Taney County was officially organized on January 6, 1837 from a portion of Greene County and has since helped give birth to several more counties. Originally Taney covered a much larger area than we see today. Just four years after it's formation, territory was taken to create Ozark County. In 1851 the western portion of the county was taken to form Stone County. In 1857 Douglas County was formed partly from Taney, and Howell County was taken from territory originally in Taney but now part of Ozark County. Then in 1859 the northern part was taken, along with territory from Greene and Webster Counties to form Christian County. So if your ancestors have lived in any of these counties, they MAY belong to the wonderful Taney crowd.

With such a history, it would seem records covering more than 150 years would be available for genealogists to research and learn from. Alas, it's not quite as good as that. Those who like to destroy courthouses practiced on Taney, including both sides during the Civil War. The most recent incident took most of our county records in a fire in 1885. This was during the "Bald Knobber" days and the fire was clearly set by an arsonist, but the perpetrator was never found and no charges were ever brought. As a result, official records for the period from 1837 to 1885 are pretty sparse.