Oliver W. & Fannie (Waggener) Collins Family ca 1886
Lewis
County is available for adoption.
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Coordinator.
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Lewis County, Missouri
Brief History of Lewis County, Missouri
Lewis County was officially organized on January 2, 1833, carved from Marion County and named in honor of Meriwether Lewis, famed explorer of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and later governor of the Louisiana Territory.
The county lies along the west bank of the Mississippi River, bordered by Clark, Knox, Marion, Shelby, and Illinois across the river. Its seat is Monticello, with towns including Canton, La Grange, La Belle, Lewistown, and Ewing.
Early settlement began after the War of 1812, when pioneers from Kentucky and Virginia were drawn to the fertile river bottoms. In 1819, John Bozarth became the first permanent white settler, establishing a farm near present-day La Grange. The region had earlier been home to Native peoples, including the Missouria and Sauk, who ceded claims through treaties in the early 1800s.
By the mid-19th century, Lewis County’s economy rested on subsistence farming, timber harvesting, and lead mining, with river transport fueling growth. The third courthouse, built in 1875, still stands as one of Missouri’s few surviving courthouses from that era.
