Kansas Genealogy
Guide to Ancestry and Family Tree Records

The area now known as Kansas was first explored by a European in 1541. His name was Francisco de Coronado and he was exploring for Spain. Sieur de la Salle also made several land claims in the area on behalf of France, but not until 1682.

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In 1763, Spain received the territory from France, but France got it back again in 1800. Shortly thereafter, in 1803, the land was transferred to the United States from the French via the Louisiana Purchase.

Between 1803 and 1819, several famous explorers came to explore the region that is now the state of Kansas. Some of those explorers were Stephen H. Long, the famous exploring duo of Lewis and Clark, and Zebulon Pike. However, it wasn’t until 1827 that the first permanent settlement was established at Fort Leavenworth. In 1842, a settlement at Fort Scott was established, followed by one at Fort Riley in 1853. The point of some of those settlements was to protect those traveling along either the Oregon Trail or the Santa Fe Trail.

The area earned the ominous nickname of “Bleeding Kansas” right before the Civil War broke out, thanks to numerous slavery-related conflicts.

Kansas Counties – The Kansas Territory, was organized on May 30, 1854. The State of Kansas was created as the 34th state on January 29, 1861. States that border Kansas are Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma. Kansas has 105 Counties. The capital is Topeka and the official state website is kansas.gov/.

Select a Kansas county to view information & records pertaining to each County

Allen ∣ Anderson ∣ Atchison ∣ Barber ∣ Bourbon ∣ Brown ∣ Barton ∣ Butler ∣ Chase ∣ Cherokee ∣ Clark ∣ Cloud ∣ Clay ∣ Coffey ∣ Comanche ∣ Cowley ∣ Chautauqua ∣ Crawford ∣ Cheyenne ∣ Decatur ∣ Dickinson ∣ Doniphan ∣ Douglas ∣ Edwards ∣ Ellis ∣ Elk ∣ Ellsworth ∣ Finney ∣ Ford ∣ Franklin ∣ Geary ∣ Graham ∣ Greeley ∣ Grant ∣ Gove ∣ Gray ∣ Greenwood ∣ Haskell ∣ Hamilton ∣ Hodgeman ∣ Harper ∣ Harvey ∣ Jackson ∣ Jefferson ∣ Jewell ∣ Johnson ∣ Kearny ∣ Kingman ∣ Kiowa ∣ Labette ∣ Lane ∣ Lincoln ∣ Leavenworth ∣ Linn ∣ Logan ∣ Lyon ∣ McPherson ∣ Meade ∣ Miami ∣ Mitchell ∣ Marion ∣ Morris ∣ Marshall ∣ Morton ∣ Montgomery ∣ Nemaha ∣ Neosho ∣ Ness ∣ Norton ∣ Osage ∣ Osborne ∣ Ottawa ∣ Pawnee ∣ Phillips ∣ Pottawatomie ∣ Pratt ∣ Rawlins ∣ Rice ∣ Reno ∣ Republic ∣ Riley ∣ Rooks ∣ Rush ∣ Russell ∣ Saline ∣ Scott ∣ Sheridan ∣ Sedgwick ∣ Seward ∣ Shawnee ∣ Smith ∣ Sherman ∣ Stanton ∣ Stafford ∣ Sumner ∣ Stevens ∣ Thomas ∣ Trego ∣ Wabaunsee ∣ Wallace ∣ Washington ∣ Wichita ∣ Wilson ∣ Woodson ∣ Wyandotte

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