Tooele County, Utah Genealogy

United States  Utah  Tooele County

Parent Counties
1852--Tooele County was created 3 March 1852 as an original county. County seat: Tooele

Neighboring Counties
Box Elder | Davis | Juab | Salt Lake | Utah | Weber | Nevada counties: Elko | White Pine

History Timeline
Interesting facts This county was originally spelled "Tuilla" and is still pronounced that way by locals.

Wendover Air Force Base, now closed, was the training base of the Enola Gay crew which dropped the first atomic weapon in 1945.

Timeline History

NOTE: Unless otherwise mentioned, the events below were gleaned from Wikipedia for Tooele County.


 * 1849 Mormons established the first white settlement in the area.
 * 1850, January Tooele County formed as one of six original counties in Deseret, later called Utah Territory
 * 1850's–1860's Troubles between white settlers and Goshute Indians.
 * 1852 By this year, Grantsville, Batesville, and Pine Canyon (later called Lincoln) were settled by Mormons.
 * 1855 Richville named as county seat.
 * 1861 Territory of Nevada created, establishing the permanent western border of Tooele County.
 * 1861 County seat moved to Tooele City.
 * 1864 Gold, silver, lead, and zinc were discovered in Tooele County, spurring an influx of non-Mormons to the area.
 * Before 1874 The county courthouse was built.
 * 1874–1879 The Republic of Tooele was established by non-Mormon politicians. Only taxpayers were allowed to vote, and there were complaints of fraud. The recorder's office was even jeopardized!
 * 1876 Territorial legislature passed a bill requiring voter registration and women's suffrage. Tooele County and it's political problems earlier were likely the spur to this law.

Cemeteries
Tooele county cemeteries at the Utah State Historical site

LDS Cemetery Records US Vol. 21 page 188 - Mercur Cemetery

Census
The 1850 [1851], 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 U.S. federal population schedules of Tooele County are available online. For tips on accessing census records online, see Utah Census. If you're having trouble finding your ancestors in national indexes, try checking local indexes. Created by experts familiar with the area's families, these indexes are often transcribed more accurately than nationwide indexes.

See Utah Population Schedule Indexes: Fiche, Film, or Book for more information about statewide printed indexes.


 * 1850 (1851)
 * 1856
 * 1860
 * 1870
 * 1880
 * 1890
 * 1900
 * 1910
 * 1920
 * 1930

Church Records
LDS Ward and Branch Records


 * Benmore
 * Burmeister
 * Clover
 * Deep Creek
 * Erda
 * Grantsville
 * Grantsville 1
 * Grantsville 2
 * Iosepa
 * Lake Point
 * Lake View
 * Mercur
 * Ophir
 * St. John
 * Stockton
 * Tod Park
 * Tooele
 * Tooele 1
 * Tooele 2
 * Tooele 3
 * Tooele 4
 * Tooele 5
 * Tooele 6
 * Tooele 7
 * Tooele 8
 * Tooele 9
 * Tooele 10
 * Tooele N.
 * Tooele S.
 * Vernon
 * Wendover

Early church records, for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for Tooele County Wards and Branches can be found on film and are located at the LDS Family History Library in Salt Lake City. The film numbers, for each ward, can be locate through the Family History Library Catalog at https://www.familysearch.org/. Or by refering to Jaussi, Laureen R., and Gloria D. Chaston. Register of Genealogical Society Call Numbers. 2 vols. Provo, Utah: Genealogy Tree, 1982. (FHL book 979.2258 A3j; fiche 6031507). These volumes contain the film numbers for many (but not all) membership and temple record films.

Histories
A History of Tooele County available online at Marriott Library Digital Collections.

Migration
Early migration routes to and from for emigrant settlers included:


 * California Trail 1846 to 1869 from western Missouri to northern California
 * Mormon Trail 1846 to 1869 from Nauvoo, Illinois to Salt Lake City, Utah
 * Mormon Trail to Southern California 1847 from Salt Lake City, Utah to Los Angeles, California
 * Central Overland Trail 1859-1869 from Salt Lake City, Utah to Carson City, Nevada (and usually on to northern California)

Newspapers

 * One major resource for newspapers throughout Utah is the University of Utah's Utah Digital Newspapers project "with more than 600,000 pages of digitized Utah historical newspapers." Two newspapers from Tooele County are included in this digital project, the Tooele County Chronicle and Tooele Transcript-Bulletin. Read more... about using Utah newspapers for your family history research.

Vital Records
Western States Marriage Index.

Utah Death Certificates 1904 - 1956 -A free internet access to the 1904-1956 death certificates can be viewed on the https://www.familysearch.org/. Utah requires a death certificate before a burial is completed. A death certificate may contain information as to the name of the deceased, date of death, and place of death, as well as the age, birthdate, parents, gender, marital status, spouse and place of residence.

Utah State Burial Index for death before 1904

Tooele Genweb site has further information on Births, Marriages, Deaths record sources.

Courthouses
www.co.tooele.ut.us/ County Clerk, 47 South Main Tooele, UT 84074 Telephone: (435) 843-3140 Fax: (435) 882-7317

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers
 * Grantsville Utah Family History Center
 * Tooele Valley Utah Family History Center
 * Wendover Utah Family History Center

Web Sites

 * The Tooele County UT GenWeb Project, a member of The UTGenWeb Project, an affiliate of The USGenWeb Project
 * Tooele County, Utah Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
 * Tooele County, Utah Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)