Welcome to Grant County
Oregon Genealogy Research
Canyon City circa 1900
My name is Bob Jenkins
and I created
this website to provide genealogy
information and links to genealogy
information to assist people in
researching
their Grant County Oregon
ancestors.
I would appreciate any
contribution that you would like to
make to this site:
biographies, obituaries, birth,
marriage, death info, grave info,
photographs....etc
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Use the box below to
search
for Grant
County Data
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Brief
History:
Grant County was established
on October 14, 1864, from parts of old
Wasco and old Umatilla counties. Prior to
its
creation, cases brought to court
were tried in The Dalles, county seat of
the vast Wasco County. The great distance
to The Dalles made law enforcement a
difficult problem, and imposed a heavy
burden on citizens who had a need to
transact business at the courthouse.
In 1889, more than half of the southern
part of the original Grant County was
taken to form Harney County. Also in
1899, a small part of northwestern Grant
County was taken (along with parts
of Crook and Gilliam counties) to
form Wheeler County.
The county seat is Canyon City,
which served as the chief community of the
county for many years. In 1864, when
the county was organized, Canyon
City is said to have boasted the largest
population of any community in Oregon.
Mining and ranching, along with
timber and then the service and public
works that followed, brought people into
the area and communities grew around
the natural centers of industry and
agriculture.
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