Yavapai County, Arizona Genealogy

United States Arizona  Yavapai County

County Courthouse
Yavapai County Arizona 1015 Fair Street Prescott, Az 86301 Phone: 520-639-8110

Clerk Superio Court has marriage, divorce probate and court records County Recorder has land records

History
Yavapai County was one of four original counties created by Arizona Territory. It originally covered over 65,000 square miles in size and is believed to be the largest county ever created in the lower 48 States.

Yavapai County came to be known as the “Mother of Counties” because Apache, Coconino, Gila, Maricopa and Navajo counties were carved from it. Today, Yavapai County is 8,125 square miles in size – approximately the same size as the state of Massachusetts!

Yavapai County was also home to Arizona’s first territorial capital, with the provisional seat of the territorial government being established in the Chino Valley area in 1864 and then several months later moved to Prescott. In 1867, the territorial capital was moved to Tucson and ten years later returned to Prescott. In 1889 the capital was moved to Phoenix, where it remains to this day.


 * Until 1821 - New Spain controlled land that later would become 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 obtained jurisdiction over the land that later would become Arizona. Records of this period may have been sent to archives in Mexico City.
 * In 1846 - New Mexico Territory was setup, it included land that later would become Arizona.
 * In 1852 - New Mexico Territory redefined the boundaries of some counties and created others to cover all the land in the territory, including all the land that became Arizona. Some counties stretched east to the Texas border and west to the California border. Land in present-day Yavapai County, Arizona was once part of Bernalillo, Santa Ana, Socorro, and Valencia counties of New Mexico.  Records during this period may have been sent to courthouses in their respective New Mexico counties.
 * In 1863 - Arizona Territory was created from the western half of New Mexico territory. All previous counties were discontinued, and soon four new counties were created in the new Arizona Territory.

Parent County
21 December 1864 - Yavapai County was created as an original county of Arizona. County seat: Prescott It is named for the Yavapai Indians.

Boundary Changes
14 Feb 1871 - YAVAPAI county lost land to the creation of MARICOPA county.

14 Feb 1879 - YAVAPAI county lost land to the creation of APACHE county.

19 Feb 1891 - YAVAPAI county lost land to the creation of COCONINO county.

See Previous Jurisdictions to land in Arizona showing dates the jurisdictions were created and where. This will help in determining what jurisdiction your ancestor lived in and where the records are now located.

Neighboring Counties

 * Coconino, Arizona
 * Gila, Arizona
 * La Paz, Arizona
 * Maricopa, Arizona
 * Mohave, Arizona

Cemeteries
Arizona Cemetery Transcription and Photo Project

The Yavapai County Cemetery Database is an accumulation of a cemetery project which began in 1989 by the Northern Arizona Genealogy Society and housed on the Sharlot Hall Museum Archives website at: http://sharlot.org/archives/gene/cemetery/index.html

Prescott National Cemetery: 3,195 Veterans Administration burial records are included. Does not include all burials in the cemetery, only those provided by the VA.

BillionGraves:


 * Ferguson-Morrell Cemetery, Prescott
 * Humboldt Cemetery, Dewey-Humboldt
 * Rolling Hills Cemetery, Prescott

Church
LDS Ward and Branch Records


 * Bagdad

Newspapers

 * Arizona Daily Journal-Miner - full-text digital issues in Google News Archive; covers 1900-1902
 * Arizona Journal-Miner - Google News Archive; covers 1903-1912
 * Arizona Miner - Google News Archive; covers 1866-1871
 * Arizona Weekly Journal-Miner - Google News Archive; covers 1893-1900
 * Arizona Weekly Miner - Google News Archive; covers 1877

Vital Records
4,374 marriages are listed on the Western States Marriage Index.

Societies and Libraries
Northern Arizona Genealogical Society- Our Society is a general genealogical society covering the counties of Yavapai and Coconino Arizona. Prescott is the county seat for Yavapai County and Flagstaff is the county seat for Coconino County.

Camp Verde Historical Society 435 South Main Camp Verde, AZ 86322 Telephone 928-567-9560 Hours 11-3 Sat. &amp; Tues

Verde Historical Society One N. Willard St. Cottonwood, AZ 86326 Telephone 928-634-2868 Hours 9-12 Wed.; Fri.-Sun. 11-3

Jerome Historical Society 200 Main Street Jerome, Arizona 86331 (928) 634-5477 Hours 9-4:30 daily

Family History Centers
Introduction to Family History Centers

Bagdad Arizona Community Dr Bagdad, Yavapai, Arizona, United States Telephone: 928-633-2073

Cottonwood Arizona 1377 Hombre Dr Cottonwood, Yavapai, Arizona, United States Telephone: 928-649-0116

Prescott Arizona 1001 Ruth St Prescott, Yavapai, Arizona, United States Telephone: 928-778-2311

Spring Valley Arizona HWY 69 (2 mi from Dordis Jct) Spring Valley, Yavapai, Arizona, United States Telephone: 928-632-7168

These are not mailing addresses. Due to limited staff, Family History Centers are unable to respond to mail inquiries.

Web Sites

 * USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.
 * Yavapai County, Arizona Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
 * Yavapai County, Arizona Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)