Clark County, Washington

Welcome to Clark County, Washington

Map courtesy of Mike Sweeney

 

My name is Alice Allen, and I will be your host in Clark Co. Formed in 1844, and originally named Vancouver County (changed to Clark in 1849), Clark County is the oldest county in Washington state, and is home to one of the oldest settlements in Washington -- Vancouver. Named for Captain George Vancouver,a British explorer who actually never explored the mighty Columbia River or saw the site of his namesake city, Ft. Vancouver was established in 1825 by Dr. John McLoughlin of the Hudson's Bay Company. As settlers pushed north out of Oregon to the land across the Columbia River, the Hudson's Bay Company eventually gave up its Fort and trading business in the area, and Vancouver--the city--was born. We hope you will enjoy your visit with us. Be sure to check out the Query & Surname pages,the Clark Co. links as we establish them, the Volunteer Lookups page, and return often, as this site will grow as we go. We invite you to leave your queries, and if you have any family records and histories to contribute (non-copyrighted or with permission to copy, of course), please get in touch with me, Alice Allen. The more information we have, the more we will be able to help other researchers.

About the Washington GenWeb Project

In March and April, 1996, a group of genealogists organized the Kentucky Comprehensive Genealogy Database. The idea was to provide a single entry point for all counties in Kentucky, where collected databases would be stored. In addition, the databases would be indexed and cross-linked, so that even if an individual were found in more than one county, they could be located in the index. At the same time, volunteers were found who were willing to coordinate the collection of databases and generally oversee the contents of the web page. The Washington GenWeb Project is an extension of the KY GenWeb Project.

If your interests lie in another county in Washington and you would be interested in helping it grow by either adopting it or contributing to the database, please contact Mike Sweeney

Washington State Links

  • Washinton State USGenWeb Page
  • Roots-L Washington State Page
  • Washington State Genealogy Society
  • Online Highways--Travel Guide to Washington
  • Washington GenWeb Archives
  • Washington Vital Records Page
  • Washington Family Group Sheet Project
    Submit family group sheets for your Washington families here
  • Washington State Pioneer Life Database
  • Washington State Biographies
  • Washington State Digital Archives
  • Linkpendium Washington

    • Clark County Queries and Lookups

    Effective May 29th, 2009, I am discontinuing manual input of queries to the Query page as has been in effect for the past 13 years. When the USGenWeb Project began back in 1996, there were no message boards in existance, and this process was all that there was. The Message Boards have become very popular and work so well, that we are encouraging their use rather than the old manual system. More people see these message boards, so you should see faster results from your queries. There are links to several Message Boards below. I have left links to the old query system as well, so be sure to check there to see if there are old queries for your family. Be aware that addresses may be outdated, especially for the older queries. Known "bad addresses are in the "Queries With Bad Addresses" link. Many times the person leaving the original query does check back and gives me an updated address. I will update those addresses when I receive them, and their query will be put back in the old query format.

  • Ancestry's Message Boards for Clark County. Be sure to scroll down towards the bottom of the page to enter the query & other forms.
  • Genforum's Clark County Site for Queries

    • Links For the Old Query System

  • Clark Co. Query Index -- 1996 through May 2009
  • Clark Co. Surname Registry -- 1996 through May 2009
  • Queries with "Bad" addresses
    If you posted a query and had an email address change, check here to see if your query was moved from the regular query page to this one. If you would like to correct your address in the old query system, let me know and I will make the correction.

  • Clark County Published Resources and Lookup Volunteers

    • Clark County Links

  • Clark County Genealogical Society Page
  • Clark County Cemeteries and Obituaries
    Clark County Genealogical Society's Cemetery page
  • An Oregon Trail Journey An account of the Whitaker/John Family's travel to the Oregon Territory
  • Portland,OR - Vancouver,WA Cemeteries
  • Clark Co. Biographies
  • This Week in Clark County. Abstracts from Clark County newspapers prior to 1927.
  • This Week in Clark County #2
  • This Week in Clark County #3
  • This Week in Clark County #4
  • This Week in Clark County #5
  • Lewis River History site A delightful site all about the Lewis River area, north Clark Co.
  • Clark County Photo Page
  • Clark County Obituaries, Letters, & other items of Interest
  • Indexes to Clark County Genealogical Society publications
  • The Columbian Newspaper
    For those "non-genealogical" questions, recent obituaries, community news, etc.
  • The Poor Farm Cemetery
    Index to The Clark County Poor Farm, by Rose Marie Harshman, Kitty Oman, & Mary Snell.
  • Index for 1884 Clark County Land Maps
    Compiled by Pat Hanning
  • Livingston Cemetery
    Compiled by Pat Hanning
  • Index to Obituaries in the 1988 Battle Ground Reflector
    Compiled and donated by Rose Marie Harshman. Check the index and request a copy of the obituary
  • Index to Obituaries in the 1988 Vancouver Columbian
    Compiled and donated by Rose Marie Harshman. Check the index and request a copy of the obituary
  • Index to Obituaries in the 1990 Vancouver Columbian
    Compiled and donated by Rose Marie Harshman. Check the index and request a copy of the obituary
  • Index to Battle Ground Reflector Obituaries, 1990-1993
    Transcribed and donated by Rose Marie Harshman. Check the index and request a scanned copy of the obituary
  • Index to Battle Ground Reflector Obituaries, 1994-1997
    Also transcribed and donated by Rose Marie Harshman. Check the index and request a scanned copy of the obituary
  • The Diary of John Murray Mickey
    Contributed by his great granddaughter, Sharon Mickey Norton
  • Letters from John Murray Mickey
  • Clark County's "Faces From the Wall"
    Site includes photos & biographies of Clark Co. soldiers who died in Viet Nam
  • Vancouver's "Faces From the Wall"
    Site includes photos, biographies of Vancouver soldiers who died in Viet Nam
  • Columbia Memorial Mausoleum
    Copy of 14 Dec. 1934 article from the Vancouver Columbian listing those who had purchased crypts in the Columbia Memorial Mausoleum. Contributed by Rose Marie Harshman
  • Plat Map of Clarke County, ca 1915-1925
    Donated by Pat Bauer, this map is undated, probably 1915-1925 vintage.
  • 1888 Plat Map of Clarke County, WA
    Also donated by Pat Bauer
  • Fern Prairie Cemetery 
  • Some Descendants of Benjamin Tanner Olney & Jane Smith of Donation Land Claim #42
  • Clark County Linkpendium

    • Miscellaneous Genealogy Links

  • Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites
  • USGenWeb Index
  • Vital Records.com
    Instructions on ordering vital records for all states, including Washington


    • Personal Web Pages of Clark County Researchers

  • Nancy Todd's Website for TOOLEY, DUNN, MORGAN, BROWN, early Clark Co. Pioneers
  • Pat Bauer's Family Roots
    Includes BAUER/BOWER, CLIQUE, FRADENBURG, HARDY, MCKEE, SCHMIDT, SODEN and MATHYS
  • Counting Our Leaves and Branches
    Betty Condit Dollar's web page
  • Jacob Adams Family
    Ron & Carolynn Adams web page
  • Butler Emery Marble of Clark County, Washington at Marble's Ancestors Database
  • Terry Reigel's Genealogy Pages

    • If you have your Clark County families on your personal web site, you can email me and I'll be glad to add a link

    Links to Neighboring Counties

    Cowlitz County GenWeb page
    Skamania County GenWeb page
    Lewis County USGenWeb page

    Multnomah County (Oregon) USGenWeb Page
    Located across the Columbia River from Vancouver, many people came to Clark County to be married because there was no waiting period, nor required blood tests.

    Clark County Databases

    Clark County Archives Page
    Check here for Clark County records
    The 1857 Clark County Territorial Census
    1850 Clark Co. WA Census
    Vancouver Barracks Cemetery indexed by Bob Crouch
    1924 Index to Clark Co. Marriages, A-D
    1924 Index to Clark Co. Marriages, E-J
    1924 Index to Clark Co. Marriages, K-Q
    1924 Index to Clark Co. Marriages, R-Z

    Join Clark County's Mailing list

    To subscribe, address your email to

    [email protected] or
    [email protected] (for digest mode).

    Type "subscribe" in the subject line (without the " ").

     Join the CCGS weekly chat line

    The Clark Co. Genealogical Society has started a weekly chat for interested Clark County researchers. It takes place every Thursday evening from 7 to 9 PM (Pacific standard/daylight time). To enter, click HERE and follow the instructions on their site. Hope to meet you there!

    Back to Washington Gen Web

    The Clark County Coordinator is ALICE ALLEN.

    These pages were last updated May 29, 2009
    Copyright 1996-2009 by Alice Allen