O'Brien County Genealogy

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This site is part of the USGenWeb Project and the IAGenWeb Project to promote free on-line genealogical research and records access. Thanks to Joan Skilbred, Wilma J. Vande Berg, Nancy Wilson, Colleen Boose, Arlene Steffen, and many others for their contributions to this site. Thanks also to our previous coordinator, Don Harrington, for all the work that he has put into this site. If you have material which could be helpful to others, either to put on-line or to use for lookups, please contact me.

Table of Contents
Biographies	Deaths, Obituaries, etc.	Migrations	Photographs
Cemeteries	Families	Military	Queries
Census	Mail	Miscellaneous	Resources
Churches	Maps	Newspapers	Schools
County History	Marriages	Orphans	Surnames

Biographies

• O'Brien Biographies from "The History of Western Iowa" (1882)
• "The Political Graveyard"
• 1914 Biographies Index
• 1940 Who's Who Index
• Other Biographies
• IAGenWeb - Please post or view biographies here

Cemeteries

• Name and location of O'Brien cemeteries
• O'Brien tombstone transcriptions
• Military Vets buried in Paullina & Germantown
• IAGenWeb Gravestone Photo Project for O'Brien cemeteries
• Find A Grave

Census

• 1870 Census Index
• 1880 Census
• 1885 Census of Veterans - partial
• 1895 Census
• 1905 Iowa Census - partial
• 1925 Iowa Census - partial
• How to obtain 1930 Census microfilms
• Population history
• Genealogy Look Up Forum

Churches

• History of the pioneer churches
• The Pilgrims of Iowa - Early Congregationalist Churches in:
  • Gaza
  • Grant Township - More on the Covey Church and its cemetery
  • Primghar
  • Sheldon - Click here to see a photo
  • Sutherland
• Churches of Paullina
  • Photos from the 1911 Standard Atlas of O'Brien County
    • German Lutheran Church and Parsonage
    • M.E. Church
    • Presbyterian Church
  • Quaker History
  • Siloam Lutheran Church - Lookups available from baptismal records 1888 - 1935
• Churches of Sanborn
  • St. Andrew's Methodist Church
  • First Reformed Church
  • First Presbyterian Church
  • St. John Lutheran Church
• Catholic Parish Histories
  • Hartley, Primghar, Sanborn, Sheldon, Sutherland

County History

• Past and Present of O'Brien and Osceola Counties (1914)
• A Brief History of O'Brien County
• Where Our People Came From
• Plaques and Memorials
• "The Winter of Eighty-One"
• Pages from "Northwestern Iowa: its history and traditions, 1804-1926"
  • General history
  • Early newspapers
  • Early physicians
• Local area histories
  • Paullina
  • Primghar
  • Sanborn - The First Seventy-five Years in the Sanborn Community (1878-1953)

Deaths, Obituaries, etc.

• Social Security Death Index
• Death Index: 1906-1909
• Memorial card offer
• Link to Kneen family obits
• Browse Older Obituaries
• IAGenWeb - Please post or view obituaries here

Families

• Iowa Family Group Sheets Project
• Letters on O'Brien families

Mailing list

• Subscribe to the IAOBRIEN-L mailing list
• IAOBRIEN-L Archives (included in the Free Find search above)

Maps

• O'Brien County Towns and Townships
• Townships adjacent to O'Brien County and links to their counties
• Map from A.T. Andreas' Atlas of the State of Iowa (1875)
• Map from an 1895 Atlas
• 1911 Standard Atlas, including a plat book
• 1924 Atlas of O'Brien County Farmers
• 1930 Plat book (W.W. Hixson & Co.)
• 1973 Directory and Atlas of Rural Residents
• Aerial Photomosaics: 1938, 1949, 1954, 1962, 1968, 1976, 1978
• Various US Geographical Survey Maps of O'Brien Populated Places

Marriages

• Portion of "Index to Marriage Records in the Circuit Court" from the 1800's
• Marriage Notices - The Hartley Herald

Migrations

• Tracing the moves of people who lived at one time in O'Brien

Military

• Photographs
  • 1906 Paullina Military Band
  • Pre-1913 Sheldon Co. E 56 Reg Inf, Iowa National Guard
  • 1917 Registration Group, Paullina
• Civil War
  • "Old Soldiers of O'Brien County"   (More photos welcome!)
  • National Park Service's Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System
  • James P. Martin, the last Civil War veteran to die in Iowa
  • Six volumes of Civil War Records for Iowa
• World War II
  • Army and Air Force Casualty List
  • Navy, Marine, and Coast Guard casualties and POWs

Miscellaneous Listings

• Irish Born Patrons of the 1875 Iowa State Historical Atlas
• 1884 Sutherland Business Directory
• Index to 1897 History
• Patrons of the 1911 O'Brien Atlas
• 1913 Sheldon Business Directory
• Old Settlers Reunion of 1939 - Paullina connections
• Masonic orders

Newspapers

• The Iowa Old Press Project - Read or submit old newspaper articles
• Early newspapers - from "Northwestern Iowa: its history and traditions, 1804-1926"
• Sanborn - "Town’s Oldest Business, The Pioneer"
• Newspapers of 1884 and 1911
• Newspapers on microfilm and Current Newspapers - Resources

Orphans

• Learn about Iowa's "Orphan Train"

Photographs

• Photos from O'Brien County
• Offer to copy various old Sheldon photos
• Panoramic picture of Sheldon taken in 1907
• Index to Illustrations in the 1911 Atlas
• Historic photos of Sutherland
• Penny Postcards
• O'Brien County Historical Society - The Hub Hotel and its Time Capsule (1915)

Queries

• Browse Older Queries
• IAGenWeb - Please post or view queries here
• Ancestry.com boards

Resources

• Lookup & Transcription Volunteers
• Resource List and Addresses
• Sheldon Historial Soc. publications
• List of O'Brien Co. materials at LDS Salt Lake Library
• Iowa Lakes Gen. Soc. (They have O'Brien microfilms)
• University of Iowa archives - Franklin Township Farm Bureau Women (1956-1993)

Schools

• An Education Report from 1900
• Archer
  • Graduates - 8th Grade, 1954
  • Graduates of 1921-1961
• Paullina
  • Graduates of 1896-1945
  • Paullina High - Oct 1914 The Barb Publication
  • Methodist Bible School Class, circa 1933-1935
  • Stavanger School (Quaker): 1890-1914 - see here and here
  • 1941-1942 Basketball Squad (includes students of '42-'45)
• Primghar
  
  • Primghar School - 1887
  • Graduates of 1905 and 1906
  • 7th Grade, c. 1922
• Sanborn
  • History of Sanborn Schools
    • From "The Rambler" (1915)
    • School Started as a Township School
    • School for Christian Instruction
    • School Days Franklin No. 9
  • Faculty of 1915
  • Class of 1912
  • Class of 1916
  • Graduates of 1906, 1915, 1925, 1954
• Sheldon
  • Basketball teams
  • Graduates of 1887-1980
  • "Floyd 6" Country School - 1946
  • Sheldon Christian School
    • Graduates - 8th Grade, 1954

Surnames

• View Surname Registry
• What are your surnames?