death Registers,” which is available for use in the History and Genealogy Department.
1850 U. S. Federal Census for the City of St. Louis. Unfortunately, most of the cards are illegible on the microfilm. Census records can be easily searched on Ancestry Library Edition, available for use for free in the History and Genealogy Department and any St. Louis County Library branch.
Louisiana Purchase Exposition: The St. Louis World's Fair of 1904. St.Louis: Missouri Historical Society, 1979. R 977.866 L888 and circulating copy