French colonial and territorial records of the District of Ste. Genevieve, and Ste. Genevieve County records and court records. Approximately one-third of the documents are dated 1756-1804; the rest are dated 1805-1930. An itemized inventory accompanies the microfilm on the first two “introductory reels”. Original documents are in the possession of the Ste. Genevieve County Court. Penciled notations and numbers found on the docketed side of some documents had been placed there prior to processing for microfilming. Documents are arranged by type as follows: account books; accounts, notes, and receipts; agreements and contracts; bonds, notes, and obligations; deeds and indentures; land concessions; land transactions, including exchanges, leases, mortgages, public sales, surveys and plans, and miscellaneous; estate papers; wills; litigation; and marriage certificates and contracts. The majority of the documents arranged by type are dated 1757-1804 and written in French. A miscellaneous section is arranged by topic: boats; Indians; inquests; letters; mines; personality, including bills of sale, exchanges, and gifts; Revolutionary War soldiers; roads; Paul de St. Pierre papers; and slaves. The majority of these documents are dated before 1805 and written in French. A Ste. Genevieve-official documents section is arranged alphabetically: appointments, commissions, and bonds of officials; boundary fences; Corporation of Ste. Genevieve; Church of Ste. Genevieve; Louisiana transfer notices; oaths of allegiance; ordinances, rules, and miscellaneous; miscellaneous petitions; and powers of attorney. Bound manuscripts consisting of registers, dockets, fee books, minutes, and indexes are filed chronologically, 1766-1842, before the court and county records section. The court and county records section is filed chronologically, 1805-1930. Within each year the records are arranged under the following headings: accounts, notes, and receipts; appointments, commissions, oaths of office, and bonds of officials; bills against the county; bills of cost and fee bills; county offices (by name of office); courts (by name of court); justice of the peace; inquests; and miscellaneous. Litigation materials are filed by the last date on the document under the appropriate court and then alphabetically by name of plaintiff. County court and probate records of estate administrations are filed alphabetically by the name of the deceased in the estate papers section. [original illegible] ...county records section are sections arranged by topic: census records; citizenship documents; elections, including poll books.; licenses and merchants’ bonds; roads; schools; stray books, certificates, and notices; and tax lists and related tax materials. The last section of documents in the collection contains undated materials, including bills against the county, bills of cost and fee bills, county and circuit court items, correspondence with county officials, lists of grand juries, lists of jurors, verdicts, a jail report, litigation, summonses and subpoenas [writs], miscellaneous legal items, petitions, and miscellaneous. The first two reels of the collection, labeled “Introductory reels,” contain the descriptive shelf cards and an itemized inventory of the collection prepared by the State Historical Society of Missouri. These inventories are the only available aid to the contents of the microfilm. Each reel is organized by folder numbers, which are listed in the container list below.