Thurston County was named for United States Senator John M. Thurston who assisted in effecting the organization of the county out of territory under the jurisdiction of Dakota, Wayne, and Burt counties. It was originally named Blackbird county in honor of the first Omaha chief of whom there is definite knowledge. According to Lewis and Clark who visited his grave in 1804 he died in 1800. The Indian name of Chief Blackbird was Wagigasabey [WazhigaSabe]. It is also authoritatively stated that the county was originaly named Black Bird after the mythological Thunder Bird of the Indians. The boundaries of the county were defined by an act of the legislature approved March 7, 1855.






Thurston County needs a new County Coordinator! If you would like to volunteer, please contact the State Coordinator, your host for this website. Websites such as this one are made more valuable to other researchers by contributions from researchers just like you. If you have information relating to Thurston County, please consider sharing it here.

• PLACE NAMES
  Alphabetical listing of places in Thurston County
  
  
• THURSTON COUNTY ADDRESSES - Courthouse, Museums, Societies
  
  
• NSGS ANCESTREE ARTICLES - NEW!!
  Articles posted in the Nebraska State Genealogical Society Newsletter
  
  
• THURSTON COUNTY BIOGRAPHIES
  
  
• THURSTON COUNTY OBITUARIES
  
  
• WHO'S WHO IN THURSTON COUNTY, 1940
  Thurston County section of Who's Who In Nebraska, pub. in 1940
  
  
• NEBRASKA STATE GAZETTEER
  Business Directory and Farmers List for 1890-91
  
  
• STATISTICS
  Population, vital statistics
  
  
• THURSTON COUNTY IN WORLD WAR I
  
  
• FAMILY GROUP SHEETS