Utah, United States Genealogy

United States Utah

Utah is a western state of the United States. It was the 45th state admitted to the Union, on January 4, 1896.

Approximately eighty percent of Utah's population live along the Wasatch Front, centering around Salt Lake City. In contrast, vast expanses of the state are nearly uninhabited, making the population the sixth most urbanized in the U.S.

The name "Utah" is derived from the Ute Indian language, meaning "people of the mountains."

Utah Counties
Utah county creation dates and parent county details will assist you in determining which county would have the records you are seeking.

Featured Content

 * Learn how to find and use Utah Territorial Records from 1850-1896.
 * Early Utah History
 * Newspapers report family information in notices of births, marriages, obituaries, and local news. Two major Utah newspapers are the Deseret News and the Salt Lake Tribune. 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." Newspapers began early in Salt Lake City, Utah. Read more... about using newspapers for your family history research.

News and Events

 * The new RootsTech conference in February was a big success. Visit the website to see some of the recorded sessions and keynote addresses!
 * Utah has an assistant moderator! Please welcome User:JenniferJackson to the Utah community!

Did You Know?



 * The members of the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers (DUP) have prepared and collected thousands of biographies of early pioneers (1847-1869). A pioneer is an ancestor who came to the Utah Territory/State of Deseret; died crossing the plains; or was born in the Utah Territory/State of Deseret before May 10, 1869, the coming of the railroad. If your ancestor does not fit into this criteria, they will not have a history. Also available are photographs of many of the early LDS church members. You can search for a pioneer on their website and then request a copy of their biography. Read more...
 * Gretna Greens. When a Utah couple's marriage is not in their home county, search for it in alternate places like Farmington, Evanston, West Wendover, or Las Vegas.

Research Tools

 * Ask a question about how to find your Utah ancestors at the Western States Research forum.
 * View historic Utah maps in the David Rumsey Map Collection.
 * Find other Utah genealogy websites at Cyndi's List - Utah.
 * View images related to the state of Utah at the Wikimedia Commons page for Utah
 * Websites for Utah Research
 * Western States Marriage Index
 * Tracing LDS Ancestors
 * Utah Linkpendium Page
 * Utah Digital Newspapers
 * BYU Research Outline for Utah
 * Utah Territorial Records

Websites for death records in the state of Utah:


 * Utah Death Certificates 1904-1956
 * Utah, Salt Lake County Death Records, 1908-1949
 * State of Utah Research Center for Utah State Archives and Utah State History, up to and including 1956.

Things you can do
Some fun things to do in Utah that would also be related to understanding the locality where your ancestors lived include:


 * Visit the Family History Library in Salt Lake City
 * Visit the Church History Library
 * Top 10 things to do in Utah
 * Visit the Salt Lake City Cemetery
 * Search for your pioneer ancestors at the Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum
 * Visit the Research Center of the Utah State Archives and Utah State History
 * Know of any others? Feel free to add to this list.

Currently there are 188 articles related to Utah research that need expanding. You can help the Utah research content improve by adding to any of these articles. See the Utah stubs page for the current list of pages that need your help!

Contributors

 * Fran is the moderator for the Utah content. Assistant moderators are needed. Submit your request to be the assistant by adding a comment on the Discussion page.
 * Jennifer is an assistant moderator for the Utah content.