Taos County, New Mexico Genealogy

United States New Mexico  Taos County

Guide to Taos County, New Mexico ancestry, family history, and genealogy birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, and military records.



County Courthouse
Taos County Courthouse 105 Albright St #D; Taos, NM 87571-0676 Phone: 505.751.8654 County Clerk has birth, marriage, death, burial and probate records from 1846.

Parent County

 * Until 1821 - New Spain controlled land that later would become New Mexico and Arizona. Some records of early settlers may have been sent to an archives in Seville, Spain, or to archives in Mexico City.
 * In 1821 - Mexico had jurisdiction over the land that later would become New Mexico and Arizona. Some records of this period may have been sent to archives in Mexico City.
 * 22 September 1846 - Taos County was created based on an old Mexican government partido  as one of seven original New Mexico counties under  of laws for the occupied Mexican territory. Code named after General
 * 1848 Taos county formally became a part of the United States when the ended in 1848 with the signing of the.

Description
One of the original nine counties formed in 1852 The county seat is Taos.

Taos was established following the Spanish conquest of the Pueblo villages.

During the 1770s Taos was repeatedly raided by Comanches who at that time lived in the plains of what is now eastern Colorado. Juan Bautista de Anza, governor of the Province of New Mexico, led a successful punitive expedition in 1779 against the Comanches.

After the U.S. takeover of New Mexico in 1846, Hispanics and Amerindians in Taos staged a mini-rebellion, known as the Taos Revolt, in which the newly appointed U.S. Governor, Charles Bent, was lynched.

Beginning in 1898, artists began to settle in Taos and created the "Taos Society of Artists". In time the Taos art colony developed. Many paintings were made of local scenes, especially of Taos Pueblo and activities there.

Boundary Changes

 * Interactive Formation Boundary Map of New Mexico - shows boundary changes for New Mexico Counties
 * New Mexico Historical Boundary Changes - list of all boundary changes by county provided by Newberry Library
 * 9 January 1852 - All [[Image:]]New Mexico counties were redefined. Taos county was extended west to the California border including land in present day Arizona and Nevada.  Residents who lived far from the county seat, probably didn't send many records to the county offices.
 * 1 February 1860 - TAOS county lost land to the creation of MORA county.
 * 12 January 1861 - TAOS county lost land to the creation of SAN JUAN county (original, extinct).
 * 28 February 1861 - TAOS county lost land to the creation of Colorado Territory.
 * 18 January 1862 - TAOS county regained all of SAN JUAN county (original, extinct) when the law creating SAN JUAN was repealed.
 * 24 February 1863 Arizona Territory created from the western half of New Mexico Territory. Taos county reduced in size to the portion still within New Mexico Territory.

For animated maps illustrating New Mexico County boundary changes, "Rotating Formation New Mexico County Boundary Maps" (1845-1981) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

See also Previous Jurisdictions to Land in Arizona for further details.

Record Loss
There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

Towns

 * Red River
 * Taos (county seat)

Villages

 * Questa
 * Taos Ski Valley

Census-designated places

 * Arroyo Hondo
 * Arroyo Seco
 * Chamisal
 * Costilla
 * Peñasco
 * Picuris Pueblo
 * Ranchos de Taos
 * Rio Lucio
 * San Cristobal
 * Talpa
 * Taos Pueblo
 * Vadito

Other communities

 * Amalia
 * Cañoncito
 * Carson
 * Cerro
 * El Prado
 * El Rito
 * Las Trampas
 * Llano
 * Llano Quemado
 * No Agua
 * Ojo Caliente
 * Pilar
 * Tres Piedras
 * Valdez

Neighboring Counties

 * Colfax, New Mexico
 * Conejos County, Colorado
 * Costilla County, Colorado
 * Mora, New Mexico
 * Rio Arriba, New Mexico

Cemeteries

 * New Mexico Cemetery Records
 * AHGP New Mexico Cemetery Transcription & Photo Project
 * New Mexico Cemetery Records, Luna to Valencia
 * New Mexico Cemetery Record Information Online
 * New Mexico Tombstone Transcription Project
 * New Mexico Cemeteries Project
 * New Mexico Vital Record Information: Cemeteries
 * Online New Mexico Death Records and Indexes
 * Cemeteries of New Mexico
 * BillionGraves.com - Provides photos and GPS locations of grave markers.
 * Cyndi's List - Cemeteries &amp; funeral homes
 * Findagrave.com
 * Interment.net
 * Rootsweb
 * UsGenweb.org

State Census Records

 * 1885 New Mexico Territorial Census 1885 at Ancestry (free)
 * Late 1800s 1800s Arizona and New Mexico Territories Census, Late 1800s ($)

Federal Census Records
Federal Censuses were taken for New Mexico starting in 1850. For links to Federal census indexes, see New Mexico Census.

Church
Catholic

Parish registers (baptisms, marriages, and burials) are available online for the following years:

LDS

LDS Ward and Branch Records


 * Taos

Land
Online Land Records
 * Land Patent Search - index to federal patents and homesteads on the Bureau of Land Management website, some images available
 * 1796 - 1907 - U.S. General Land Office Records, 1796-1907 at Ancestry - index, info taken from Bureau of Land Management website
 * 1861 - 1936 - U.S. Homestead Records 1861-1936 at Ancestry.com - ($), index and images

Maps

 * 1895 Map of Taos County, New Mexico*Interactive Formation Boundary Map of New Mexico - shows boundary changes for New Mexico Counties
 * NMGenWeb - historical maps

Revolutionary War

 * 1775 - 1783 - at FamilySearch - images only
 * For more nationwide Revolutionary War databases, see US Military Online Genealogy Records.

Civil War

 * 1861 - 1865 - at FamilySearch
 * For more nationwide Civil War databases, see US Military Online Genealogy Records.

World War I

 * 1917 - 1919 - New Mexico, World War I Records, 1917-1919 at Ancestry ($)
 * For more natiowide World War I databases, see US Military OnlineGenealogy Records.''

World War II

 * 1941 - 1945 - World War II Records, 1941-1945 State Summary of War Casualties from World War II for Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard Personnel from: New Mexico
 * 1941 - 1945 - World War II Honor List of Dead and Missing Army and Army Air Forces Personnel from: New Mexico
 * 1941 - 1945 - New Mexico, World War II Records, 1941-1945 at Ancestry ($)
 * For more nationwide World War II databases, see US Military Online Genealogy.

Newspapers

 * New Mexico Online Historical Newspapers - identifies historical archived and digitized newspapers available online on both free and pay-to-access websites.

Probate
Online Probate Records


 * 1801 – 1993 New Mexico Wills and Probate Records 1801-1993 at Ancestry.com — index and images $

Births

 * 1726 – 1918 at FamilySearch

Deaths

 * 1788 – 1798; 1838 – 1955 at FamilySearch
 * 1889 - 1945 at FamilySearch

Marriages

 * 1727 - 1900 New Mexico Marriages 1727-1900 at Ancestry ($)
 * 1751 - 1918 at FamilySearch

Societies and Libraries
Taos County Historical Society PO Box 2447 Taos, NM 87571 Telephone: 575-770-0681 E-mail:[mailto:cordova@newmex.com cordova@newmex.com] Website

Family History Centers

 * Taos New Mexico Family History Center 235 Camino de la Placita, Taos NM 87571 United States Location Map


 * Tres Piedras New Mexico Family History Center 22470 US Hwy 64 Tres Piedras, NM 87577 United States Location Map

Web Sites

 * Taos County, NM History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
 * New Mexico Genealogy Network Community on Google+
 * New Mexico Genealogy Network Group on Facebook
 * USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.