Life Events

Early St. Louis adoptions before 1917 may appear mixed in with land records information. The Recorder of Deeds office at St. Louis City Hall maintains a card file that is not open to the public but is searchable by staff. Given a name and date, staff will search the index to see whether an adoption record can be located and in which deed book it is recorded.

• St. Louis Recorder of Deeds

Some records are available from the House of Refuge, 1854–1909. The City Hall archive department has the Board of Managers’ Book and Admittance Register. This book includes information on the orphanage-prison for children ages 3 to 18, many of whom were Irish and German, juvenile offenders, and children of working mothers.

The information in the ledger varies. The name and age are usually included. It might also include a birthplace and physical description.

• Index to “Journal of Commitments,” St. Louis House of Refuge

Although the state of Missouri did not start keeping birth records until 1910, St. Louis City began keeping a birth register in 1850. Compliance was limited, however, and since many children were born at home, you may have better luck searching religious records for baptisms and confirmations prior to 1910.

• Baptisms and confirmations are found on the Congregations page.
• Births from the Day Book of W. John Harris
• Earliest Registers of the First Catholic Church in St. Louis
• Family Bibles
• St. Louis City Birth Records (Index Card Files)
• Wives of Ministers of the St. Louis German Methodist Conference, 1921 (births, deaths, and marriages)

Most cemeteries within the city limits of St. Louis no longer exist. An ordinance passed in 1823 prohibited burials within the city. Many of those early burials were on family property and marked with stones, wood, or not at all.

• Burial Law of 1823

Burial permits were issued in the City of St. Louis beginning in January 1882 and continuing until October 1908.

• Burial Permits, 14 April 1900

For more than fifty years, St. Louis Genealogical Society has concentrated on obtaining as many records as possible on cemeteries in St. Louis City and County. Currently, we have locations of hundreds of cemeteries and burial records from as many as possible. Many of our cemetery pages now include georeferenced maps.

• St. Louis Cemeteries
• Comprehensive List of St. Louis Cemeteries

Prior to 1910, there was no requirement in Missouri for deaths to be registered. The City of St. Louis did maintain death registers, but not every death was recorded. Remember that death records may not always be accurate, since they are based on the knowledge, or lack thereof, of others and not the individual who died.

• 1896 Cyclone Deaths
• Index to the St. Louis Death Registers, 1850–1908
• Deaths in St. Louis City from the Day Book of Dr. W. John Harris
• Deaths Reported in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 1881–1891
• Family Bibles
• Missouri State Archives, Missouri Death Certificates, Post-1910
• Sunstroke Deaths, 1853–1867
• Traffic Accident Fatalities, 1935–1945

Not everyone had an obituary, and not all obituaries were printed in newspapers. If your ancestor worked for a company that produced a newsletter or magazine, be sure to check there as well.

• St. Louis Post-Dispatch Obituary Index (St. Louis Public Library website)
• St. Louis Globe-Democrat Clipping Files Names Index (Mercantile Library St. Louis Globe-Democrat Clippings Collection)
• Obituaries from Father Dempsey’s Hotel Magazine

Divorce records are not readily available; almost none have been digitized. You may occasionally find notices about divorces in local newspapers. For divorces in both the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County, contact the Circuit Court Clerk in the respective jurisdiction.

• Divorces Reported in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat

St. Louis has had its share of medical and natural disasters. Tornadoes have hit the city numerous times, including in 1896, 1957, 1967, and 2025. A huge fire burned most of downtown in 1849. As recently as 1993, the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, as well as their tributaries, flooded vast areas of the metropolitan St. Louis area. In 1849, in addition to the fire, cholera devastated the city. Before that, cholera was in the city in 1832, 1833, and 1835. Again, in 1866, cholera killed thousands. There also have been epidemics of yellow fever, influenza, and typhoid.

• Cholera Epidemic of 1849
• Quarantine Hospital Patients, Epidemic of 1879
• Tetanus
• Yellow Fever, Health Commissioner’s Report, 1879–1880

Funeral homes have come and gone over the years, and many records have been lost. Funeral homes are private businesses; their records are not open to the public unless the funeral home chooses to share them.

• Information About Funeral Homes in St. Louis
• Baumann Colonial Chapel Records
• Buchholz Mortuary Records
• Funeral Homes Map
• Hoffmeister Funeral Home Records, 1884–1895
• Jewish Funeral Home Records
• List of Funeral Homes and Directors
• Local Undertakers’ Association
• Weick Undertakers Records
• Wm. J. Robert Livery and Undertaking Co.

Marriage records in St. Louis date from before statehood. The earliest were marriage contracts. Beginning in 1804, there was a marriage register that continued to 1881. Most entries are sparse, although a few might contain the names of parents, especially if the bride or groom was underage. From 1881 to 1920, marriage applications and licenses were required; again, they do not contain much genealogical information.

• Early St. Louis County Marriages, Pre-1876
• Herman Steines, J.P., and Frederick W. Steines, J.P., Marriage Records
• Long Lost Marriage Records of Justice Fr. Flach, 1857–1858
• Marriage Contracts, 1764–1854
• St. Louis County Marriages, 1876–1881
• St. Louis Marriages, 1804–1876