Arizona Biography

Online Resources

 * A Historical and biographical record of the territory of Arizona, ($). Images, partial index.
 * A Historical and biographical record of the territory of Arizona, ($). Images, partial index.
 * Arizona Memory Project. Index.
 * Who's who in Arizona, 1913, e-book
 * Portrait and biographical record of Arizona, 1901
 * County and Town Histories, includes biographies

Arizona Biography
Biographies provide useful genealogical information such as a person’s birth date and place; names of family members, including maiden names; education; occupation; and social, political, and religious affiliation. They may also contain a physical description of the person, previous residences, and immigration information. Biographies are the product of family knowledge or previous research about early settlers and prominent citizens of a state, county, or town. Local histories may contain biographical sketches of lesser-known people.

Biographies in Local Histories

 * Biographical information is often found in state, county, and town histories.
 * Towards the end of the 19th century, began publishers soliciting short biographical/family histories from local founding families, offering to publish them in an upcoming local history. This then became an incentive for family members to buy a copy of the book.
 * Families represented were not necessarily prominent. Practically everyone living there, especially in the Midwest, counted as an early settler.
 * These biographies often start with the first member of the family to settle in the area, and detail their descendants at the time of publishing. They may tell where the family moved in from. Children's marriages often are given, with maiden names included.

Finding Biographies

 * The county Wiki page lists several county histories. It also lists local libraries, and societies which probably have copies of local histories.
 * Many histories are no longer under copyright and can be found in the following online, digitized book collections. Search with keywords "History" and "the name of your locality" (state, county, or town).
 * FamilySearch Books
 * Google Books
 * World Cat
 * HathiTrust
 * Internet Archive
 * The FamilySearch library has extensive collections of these local histories. Many are digitized. Search the FamilySearch Catalog under your locality for the topics "Biography" and "History".

Statewide Collections
A vast alphabetical collection of biographical information concerning the early settlers of Arizona is:


 * Hayden, Carl. Carl Hayden Biographical Files, ca. 1825-1927. Tempe, Arizona: Arizona State University, 19–?. (on 15 FS Library films starting with .) This is at the Hayden Library of Arizona State University at Tempe and at the FamilySearch Library. Internet search of the database can be found here. If you find a biography or reference of interest, you can e-mail or call the librarians and they will be happy to send a copy of the record you are seeking if they possibly can.  Phone is 480-965-3283.  E-mail is [mailto:contact@ahfweb.org contact@ahfweb.org].

Specific biographical resources may be found by searching on WorldCat.org by author, title or subject. Some representative biographical encyclopedias for Arizona are:


 * Portrait and Biographical Record of Arizona. Chicago, Illinois: Chapman Publishing Company, 1901. (FS Library film .) Has a separately published index (FS Library film item 11.)
 * Conners, Jo. Who's Who in Arizona. Tucson, Arizona: S.n., 1913. (FamilySearch Library .)
 * A biographical index to several statewide and regional histories of Arizona is Marvin E. Wiggins, Mormons and Their Neighbors: An Index of Over 75,000 Biographical Sketches from 1820 to the Present. Two Volumes. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, 1984. (FamilySearch Library .)
 * Eldridge, Marilyn Busch, and Karen Clemens Paulsen. Pioneer Women of Arizona: Autobiographical and Biographical Sketches Collected by the Arizona Society Daughters of the American Revolution from 1922 to 1923 (with Additional Historical and Genealogical Information). Phoenix, Ariz: Maricopa Chapter, National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, 2007.
 * Clayton, Roberta Flake. Pioneer Women of Arizona. S.l: s.n, 1969 Also Index to Pioneer Women of Arizona
 * Daughters of the Gila County Pioneers. A Cultural History of the Pioneer Women of Gila County, Arizona and Their Descendants. Payson, Ariz: Git A Rope! Pub, 2002.

Websites

 * Arizona Historical Foundation