Dickinson County, Iowa Genealogical Records Information

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Dickinson County History and Information

Dickinson County Facts

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Dickinson was created on January 15, 1851 (Organized in 1857) from Unorganized Territory. The County was named for Daniel Stevens Dickinson, an United States senator from New York. The County Seat is Spirit Lake.

Counties adjacent to Dickinson County are Jackson County, Minnesota (north), Emmet County (east), Clay County (south), Osceola County (west). Cities and Towns Include Arnolds Park, Lake Park, Milford, Okoboji, Orleans, Spirit Lake, Superior, Terril, Wahpeton, West Okoboji.

Dickinson County, the smallest county in land area, is named in honor of Daniel S. Dickinson, a lawyer and senator from New York.

In the summer of 1856 Rowland Gardner came from Cerro Gordo County to settle. He and his family erected cabins, which came to be known as Gardner's Grove. Soon after many families started to settle in the area. But by the end of the year the population was only 40 residents, half of that being children.

In the winter of 1856-1857 a renegade band of Sioux Indians attacked the settlers around the lake, killing all but four women. Later, two of the four women were murdered and the remaining two were rescued. For six days the ravaging and pillaging of settlements and killing of livestock continued. Word of the "Spirit Lake Massacre" finally reached Fort Dodge. An expedition was launched to pursue the Indians, but the main job turned out to be burying the dead.

Following the massacre there was a large increase in settlers, especially in the summer. This second wave of pioneers organized the county for independence. A petition was sent to the judge in Woodbury County, a seven-day journey by horseback, asking for a separate organization. An election was held calling for county officials, and on August 4, 1857 Dickinson County was formed and in 1858 the county originated.

The first courthouse was built in Spirit Lake. It was begun in 1859 and partially finished in 1860. In 1860 it was used as a barracks for Civil War troops and was completed in 1868. This building was destroyed by fire in 1872.

A second courthouse was constructed using the salvageable bricks of the first courthouse, but it was soon deemed unsatisfactory and condemned in 1880.

In September 1889 a $15,000 bond issue was proposed for the construction of a new courthouse. It was passed by a large majority. Construction of the third courthouse began on October 4, 1890 and was completed in 1891. Since its completion the building has seen three additions, one in 1957 and two more in 1976 and 1978. The funding for these additions came from the Federal Revenue Sharing fund. See also County History and County Courthouse for more details.

The Dickinson County Official Government Website
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Dickinson County, Iowa History Books at Amazon.com
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Records at the Dickinson County Courthouse

PLEASE READ FIRST!! Please call the clerk's department to confirm hours, mailing address, fees and other specifics before visiting or requesting information because of sometimes changing contact information. The Courthouse was destroyed in a fire in November of 1871, some of the county records were destroyed.

All Departments below can be contacted by clicking the link below, calling or visiting the Dickinson County Courthouse at Hill and 18th Street,Drawer ON, Spirit Lake 51360; Tel: 712-336-1138. See Also Courthouse Street Addresses for current courthouse addresses for all Iowa Counties. NOTE: The record dates below are from the earliest date to present time. Dickinson County was attached to Woodbury County for a breif time. Some early records may be found there.

Dickinson County Recorder's Office has Birth Records from 1880, Marriage Records from 1871, Death Records from 1880 and Land Records from 1861.
The Recorder's Office was created in 1839 by the First Legislative Assembly. The Recorder continues to maintain official records of documents affecting title to real estate. Every real estate transaction that takes place begins in the Recorder's Office. One of the major duties of the office is the management of public records. As a result, accuracy and preservation of records are a must in the Recorder's Office. Instruments that are recorded are not only important for today, but serve as a historical library for all of the tomorrows.

In addition to real estate transactions, the Recorder's Office issues titles and liens; records veterans discharge papers; processes passport applications; accepts marriage applications and issues the subsequent license; issues certified copies of birth, death and marriage records as well as other numerous duties.

Dickinson County Clerk of Court Office has Probate Records from 1880? and Court Records from 1880?.
In each of Iowa's 99 counties, a clerk of district court office manages and maintains all trial court records, including pleadings, evidence and orders. The clerks of court have hundreds of administrative duties. They accept and process fines, fees and court costs owed to the state, child support checks, and civil judgments owed to litigants. They maintain a record of liens on all real estate in the county. Clerks help with involuntary hospitalization cases. They have the authority to dispose of scheduled violations which are not contested and do not require a court hearing. Clerks are also responsible for informing state and local government agencies of court orders.

The Iowa district court has general jurisdiction of all civil, criminal and juvenile cases and probate matters in the state. The district court, which is also known as the trial court, is the point of entry in the court system for most cases. The Iowa district court is composed of different kinds of judicial officers with varying amounts of jurisdiction-judicial magistrates, associate juvenile judges, associate probate judges, district associate judges, and district court judges.

Click Here to Search Iowa Court, Land, Wills & Financial Records! - Researchers often overlook the importance of court records, probate records, and land records as a source of family history information.

Below is a list of online resources for Dickinson County Court Records. Email us with websites containing Dickinson County Court Records by clicking the link below:

Dickinson County Vital Records

See Also Research In Tax Records

The tax rolls for personal property and real estate were kept by the auditor or the treasurer of each county. A few of these records have been microfilmed and are available at the State Historical Society of Iowa. Original county tax rolls are usually not transferred.

Old age pension tax is a resource genealogists should consider in Iowa. A 1934 directive to collect an old age assistance tax was based on a list of all persons over twenty-one years of age. Although the tax was discontinued in 1936, the information included could be important: name, address, sex, date of birth, place of birth, and names of both parents. Many counties have had these lists microfilmed and they are available through the FHL.

Below is a list of online resources for Dickinson County Tax Records. Email us with websites containing Dickinson County Tax Records by clicking the link below:

Dickinson County Tax Assesors Office, ?
The Treasurer is responsible for collection of property taxes and other fees for state, county, city, school districts, community colleges, and other taxing entities such as townships, fire districts, and drainage districts.
Dickinson County, Iowa Tax Books at Amazon.com

Dickinson County Genealogical Addresses

See Also Other Iowa Genealogical Addresses

The Repositories in this section are Archives, Libraries, Museums, Genealogical and Historical Societies. Many County Historical and Genealogical Societies publish magazines and/or news letters on a monthly, quarterly, bi-annual or annual basis. Contacting the local societies should not be over looked. State Archives and Societies are usually much larger and better organized with much larger archived materials than their smaller county cousins but they can be generalized and over look the smaller details that local societies tend to have. Libraries can also be a good place to look for local information. Some libraries have a genealogy section and may have some resources that are not located at archives or societies. Also, take a special look at any museums in the area. They sometimes have photos and items from years gone by as well as information of a genealogical interest. All these places are vitally important to the family genealogist and must not be passed over.

Below is a list of online resources for Dickinson County Genealogical Addresses. Email us with websites containing Dickinson County Genealogical Addresses by clicking the link below:

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Local Iowa Researchers, Find a local researcher or become a local researcher.
State Historical Society of Iowa, Capitol Complex, Des Moines, IA 50319
Iowa Genealogical Society, 6000 Douglas, P.O. Box 7735, Des Moines, IA 50322
State Historical Society of Iowa Research Library, 402 Iowa Avenue, Iowa City, IA 52240
State Historical Society of Iowa Library, Capitol Complex, Des Moines, IA 50319
National Archives; Central Plains Region, Kansas City, 2312 East Bannister Road, Kansas City, Missouri 64131-3011; Email: kansascity.archives@nara.gov; Phone: 816-268-8000
Iowa Newspapers & Periodicals Records - Newspapers and periodicals are the diaries of local communities. They are excellent sources of family history details - often recorded nowhere else. Look for obituaries, marriages, legal notices, and more found in our Historical Newspaper Archives.
Iowa Genealogical Society Books at Amazon.com

Dickinson County Church & Cemeteries

Click Here to Search Iowa Obituary Records! - This database is a compilation of obituaries published in U.S. newspapers, collected from various online sources. Obituaries can vary in the amount of information they contain, but many of them are genealogical goldmines, including information such as names, dates, places of birth and death, marriage information, and family relationships.

There are many churches and cemeteries in Dickinson County. Some transcriptions are online. A great site is the Dickinson County Tombstone Transcription Project.

Predominant church groups in Iowa include Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran, and Baptist. Less in size, but equally important in religious history in the state are the Quakers, Mormons, Mennonites, and Congregationalists. The first church building in Iowa, a Methodist church built of logs, was constructed in Dubuque in 1834. A year later the Catholics erected a parish building in the same city. In 1843 the “Iowa Band” of Congregational and Presbyterian clergy began ministering to the settlers in Iowa. In 1854 a small group of the Community of True Inspiration arrived from Germany, settling along the Iowa River in the mid-section of the state. A year later additional members of their group joined them, establishing the unique Amana colonies of present-day Iowa.

Many of the local chapters of the Iowa Genealogical Society have publications of cemetery records in their respective counties which can be ordered through the chapter. A state-wide publication listing is available through the state society. A large number of cemetery transcription collections as well as records of funeral homes, casket lists, and obituary indexes are held by the FHL

Below is a list of online resources for Dickinson County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing Dickinson County Cemetery & Church Records by clicking the link below:

IOWA WPA GRAVES REGISTRATION SURVEY - These records contain burials throughout much of Iowa that were compiled by WPA workers in the 1930 s, including grave markers which no longer exist today. Records may be searched within a county or state-wide.
Iowa Cemetery Records: These cemetery records represent seventy-six counties and Graceland Cemetery of Sioux City, Iowa, in the united States, that were transcribed by the Works Project Administration. Records in this database generally include the page number where the record can be found in the WPA index, the name of the deceased, birth date, death date, age, cemetery name, town name, and additional comments if any.
Iowa Civil War Soldier Burial Records: Listing of 30,000 Civil War veterans who served or lived in Iowa following the war.
Dickinson County, Iowa Cemetery Books at Amazon.com
Dickinson County, Iowa Church Books at Amazon.com

Family Trees & Genealogy Tidbits

Click Here to Search Iowa Family Tree Records! - The use of published genealogies, electronic files containing genealogical lineage, and other compiled sources can be of tremendous value to a researcher.

When view family trees online or not, be sure to only take the info at face value and always follow up with your own sources or verify the ones they provide. Below is a list of online resources for Dickinson County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information. Email us with websites containing Dickinson County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information by clicking the link below:

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Sites on USGenweb: [ Dickinson County ] [ Iowa ] [ Main Page ]
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Dickinson County USGenweb Archives
Dickinson County, Iowa Family Books at Amazon.com

County History

From the A.T. Andreas Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Iowa, 1875

This is the third county from the west line of the state in the north tier, and was named in honor of D. S. Dickinson of New York. It is twenty-four miles east and west, by seventeen north and south, and therefore embraces a superficial area of four hundred and eight square miles. This is the most elevated county in the state, as it lies on the Great Watershed, and is drained by the upper branches of the Little Sioux River, one branch having its source in Minnesota. The two largest lakes in the state are located in this county, to wit, Spirit and Okoboji. Spirit Lake (or Minne-Waukon, as the Dakotas called it) embraces about twelve square miles of surface, its width and length being nearly equal, while its northern border rests directly on the northern boundary of the state. The shores are gravelly, and on the north and west banks are considerable bodies of timber. Okoboji Lake lies directly south of Spirit Lake, and is connected with it by an outlet, its surface being about six feet below that of Spirit Lake. Okoboji Lake extends about five miles southward from the point nearest Spirit Lake, then turns westward about the same distance, and then northward again nearly five miles, so that the entire length, in all its bendings, is about fifteen miles. The eastern area of this lake is comparatively narrow, and at the point where it turns westward it is so narrow as to be easily bridged. West of this lies the main body of the lake, which the Indians called Minnetonka, meaning "great water," in the Sioux dialect. This lake, with its surroundings, is the most beautiful and attractive in Iowa, having a clean, gravelly beach, clear water, and is bordered by fine groves of native timber. West of Spirit, and north of Okoboji Lakes, there are some smaller ones resting in depressions, several of which are beautiful little sheets of water. Surrounding them are some irregular elevations, the highest point being eighty feet above the surface of Spirit Lake, which is believed to be the most elevated point of land in the state. The outlet of Lake Okoboji is a stream about five miles in length, with a rapid fall, and flows into Little Sioux River. This outlet affords excellent and reliable power for machinery.

The general character of the surface is undulatory, largely prairie, which has a good soil of dark loam and exhaustless fertility, well adapted to the growth of all kinds of grain, vegetables, and grasses cultivated in Northern Iowa. It is also a good stock raising county, as there is an abundance of pure water and nutritious grass, combined with shelter in the groves about the lakes. No exposures of stratified rock in place has been found in the county. On the shores of the lakes there are large deposits of drift boulders, principally granite and red quartzite, with occasionally a magnesian limestone. Although, as stated, this county lies upon the Great Watershed, and is the highest land in the state, there is nowhere any difficulty in obtaining excellent water at a depth of a few feet below the surface. Fuel is obtained from the groves about the lakes, which are supplied with a variety of excellent fish.

This attractive portion of Northwestern Iowa secured the attention of settlers as early as 1856, at which time a number of families settled around the shores of Spirit and Okoboji Lakes, and about the headwaters of Little Sioux River. Roving bands of the Sioux Indians still lingered in this region, occasionally committing petty depredations upon the property of the settlers, and upon hunters and trappers who happened to come within their power. Finally, on the 8th or 9th of March, 1857, they committed the horrible murders and outrages which annihilated the population of the county, making an indiscriminate slaughter of men, women and children. There was at this time a small settlement at a place called Springfield, on the Des Moines River, in Minnesota, eight miles north of the Iowa line, but there was such a heavy snow on the ground as to render it almost impossible for the sparse settlements in this region to communicate with each other. The sufferers and victims in Dickinson County were the following;

Mr. Gardner, his wife and son all killed, and a daughter fifteen years of age taken captive. Mr. Luce, a son-in-law of Mr. Gardner, his wife and two children, all killed. Mr. Mattocks, his wife and five children, all killed; also a Mr. Matteson, who lived with the family. Mr. Howe and four children, all killed; also Mr. Noble, who lived in the family; Mrs. Howe and a Mrs. Thatcher of this family were taken captives, and subsequently killed by the Indians. Mr. Marble and child killed, and his wife taken captive. Three men named Granger, Snyder and Harriott, were also killed. Mrs. Marble and Miss Garner who were taken captive, were some months after purchased through the intervention of some friendly Indians. These comprise probably all the families who resided in the county at this time. At the lakes and at Springfield, forty-one persons were killed outright, three wounded and four captured, while twelve other persons were missing, and the remains of several afterward found. Some of the bodies were burned in the houses fired by the Indians. They killed all the cattle of the settlers and destroyed their household goods, burning most of the cabins. As soon as the news of this massacre reached Fort Dodge, then the nearest considerable settlement, an expedition was organized under Major Williams, to proceed to the scene of the massacre. After much difficulty on account of the severe weather and deep snow, they arrived at Emmet in Emmet County, where they learned that the Indians had left the country, and this it was not necessary for the entire command to go over to the lakes. Twenty-two persons under the command of Captain J. C. Johnston, went over and buried the dead, and on their return Captain Johnston and Wm. Burkholder were frozen to death. The same season, and soon after the massacre, other settlers began to take the place made vacant by savage barbarity around the shores of these beautiful lakes, among whom were R. A. Smith, J. S. Prescott, W. B. Brown, C. F. Hill, Moses Miller, C. W. Furber, B. F. Parmenter, R. M. Wheelock, M. A. Blanchard, O. C. Howe, William Lamont, Morris Markham, Henry Barkman and George E. Spencer. Morris Markham was a trapper, and lived in the family of J. M. Thatcher previous to the massacre; but at that time, he and Mr. Thatcher both happened to be absent, and thus escaped the fate of the other settlers.

Dickinson County Courthouse

Construction of Dickinson's first courthouse began in 1859 but not completed until 1868. The courthouse was used as protection and shelter against Indian attacks. Troops eventually arrived and they used the courthouse as quarters until 1865. Work had to be done on the building after the troops left. The courthouse was completely finished in 1868. In November of 1871, the old courthouse and some of the county records were destroyed in a fire.

The second courthouse was built from the bricks used in the first courthouse. This building was used until it was condemned in the late 1880's.

The present courthouse was completed in 1891 at a cost of almost $15,000. The concrete in the foundation of this courthouse was made from the bricks of the first and second buildings. A new addition, including a jail, was built in 1957.

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