Salt Lake County, Utah Genealogy

United States   Utah    Salt Lake County

History
The area that was to become Salt Lake County was settled in 1847 when Mormon Pioneers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, fleeing persecution in the East, arrived in the Salt Lake Valley after traveling through Emigration Canyon. Brigham Young, their leader, declared "This is the right place" after seeing the valley, which was at the time arid, dry, and unpromising. However, they soon developed a flourishing, self-sufficient city, Great Salt Lake City, through extensive irrigation techniques. Thousands of Mormons from around the world followed in the next several decades. The county was officially formed on January 31, 1850, with just over 11,000 residents recorded.

Parent County
1849--Salt Lake County was created in 1849 as an original county. County seat: Salt Lake City

Record Loss
Marriage registers from 1887 through 1950's microfilmed and then destroyed. Microfilm copy available at the Family History Library and centers.

Populated Places

 * Cities: Alta | Bluffdale | Cottonwood Heights | Draper | Herriman | Holladay | Midvale | Murray | Riverton | Salt Lake City | Sandy | South Jordan | South Salt Lake | Taylorsville | West Jordan


 * Unincorporated Communities: Avenues | Bennion | Bingham | Bonneville | Butler | Copperton | Crescent City | Daybreak | Garden View | Garfield | Granger | Grant | Granite | Hercules | Highland Park | Hunter | Kearns | Lark | Magna | Mill Creek | Pleasant Green | Spencer | Sugarhouse | Union

Neighboring Counties
Davis (North) | Morgan (Northeast) | Summit (East) | Tooele (West) | Utah (South) | Wasatch (Southeast)

Cemeteries
There are many cemeteries in Salt Lake County. To view a list, visit Salt Lake County, Utah Cemeteries.

Census
The 1850 [1851], 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 U.S. federal population schedules of Salt Lake 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

LDS Ward and Branch Records
More than 175 wards and branches of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have served the Salt Lake City and County commmunities. For a list, visit Salt Lake County, Utah LDS Ward and Branch Records.

Genealogy
Two FamilySearch Community Trees include compiled genealogies about Salt Lake County families:


 * Early Utah Community Tree
 * Utah: Greeks in the West

Local Histories
The History of Salt Lake City and its Founders, By Edward William Tullidge 1886

Newspapers

 * One major resouce 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." Ten newspapers from Salt Lake County are included in this digital project, the Valley Tan, Union Vedette, Salt Lake Tribune, Deseret News (Weekly Edition), Deseret Evening News (Daily Edition), Salt Lake Herald, American Eagle, Salt Lake Mining Review, Murray Eagle, and the Broad Ax. Read more... about using Utah newspapers for your family history research.

Birth Records

 * Salt Lake County Birth Registers 1898-1905. Database at Utah State Div. of Archives and Records Services.

Death Records
Websites for death records in the state of Utah and specifically for Salt Lake County include:


 * Utah, Salt Lake County Death Records, 1908-1949. This title is misleading, because all the deaths were recorded in the City of Salt Lake City. There are no deaths recorded in any other places within the county in this County Death Records group.
 * Utah Death Certificates 1904 - 1956 -A free internet access to the 1904-1956 death certificates can be viewed on the Family Search Record Search Pilot . 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.

Marriage Records
Original marriage registers microfilmed by the Family History Library in the 1950's. Originals were then destroyed. Microfilm copy is not available at the county clerk's office.

58,919 marriages from 1847 to 18 September 1929 are listed on the Western States Marriage Index. Index is incomplete as there are few civil government recorded marriages in Salt Lake County prior to 1887. Some early divorce records were also indexed and included. This is not a complete database.

Societies and Libraries
The Family History Library is located in Salt Lake County and is the largest repository of family history records in the world.

The Salt Lake County Library system offers free access to Ancestry.com and Heritage Quest.

Web Sites

 * The Salt Lake County UT GenWeb Project, a member of The UTGenWeb Project, an affiliate of The USGenWeb Project


 * Family History Library Catalog
 * Salt Lake County, Utah Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)