Records from Harvey County

Abstract: Records created by the Harvey County appraiser (1897-1898 list of taxpayers), county clerk (journal, 1907 list of residents, receipts and accounts, and 1916-1945 tax assessment rolls), county treasurer (1880-1903 tax sales certificates). It also includes military pension papers, mostly from the Civil War, deposited with the register of deeds. The overwhelming majority of the Harvey County records consists of 235 microfilm rolls created from original records retained by the Harvey County District Court (citizenship naturalization, civil case docket, 1872 case files, marriage and divorces, probate, real estate, and register of deaths), register of deeds (deed records, military discharges, city and county property indices, scholastic census and school district boundaries), county treasurer (real and personal property tax rolls), and the City of Halstead's City Clerk's Office (City Council minutes, birth registers, and the Halstead Township's justice of the peace criminal appearance docket).

Administrative History: Harvey County, named in honor of two term Kansas Governor James M. Harvey (1869-1873), is located in south central Kansas, along the Little Arkansas River. The County encompasses 540 square miles and is located approximately 130 miles south-southeast of the geographic center of the continental United States. In 2006, the county's population was estimated to be 33,643 and is predominately of German ancestry. Newton is its county seat and most populous city; Halstead is another incorporated city in the county. Townships include Alta, Burrton, Darlington, Emma, Garden, Halstead, Highland, Lake, Lakin, Macon, Newton, Pleasant, Richland, Sedgwick, and Walton.

Finding Aid Bibliography:

Harvey County Kansas, "Welcome to Harvey County," http://www.harveycounty.com/ (Accessed June 26, 2009.)

Kansas Historical Society, "Harvey County, Kansas," http://www.kshs.org/geog/geog_counties/view/county:HV (accessed 23 December 2010).