Research Resources

Are you researching a person from or a topic in Marion County, Oregon?  In addition to materials you might find here at the Willamette Heritage Center, here is a list of online and community resources for researching community history in Marion County.  Also, don’t forget to check out our FAQ page here.

marion-county-map

Incorporated Communities

Community Resources

Aumsville Historical Society (Museum and History Center)
599 Main Street, Aumsville, Oregon

Community Resources

Old Aurora Colony Museum
15018 Second St NE, Aurora, Oregon

Community Resources

Canyon Life Museum
143 Wall St, Mill City, Oregon

Operated by the
North Santiam Historical Society
PO Box 574, Gates, Oregon

Detroit Lake State Recreation Area

Online Resources

City of Detroit Website

The materials from the former Donald Historical Society are now held by the Willamette Heritage Center.

Community Resources

North Santiam Historical Society
PO Box 574, Gates, Oregon 97346
which operates the:

Canyon Life Museum
143 Wall St., Mill City, Oregon

WHC Holdings for Hubbard Oregon

Digital Publications

The Story of Hubbard, Oregon by Leslie Carol Ulven
Booklet published for the Centennial of the city. Hosted online by the City of Hubbard.

Community Resource

Pacific Northwest Mennonite Historical Society
6030 S. Whiskey Hill Rd. Hubbard, Oregon

Community Resources:

North Santiam Historical Society
PO Box 574, Gates, Oregon 97346
which operates the:

Canyon Life Museum
143 Wall St, Mill City, Oregon

Community Resources:

Jefferson Public Library
128 N. Main Street, Jefferson, Oregon

Community Resources:

Keizer Heritage Museum
980 Chemawa Rd NE, Keizer, Oregon

Community Resources:

North Santiam Historical Society
PO Box 574, Gates, Oregon 97346
which operates the:

Canyon Life Museum
143 Wall St, Mill City, Oregon

Community Resources

Mt. Angel Historical Society
PO 75, Mt. Angel, Oregon

Community Resources

St. Paul Mission Historical Society
PO Box 158, St. Paul, Oregon

Digital Collections

St. Paul Mission Historical Society

Community Resources:

Salem Family History Center
4550 Lone Oak SE, Salem, Oregon

Willamette University Archives and Special Collections
900 State St, Salem, Oregon

Online Resources:

Lee Mission Cemetery Online Database
Cemetery located at 2104 D. St. NE

Salem History Hub
Online hub of Salem History articles and resources

Salem Online History

Salem Pioneer Cemetery Online Database
Cemetery located corner of Hoyt and Commercials Streets

City of Salem (Historic Buildings)

Willamette University Archives and Special Collections Digital Collections

Community Resources

Scotts Mills Area Historical Society
210 Grandview Ave, Scotts Mills, Oregon

Community Resources

Silverton Country Museum
428 S Water St., Silverton, Oregon

Community Resources:

St. Boniface Community Archives and Museum
371 SE Main St, Sublimity, Oregon

Digital Resources:

Illustrated History of Sublimity by Henry Strobel

Community Resources

Woodburn Museum
455 N Front St, Woodburn, Oregon

Yesterday in Turner (Organizational Website)

Unincorporated Areas

Community Resources:

Brooks Historical Society and Museum at Antique Powerland
3995 Brooklake Rd NE, Salem, Oregon

Election box tag for Fairfield, Oregon. Willamette Heritage Center Collections 2013.016.0002

Fairfield was a post office, steam boat landing, election and census precinct and community just northwest of St. Louis in Marion County, Oregon.  Learn more about the community and see what materials are in the Willamette Heritage Center Collections here.

French Prairie is a term given to the area north of Salem in Marion County where many retired French-Canadian engages of the Hudson’s Bay Company retired.  Oregon Geographic Names describes the area as “between the Willamette River and Pudding River, north of Salem.”

Community Resources

Champoeg State Heritage Area
8239 Champoeg Rd NE, Saint Paul, OR 97137

St. Paul Mission Historical Society
PO Box 158, St. Paul, Oregon

This incorporated community south of Turner along the Southern Pacific railway line.  A post office was established here on January 9, 1871.  A school district was created in the area as early as 1857.

In 2000, the community had an estimated 214 people, although one resident noted that they had “a Turner mailing address, a Stayton phone number and we’re in the Jefferson Fire District.” (Akimoff, Timothy Alex.  “At a Fork in the Road.”  Statesman Journal.  8 May 2006.)

The Oregon Geographic Place Names (5th edition, 1982) by Lewis McArthur gives an entertaining description of its founding, claiming that a folks just ran with it when depot materials intended for a station at the current location of Turner were wrongly delivered too far south.   When the mistake was realized a new depot with a new name was established at Turner.

Read more:

“History of Marion, Oregon” by Margaret Davidson

“History of Marion Grade School” by Linda (Smith) McLaughlin

“Marion Memories” by Ivan Hadley, 1975

A.K.A Livesley, A.K.A. Croston

This is the name for an unincorporated community southwest of the city of Salem along River Road, along the east bank of the Willamette River.  It encompasses and area approximately between Halls Ferry to the south and Brown’s Island to the north.  The history of this region is a bit fluid.  Early Schools of Marion County (WHC X2011.001.0130) published by the Marion Intermediate Education District in 1976, states that a Marion County district school No. 48 was established on February 1, 1877.  The 1878 Atlas of Marion and Linn Counties shows the school located on the south side of River Road, on a ridge, in the southwest quarter of section 6, Township 8 S, Range 3.   The 1878 atlas also shows the Ferry Crossing, as what we now call Hall’s Ferry, listed as “Leabo Ferry.”

On December 22, 1884, a Post Office with the designation “Croston” was established at Hall’s Ferry (see Oregon Post Offices 1847-1982 by Richard W. Helbock, 1985, second revised edition, WHC 2011.035.0001).  Helbock describes the post office as “located at a ferry crossing on the Willamette, about 8 miles south of Salem.  Situated on the east bank of the river at a place called “Hall’s Ferry.”  This post office was in operation until May 31, 1901.  It is likely the name Croston persisted until the closure of the post office, if not beyond.[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/308309660″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]

In 1911, the Oregon Electric Railway established lines south of Salem and named their station in the area “Livesely” after Thomas Albert Livesley, who with his partner John J. Roberts operated large tracts of hops in the region.  In 1925, Roberts bought out his partner Livesley and the name of the station and the community changed to Roberts (see Oregon Geographic Names by Lewis McArthur, 1982, WHC 2006.040.0494).

The school seems to have followed the same naming trajectory.  A March 23, 1951 Oregon Statesman article is titled “When Roberts School was Croston” and features a 1906 picture taken at the “Croston School.”  It was also known as the Livesley and Roberts School respectively before it was closed in 1974 (see Alfred Jones “Roberts Goodbye is Sad.”  Capital Journal June 6, 1974.)

WHC Resources:

Chambers, Doug.  Illustrated Memoirs & History of the Livesley-Roberts Community 1840s-1940s. Self Published, 1997.  Copy in the Library of the Willamette Heritage Center WHC 2006.040.0055

Claude Edwards Oral History (1968) with David Duniway and John Davis.  WHC X2012.031.0037.  Listen below.

Willamette Heritage Center Collections

Check out the WHC’s Master Collections Indexes for names and places you are interested in.

Other Archives, Local Genealogical Societies and Organizations

Family History Centers

Salem Family History Center
4550 Lone Oak SE, Salem, Oregon

Oregon Historical Society

1200 SW Park Ave Portland, OR 97205, 503.222.1741
View Website – Click HERE

The Oregon Historical Society’s collections span the entire state. You can look through their catalog here.

Oregon State Archives

800 Summer St. NE Salem OR 97310
503-373-0701
View Website – Click HERE

The Oregon State Archives is the repository for all government records within the State of Oregon. You can find state records and some county records here. See a list of Marion County holdings here. Or search for a specific name here.

Polk County Historical Society

560 S Pacific HWY West Rickreall, Oregon
View Website – Click HERE

Polk County is the county directly west of Marion County. Part of the City of Salem is actually in Polk County.

Willamette Valley Genealogical Society (WVGS)

View Website – Click HERE

The society has trained volunteers that can help with your genealogy research.  You can visit them in person during their operating hours at the Salem Public Library.  They also can respond to some requests for research remotely.  Check out their website for more information about hours, resources, policies, and fees.

Oregon State Police Virtual Museum

View Website – Click HERE

Online collections of historical materials held by the Oregon State Police.  Searchable collections database

Free Digital Resources

Marion County Pioneer Cemeteries

Marion County Records on FamilySearch

View Website – Click HERE

FamilySearch.org has digitized a ton of Marion County, Oregon records and indexes.  You can access this for free.

Oregon Historic Newspapers Database

View Website – Click HERE

Searchable newspaper database for Oregon papers.  Marion County papers include the Aurora Observer and the Capital Journal (Salem).  It should be noted that many big news stories were syndicated and sometimes will appear in other local papers of the time.  Due to copyright restrictions, most of the papers will go up only through the 1920s.  The papers are keyword searchable and you get to see the actual papers digitized!

Marion County (Oregon) Census Records

Grow Your Research Skills

Couch Historian Web Courses

Have a computer? Stuck at home? Our Research Library and Archives mascot Maude A. Spider will teach you how to navigate the interwebs and learn more about your local history from the comfort of your own home. Hone your online research skills, learn about free web resources and learn how to spin your own histories in her weekly web episodes. Test your new skills with a skills test worksheet!  Learn more about researching Mid-Willamette Valley History and the Willamette Heritage Center at www.willametteheritage.org/research.

Episodes:

Episode 1 (March 25): How old is this house?

An introduction to the Marion County Assessor’s Office Property Records, City of Salem’s Historic Building Map and the Oregon Historic Sites Database.

Download the practice exercises here: How Old is this House? Practice Exercises
Download the answer key here: How Old is this House? Answer Key

Episode 2 (April 1): All the News

Have a computer? Stuck at home? Our Research Library and Archives mascot Maude A. Spider will teach you how to navigate the interwebs and learn more about learn more about your local history from the comfort of your own home.

In this week’s episode we will explore two free, online newspaper databases:

All websites are free to use and open to the public!

Want to test out your newly honed research skills? Try your hand at this worksheet, that has challenges that can be answered by using the websites featured.

Download the practice exercises here: All the News Practice Exercises
Download the answer key here: All the News Answer Key

Episode 3 (April 8): Fun With Historical Maps

In today’s episode we go back to what Oregon looked like in the 1850s and 1860s and introduce how to use Government Land Office Records and translate them to modern maps.

We’ll explore:

Want to test out your newly honed research skills? Try your hand at this worksheet, that has challenges that can be answered by using the websites featured.

Download the practice exercises here: Fun with Historical Maps Practice Exercises
Download the answer key here: Fun With Historical Maps Answer Key

Episode 4 (April 15): Introduction to Census Records

In today’s episode we look at Census Records and what they can tell us about people living in our community in the past.

We’ll explore:

***Note: Both of these resources are free to access, but you will need to set up a free account with FamilySearch.org to access their materials.

Want to test out your newly honed research skills? Try your hand at this worksheet, that has challenges that can be answered by using the websites featured.

Download the practice exercises here: Introduction to Census Records Practice Exercises
Download the blank census tracking form here: Census Tracking Form

Download the answer key here: Introduction to Census Records Answer Key

Episode 5: Finding Historic Photographs Online

In today’s episode, explore eight websites that can help you on your search for historical photographs documenting this history of the Mid-Willamette Valley.

We’ll explore resources from:

Want to test out your newly honed research skills? Try your hand at this worksheet, that has challenges that can be answered by using the websites featured.

Download the practice exercises here: Finding Historic Photographs Online Practice Exercises
Download the answer key here: Finding Historical Photographs Online Answer Key

Episode 6: Marion County Surveys and Deeds

In today’s episode, we’ll introduce two simple tools for finding property records, deeds and surveys in Marion County, Oregon.

We’ll look at the:


Want to test out your newly honed research skills? Try your hand at this worksheet, that has challenges that can be answered by using the websites featured.

Download the practice exercises here: Marion County Surveys and Deeds Practice Sheet
Download the answer key here: Marion County Surveys and Deeds Answer Key

Episode 7: Walk around the Historical Block

In today’s episode, we’ll introduce two simple tools for accessing Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps in Salem, Oregon. These maps are like little time capsules outlining what blocks used to look like years ago.

We will look at the 1895 Map from the Library Congress Digital Collections (open and free access to anyone with the internet!): https://www.loc.gov/item/sanborn07453_004/

We will also show you how to access an Online Sanborn Maps database for free with a Salem Public Library Card! https://www.cityofsalem.net/Pages/library.aspx

Property Research

Interested in learning more about your home or property?  Get started with our property history worksheets.

Nob Hill Annex Plat Map, 1891. Source: Marion County Survey Graphic Index.

Religious Archives

Archdiocese of Portland Archives

2838 E Burnside St Portland, Oregon

View Website – Click HERE

Oregon-Idaho United Methodist Church Archives

1st United Methodist Church

600 State St Salem, Oregon

View Website – Click HERE

The Oregon Missions Collection (University of Puget Sound, Washington)

Collins Memorial Library

1500 N Water St Tacoma, Washington

View Website – Click HERE

Queen of Angels Monastary (Mt. Angel, Oregon) History

840 S Main St Mt. Angel, Oregon

View Website – Click HERE

Religious Archives