Missouri Probate Records

Availability[edit | edit source]

Probate matters in Missouri have usually been recorded by the clerks of the probate courts, but in some counties the common pleas or circuit courts handled this function. The records include wills, administrator bonds, and estate inventories. They are frequently indexed. You can obtain copies by contacting the probate judge in each county.

Copies of many of the records are available at the Family History Library. The library's records generally date from the creation of the county to about 1925. For example, the library has 71 films for Jackson County that include:

Wills and other records (1828-1917)
Bonds (1868-1923)
Letters (1876-1955)
Guardians' records (1871-1898)
Inventories (1881-1915)
Real estate sales (1890-1918)

For many counties, abstracts of the earliest wills have been published, and copies are available at major archives and the Family History Library.

Web Sites[edit | edit source]

http://thelibrary.springfield.missouri.org/lochist/records/protoc.htm

St. Louis, Missouri Judicial Records: http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/mojudicial/#searchDB

http://home.att.net/~wee-monster/stlouis.html

References[edit | edit source]

Missouri Research Outline. Salt Lake City, Utah: Intellectual Reserve, Inc., Family History Department, 1998, 2001.