Orem, Utah County, Utah Genealogy

Quick History
Orem was once called the Provo Bench. Located at the base of the Wasatch Mountain range, Orem and several of it's neighboring communities constitute a community referred to as Utah Valley. Provo and Orem’s early history are intertwined. Attempts were made to settle Orem in the 1850s but lack of water slowed down its growth. After a series of canals were made, the area became populated with many fertile fruit orchards and farmlands giving the Provo Bench the early reputation as the “Garden City Of Utah”. Homesteads settled along the territorial highway which is now State Street. Instead of the grid system for laying out a city as was popular in Utah, the roads crisscrossed the rural area connecting the farms, homes and orchards. A railroad line was built through the Provo Bench by Walter C. Orem. To honor him the community was named “Orem” and incorporated on May 5, 1919. With WII came the call for steel and Geneva Steel was there to fill that need.

In 1943, the Utah Farm Labor Association in cooperation with the State of Utah built a labor camp at a five-acre cite. The first occupants of the camp displaced Japanese-Americans from the Topaz Relocation Camp. They were employed in farmers in Orem and Utah County. The fall of 1944 brought in 60 Italian Prisoners of war. They built on the labor camp and worked in the local farms. They were all eventually replaced with 340 German prisoners of war who continued to work for the farmers. At the end of the war, the German POWs were released and the former prisoner-of –war camp became home for Mexican nationals looking for work in the farming community. This camp was dismantled in 1970. Orem grew in the 1970's with the University Mall and eventually Utah Valley University "UVU".

City Hall
Orem City Hall 56 North State Street Orem, Utah, 84057 Phone: 801.229.7000 Fax: 801.229.7031

Neighboring Communities



 * Orem borders Utah lake and Vineyard to the west and the majestic Timpanogos mountains on the northeast. Timpanogos, an Indian name given to the mountain and the entire valley, means many waters. Provo spreads over the valley to the south and the small town of Lindon nestles into the North.

Provo | Vineyard | Lindon

Orem Neighborhoods
References are made in histories to the neighborhood that the person lived in. Provo and Orem's boundary lines can seem confusing. Using the neighborhood can better pinpoint the location of an ancestor.


 * Map of Orem's Neighborhoods

Biography

 * Daughters of Utah Pioneers
 * Early Latter Day Saints - A Mormon Trail Pioneer Database
 * Mormons and their Neighbors Database of over 100,000 biographical sketches in the Western United States.
 * Family History Archives, BYU has digitized thousands of personal histories available at this searchable site.
 * Heart Throbs of the West
 * It happened in Orem; a bicentennial history of Orem, Utah
 * Original and native pioneer histories, camp history, locality history
 * Our Pioneer Heritage
 * Personal History Collections
 * Pioneers and prominent men of Utah: comprised of photographs, genealogies, biographies, the early history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 
 * Sons of Utah Pioneers Stories

Cemeteries

 * Orem City 1520 N. 800 E. Orem, Utah 84097 Phone (801) 229-7124


 * Transcriptions


 * Orem Cemetery Transcriptions
 * Findagrave.com
 * Utah Gravestone Photo Project
 * Orem City Burial Park record and index


 * Timpanogos Memorial Gardens Cemetery 1000 North 400 East Orem, Utah 84057 Phone: 801-225-2131


 * Transcriptions


 * Findagrave.com
 * Utah Gravestone Photo Project
 * Orem City Cemetery BillionGraves. Headstone photos and transcription index.
 * Timpanogos Memorial Gardens BillionGraves

More information about cemeteries can be found at Utah Cemeteries.

Obituaries
Provo City Library owns microfilmed copies of the newspaper dating back to 1888 (with some years and issues missing for the first forty years). Check the obituary index for your ancestor, the papers can be found at the Provo City Library. Information on requesting an obituary can be found on this Provo City Library site.


 * Utah County Obituary Index
 * Daily Herald Obituaries

Church History and Records
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints


 * Bonneville
 * Sharon
 * Timpanogos
 * Vermont Vermont Ward, created in 1945 by division of Sharon Ward, was a local unit of the Sharon and Orem Stakes.
 * Windsor
 * Heatheridge
 * Hillcrest Stake

Directories

 * Orem (Utah) city directories
 * Provo City Directories List

History
To know the history of Orem you need to research Provo. Known as Provo's Bench, Orem's early history is one with Provo's. The Provo City Library has a rich selection of items pertaining to the City's history.


 * Remembering Provo: Historical Photographs Project
 * Historic Photos
 * Provo-History on the Go
 * A History of Utah County
 * A Historical Study of the Exploration of Utah Valley and the Story of Fort Utah
 * Founding Fort Utah: Provo's Native Inhabitants, Early Explorers, and First Year of Settlement
 * From Fort to Village: Provo, Utah, 1850-1854
 * Heart Throbs of the West
 * History of Provo, Utah
 * Memories That Live: A Centennial History of Utah County
 * Our Pioneer Heritage
 * Original and native pioneer histories, camp history, locality history, camp Orem Contains history and church history of Orem; history of Camp Orem, Daughters of Utah Pioneers; history of early Orem schools; biographies of pioneers, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
 * Original and native pioneer histories, camp history, locality history
 * Sagebrush to steel an Orem centennial history, 1861-1961
 * Tales from Utah Valley: Spellbinding and Sometimes Strange Selections from the Daily Herald's History Page
 * The Story of Provo, Utah
 * Treasures of Pioneer History

Newspapers

 * The Daily Herald
 * Utah County Newspapers

Historical Newspapers

 * Daily Enquirer in BYU's Digital Collections
 * Provo Daily Enquirer 1881 - 1897 Utah Digital Newspapers
 * Provo Historical Newspapers has a list of different newspapers held by the Provo City Library. The newspapers are on microfilm from the various eras for Provo's history.
 * Orem Geneva Times started in 1932 The Orem Geneva Times ceased publishing in 2009.
 * Orem-Geneva times (Orem, Utah) home of Geneva Steel Plant; hub of Utah's fruit industry

Societies, Museums and Libraries



 * Brigham Young University Family History Library Harold B. Lee Library N Campus Drive, Provo Phone: (801)422-6200.


 * Orem City Library 58 North State Street Orem, Utah, 84057 Phone: 801.229.7050


 * Provo City Library 550 North University Avenue Provo, Utah 84601 Phone: 801-852-6650 Provo contains a wealth of information pertaining to Orem and it's history.


 * Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum 500 North 500 West Provo, Utah 801-852-6609


 * Sons of Utah Pioneers Village 500 North 500 West Provo, Utah Phone: 801-377-8294

Vital Records

 * Utah Health Department

Birth Records

 * Register of births 1898-1905

Marriage Records

 * Marriage information may be located at the Western States Marriage Database searchable by bride or groom.

Death Records

 * Utah Burials Search
 * Utah Death Index 1905-1951 Hint Keyword: enter the year of death and enter the name of county if known.
 * Social Security Death Index, begins in about 1962 and is current to within two months.
 * Utah Death Record 1888-1946.
 * Utah Department of Archives 1903 to 50 years ago Choices of search types - name, date of death (year, month, day, or any combination) and county. Images of actual death certificates

Veterans

 * Headstone Project
 * Veteran's Biographies
 * Veterans list Veterans who are buried in the Orem Cemetery.

Websites

 * Immigrant Ancestors Project
 * Japanese Immigrants
 * Orem’s 90th Birthday
 * Orem's Public Records
 * Tracing Latter-day Saint Ancestors