Grant County, Oregon Genealogy

United States

Oregon

Grant County

Guide to Grant County, Oregon ancestry, genealogy and family history, birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

Oregon Online Genealogy Records

County Facts County seat: Canyon City Organized: October 14, 1862 Parent County(s): Wasco, Umatilla Neighboring Counties Baker • Crook • Harney • Malheur • Morrow • Umatilla • Union • Wheeler See County Maps Courthouse Location Map

County Information

Description

Grant County was named for President Ulysses S. Grant, who served as an army officer in the Oregon Territory, and at the time of the county's creation was a Union general in the American Civil War. The county is located in the east-central area of the state.

County Courthouse

Grant County Courthouse
201 S. Humboldt St.
Canyon City, OR 97820
Phone: 541-575-1438
Grant County Courthouse

County Clerk has birth and death records 1915-1929, marriage, land and probate records from 1864, military records from 1872, and naturalization records 1907-1913. Clerk Circuit Court has divorce. County Records Inventory listing the records held at the Grant County Court House as of July 2009.

Grant County, Oregon Record Dates

Information for this chart was taken from various sources, often containing conflicting dates. This information should be taken as a guide and should be verified by contacting the county and/or the state government agency.

Known Beginning Dates for Government County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1915	1864	1915	1864	1864	1864	1845
*Statewide registration for births and deaths in 1903. General compliance year unknown.

Record Loss

1870, 1885, 1950 Fires burned the courthouse and some records were damaged. Fire destroyed some pre 1900 marriage records. For suggestions about research in places that suffered historic record losses, see: Burned Counties. By Michael John Neill at 24-7 Family History Circle. When the Records are Gone. By Arlene Eakle at Arlene Eakle's Tennessee Blog. Burned Counties Research in the FamilySearch Research Wiki. List of counties in the United States with Record Loss

Boundary Changes

Parent County(s): Created from Wasco and Umatilla Counties, on 14 October 1864. County Seat: Canyon City Oregon Individual County Chronologies - Newberry Library list of all boundary changes by county Oregon Historical Borders - Map at Newberry Library Atlas of Historical County Boundaries; Also at: mapofus.org - animated maps illustrating Oregon county boundary changes

Populated Places

For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit HomeTown Locator

The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:

Cities
Canyon City Dayville Granite	John Day Long Creek Monument	Mount Vernon Prairie City Seneca
Unincorporated communities
Austin Junction Bates Beech Creek Courtrock Dale	Fox Hamilton Izee Kimberly Range	Ritter Silvies Three Forks
Ghost towns
Austin Cabell City Caverhill Courtrock	Galena Marysville Porterville	Robinsonville Susanville

History Timeline

Historical
Named for General Ulysses S. Grant, General of the Union Army at the time.

• 1862 Gold was discovered in what is now Canyon Creek in 1862, bringing a gold rush into the area.

• 23 February 1899: Harney County set off.

Resources

Biographies

• An Illustrated history of Baker, Grant, Malheur and Harney counties: with a brief outline of the early history of the state Oregon (1902) FS Catalog Collection
• The History of Grant County, Oregon, 1862-1983 FS Catalog Collection
• Index to above FS Catalog Collection
• U.S. Biographies

Cemeteries

Cemeteries of Grant County, Oregon online and in print
Tombstone Transcriptions Online	Find a Grave ORGenWeb USGenWeb Archives OR Tombstone Transcription Project Interment.net ORGravestones BillionGraves
Tombstone Transcriptions in Print (Often more complete)	FamilySearch Library WorldCat
List of Cemeteries in the County	Find a Grave Oregon Metro Oregon Genealogy Cemeteries FamilySearch Places
See Oregon Cemeteries for more information.

Census Records

Historical populations
Census	Pop.	%±
1870	2,251	—
1880	4,303	91.2%
1890	5,080	18.1%
1900	5,948	17.1%
1910	5,607	−5.7%
1920	5,496	−2.0%
1930	5,940	8.1%
1940	6,380	7.4%
1950	8,329	30.5%
1960	7,726	−7.2%
1970	6,996	−9.4%
1980	8,210	17.4%
1990	7,853	−4.3%
2000	7,935	1.0%
2010	7,445	−6.2%
Source: "Wikipedia.org".

Federal
1870
The portion that is now Harney County was not enumerated.

• Eastern Oregon 1870 U.S. Census: Baker County, Grant County, Umatilla County, Union County FS Catalog Collection
• United States 1870 Record Collection 1438024

1880
The portion that is now Harney County was not enumerated. This includes what is now Burns, Harney, etc.

• The Federal census of 1880 for Grant County, Oregon FS Catalog Collection
• Grant County, Oregon 1880 census FS Catalog Collection
• United States 1880 Record Collection 1417683

1890
Loss of 1890 Census records

1900

• United States 1900 Record Collection 1325221

1910

• United States 1910 Record Collection 1727033
• United States 1910 Census at Ancestry.com ($)

1920

• United States 1920 Record Collection 1488411
• United States 1920 Census at Ancestry.com ($)

1930

• United States 1930 Record Collection 1810731
• United States 1930 Census at Ancestry.com ($)

1940
Open Release to the Public, March/April 2012.

Church Records

List of Churches and Church Parishes

• FamilySearch Places: Map of cities and towns in this county - How to Use FS Places

Court Records

Online Court Indexes and Records

• 1872-1923 Divorce case files, 1872-1923 FS Catalog Collection

Directories

• 1970-2024 United States, Residence Database, 1970-2024 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index, coverage may vary
• Baker City (Oregon) city directories, including Grant County FS Catalog Collection

Emigration and Immigration

• Ellis Island and Other New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 MyHeritage ($).

Funeral Homes

Driskill Memorial Chapel in John Day

Land and Property Records

Online Land Indexes and Records

• Full-Text Search - Land Records at FamilySearch - index & images; dates, records, and places vary; How to Search

Maps and Gazetteers

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

• FamilySearch Places: Map of cities and towns in this county - How to Use FS Places

Migration

Details about the rivers and waterways where farms and settlements are often found along them. See "Rivers and Waterways"

Military Records

• 1872-1874 Military list for years 1872-1874 as per return of J.W. King, assessor, and military roll, 1887-1898 FS Catalog Collection
  "Military roll" is on spine of books and printed at the top of each page as a running title, however, there is no military information and only names and precincts are listed. 1900 records also have "State Poll Tax Roll" handwritten across top of pages.

Civil War

• 1861-1865 Oregon, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images

World War I

• 1919-1920 Oregon, World War I, County Military Service Records, 1919-1920 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images
• 1921-1938 Oregon, World War I, Veteran State Aid Applications, 1921-1938 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images

Naturalization and Citizenship

Online Naturalization Indexes and Records

• 1868-1991 United States, Oregon, Naturalization Records, 1868-1991 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images

Newspapers

• Blue Mountain Eagle (Grant County Paper)
• Newspaper Archives ($)
• Oregon Online Historical Newspapers - identifies historical archived and digitized newspapers available online on both free and pay-to-access websites.
• 1800s-Current Oregon, U.S., Newspapers.com™ Stories and Events Index, 1800's-Current at Ancestry — index & images ($)

Probate Records

Online Probate Indexes and Records

• 1833-1963 Oregon Wills and Probate Records 1833-1963 at Ancestry — index & images ($)
• Full-Text Search - Wills and Probate Records at FamilySearch - index & images; dates, records, and places vary; How to Search

Social Security Records

• 1935-2014 United States Social Security Death Index at FamilySearch — How to use this collection; index. Also at Ancestry, findmypast, Fold3, GenealogyBank, MyHeritage, and Steve Morse. Click here for more information.
• 1936-2007 U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007
• 1936-2007 United States, Social Security Numerical Identification Files (NUMIDENT), 1936-2007 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index

Tax Records

• Assessor's plat book, 1872-1898 FS Catalog Collection
• Delinquent tax roll of Grant County, Oregon, 1884-1887 FS Catalog Collection

Vital Records

See application for Oregon Birth Certificate, Marriage Certificate, Divorce Certificate, Death Certificate Application to mail.

Birth

• 1842-1917 Oregon, Oregon State Archives, Births, 1842-1917 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images; Also at: Ancestry ($)
• 1855-1970 Oregon, U.S., County Births and Deaths, 1855-1970 at Ancestry — index & images ($)
• 1860-1952 Oregon Births, 1860-1952 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index
• 1876-1940 Oregon, Center for Health Statistics, Birth Records, 1903-1918 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images

Marriage

• 1826-1975 Oregon, United States Marriages at Findmypast — index ($)
• 1841-1964 Oregon, Marriages and Divorces at MyHeritage — index ($)
• 1849-1884;1991-2006 Oregon Marriage Index, 1849-1884; 1991-2006 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index & images
• 1906-1968 Oregon, U.S., State Marriages, 1906-1968 at Ancestry - index & images ($)
• 1865 to 1900& 1900 to 1908 Marriages or Marriage Licenses issued for Grant County, Oregon covering from 1865 to 1900 inclusive and some marriages from 1900 to 1908 (not inclusive) FS Catalog Collection
• 1900-2000 Grant County, Oregon marriages [1900-2000] FS Catalog Collection
• Western States Marriage Index
• Western States Marriage Index at BYU-Idaho

Death

• 1855-1970 Oregon, U.S., County Births and Deaths, 1855-1970 at Ancestry — index & images ($)
• 1864-1967 Oregon, Oregon State Archives, Death Records, 1864-1967 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index and images
• 1864-1968 Oregon, U.S., State Deaths, 1864-1968 at Ancestry — index & images ($)

Divorce

• 1841-1964 Oregon, Marriages and Divorces at MyHeritage — index ($)
• 1872-1923 Divorce case files, 1872-1923 FS Catalog Collection

Research Facilities

Archives

Listed below are archives in Grant County. For state-wide archival repositories, see Oregon Archives and Libraries.

FamilySearch Centers

FamilySearch Center and Affiliate Library Locator map - search for local FamilySearch Centers or Affiliate Libraries

• FamilySearch Centers provide one-on-one assistance, free access to center-only databases, and to premium genealogical websites.
• FamilySearch Affiliate Libraries have access to most center-only databases, but may not always have full services normally provided by a FamilySearch center.
  

Local Centers and Affiliate Libraries

• John Day Oregon FamilySearch Center

Libraries

Listed below are libraries in Grant County. For state-wide library facilities, see Oregon Archives and Libraries.

Grant County Library
507 S Canyon Blvd
John Day, OR 97845
541-575-1992
Website

Museums

Grant County Historical Society and Museum
101 S Canyon City Blvd
Canyon City, OR 97820
541-575-0362
Website

Societies

Listed below are societies in Grant County. For state-wide genealogical societies, see Oregon Societies.

Grant County Historical Society and Museum
101 S Canyon City Blvd
Canyon City, OR 97820
541-575-0362
Website

Websites

• Grant County GenWeb, part of OR GenWeb
• The USGenWeb Archives Project
• Grant County Oregon History and Genealogy

• FamilySearch Catalog – The FamilySearch catalog contains descriptions and access information for all genealogical materials (including books, online materials, microfilm, microfiche, and publications) in their collection.  Use Historical Records to search for specific individuals in genealogical records.

This table contains the dates the local or state government began recording in the county or county equivalent. Use substitute records for earlier dates. If you believe there is an error, email us at wikisupport@familysearch.org.

County boundary maps are currently unavailable. Download information instead.

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Users should verify which locations and dates are included in this collection.

“Current” indicates records are available as recently as privacy laws allow. This date can change from year to year. To determine the exact dates available, contact the respective organization/repository.