Welcome to this
Franklin County Missouri
Genealogy Trails Website

Our goal is to help you track your ancestors through time by transcribing genealogical and historical data and placing it online for the free use of all researchers

If you have a love for history, a desire to help others, and basic webpage-making skills, consider joining us! Get the details on our Volunteer Page.
[A desire to transcribe data and knowledge of how to make a basic webpage is required.]

If hosting isn't for you, we can use your help in other ways.
More information can be found on the Volunteer Page.

We regret that we are unable to do personal research for anyone..
All data we come across will be added to this site.
We thank you for visiting and hope you'll come back again to view the updates we make to this site

Happy Trails to you on your quest for your ancestors.

Check your attics!
Dust off your family scrapbooks!
We're looking for DATA for this site!!!

If you would like to submit data for this site,
please Email Us with your submissions.  



FRANKLIN COUNTY
The county was organized in 1818 and is named for Founding Father Benjamin Franklin.
The county seat is Union.

Occupied by succeeding cultures of indigenous peoples, this area was populated by the historic Osage tribe at the time of European encounter. The region was first settled by Europeans during the rule of the Spanish Empire. The Spanish log fort San Juan del Misuri (1796–1803) was built in present-day Washington. After the American Revolutionary War, migrants from the new United States started moving West. Among them were the family and followers of Daniel Boone, an explorer from Kentucky who settled the area starting in 1799. For the next two decades, most settlers came from the Upper South, especially Kentucky and Virginia, bringing their slaves with them to work the land.

In 1833 substantial numbers of German immigrant families settled in the area, and soon they outnumbered the slaveowners. The Germans opposed slavery, and their descendants became strong supporters of the Union during the U.S. Civil War. The Confederate General Sterling Price led his troops in ransacking this area during the war when guerrilla warfare engulfed many areas of the state.

Before the war the county was served by steamboats moving freight and passenger traffic on the Missouri River. Later it also became a railroad transportation center. Manufacturing industries were established at the end of the Civil War and successive ones have continued.

Before Prohibition, Missouri was the second-largest wine-producing state in the nation. Everything was closed down except for limited production of wine allowed for religious purposes. The state's wine industry had to be completely rebuilt, which has been taking place since the 1960s.

Meramac Caverns are located in Stanton.


Cities
Berger * Gerald * New Haven * Pacific * St. Clair * Sullivan (partial) * Union (county seat) * Washington

Villages
Leslie * Miramiguoa Park * Oak Grove Village * Parkway

Census-designated places
Gray Summit * Villa Ridge

Unincorporated Communities
Beaufort * Catawissa * Labadie * Lonedell * Luebbering * Moselle
* Noser Mill * Robertsville * St. Albans * Spring Bluff * Stanton

SEARCH OUR SITES

Submit an Obituary to Us
for any of our county sites.

Join our
Genealogy Trails Midwest States
Mailing List
to get email notices when our county sites are updated.
For the Midwest States of :
Nebraska, Iowa, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio and Kansas