Early History

Sullivan County is located in north-central Missouri. It is 15 miles south of Iowa and 65 miles west of the Mississippi River. The county seat is Milan.

The county's present boundaries were actually formed in 1843 when it was formed as Highland County which was attached to Linn County for all civil and military purposes.

A state census in 1844 showed that the county had enough people to become a full organization and was established February 14, 1845. Named after James Sullivan, a member of the Continental Congress of 1782, the county was divided into six townships: Duncan, Liberty, Morris, Pleasant Hill, Polk and Vrooman. County organization was complete when voting precincts were established in each township.[1]

• Early Settlements of Sullivan County
• The MEEKS Murders of Sullivan and Linn Counties

Coming ... a more in-depth county history.

About the Site Changes

When a new web site coordinator assumes the responsibilities, he or she also wants to put their own 'stamp' on the site. You will easily be able to tell when you are on the new look and feel (like this page). New pages will be added; new information added to existing pages. Each page will be checked for broken links.

As much as possible, I continue to use the same web addresses for pages within the site. And when that is not possible, a redirect will be available so that you will still be able to get to the data.

Established also is a Site Sources page. Sources are important for verification of genealogy information so this page provides a mechanism to ensure where possible sources are provided. In the segment above, you can see a [1] at the end of the section. Clicking on such links will take you directly to the source for that particular piece of information.

I'm also hoping to encourage folks to contribute information and data. Too often people think they don't have that much that's important and don't realize that their “not much” actually has a key that would break through someone else's brick wall.

Again, profound thanks to Lea Ann Oliver-Robertson, who provided us such wonderful support during her tenure as Sullivan County Site Coordinator.

For awhile, a link will exist to the old Sullivan County Missouri home page. If you are interested in knowing exactly what pages have been updated or created, see the tracking of site changes page.