Story County, Iowa
Index to Probates Papers

Over 5,000 Individuals Named In Probates

This index was created as a typed list by Paul and Lois Heins for the Story County Genealogical Society. The Society has given me permission to make this index available on the Internet.

Probates are the court administration of estates, guardianships, conservatorships, and trusts. As the probates were administered, paperwork was stored in vault boxes at the courthouse. Eventually, the use of vault boxes was discontinued. All of the probate materials from the old vault boxes were filmed. As each film was completed, material was placed in a storage box. The film was given a number which was also placed on the storage box.

Often a probate contains information of significance to the family historian. For an estate, all of the surviving family may be listed. You may find details of what was disposed of and who obtained it. Sometimes signatures of long-dead relatives can be found. Guardianships also may contain much of value. Usually all expenditures were accounted for. Women often became the guardians of their children after the death of the father.

There is no certain way to tell from this index the type of probate. Often when minors are involved it is a guardianship. The majority of the others are estates.

The filmed information is available from the courthouse, however the quality of printed copies is often poor. The original materials have been preserved under the auspices of the Story County Genealogical Society. People are available in Story County who will selectively copy probate information. Contact me (Mark Christian) for more information.

The following data is in the index:

• Last Name. This is the name that can be searched on.
• Given Name. If the person was a minor the term (Minor) appears after the name.
• Film and Box Number. This is the number assigned to the film and box which contain the specified probate.

The following changes were made by me:

• The index originally has multiple names for one probate. I have created one index entry for each person so they may be found during a surname search. Thus, you may find the names of several people who are actually named in one probate. They will all be under the same number and usually have the same surname
• Sometimes a person is listed with more than one spelling for their name. I have created an entry for each spelling with a reference to the alternative spelling.

Please E-Mail Mark Christian with your questions, comments, or suggestions.
Copyright © - 2001 Mark Christian

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