Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area, Alaska Genealogy

Guide to birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

Description
Formerly part of the Prince of Wales-Outer Ketchikan Census Area, the Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area was renamed in 2008 after it lost most of the Outer Ketchikan to the Ketchikan Gateway Borough. It has no borough seat. This census area is located in the southeastern part of the state.


 * Prince of Wales Island is the fourth-largest island in the United States (after Hawaii, Kodiak Island, and Puerto Rico), and the 97th-largest island in the world. It was explored by the Russians, Spanish, British, and French, and was named for George Augustus Frederick, Prince of Wales (later King George IV).
 * The community of Hyder is the easternmost town of Alaska and is notable for being the only place in Alaska not to use the 907 area code, instead using British Columbia's 250. Tourists also find that Hyder uses the Pacific Time Zone, the "preferred" currency is Canadian (except the U.S. Post Office, which accepts only American currency), observes Canadian holidays, send their children to a Canadian school, and calling the police means a Canadian Mountie will respond. Electricity comes from Canada, as the local electric utility is British Columbia's BC Hydro.
 * This area is traditional Tlinget territory, with the Haida tribes resettling on the island in the late 18th century from what is now Northern British Columbia. In 1887, William Duncan, a lay minister of the Anglican Church, settled Annette Island with a group of Tsimshian natives from Metlakatla, British Columbia, founding the community of "New" Metlakatla.

Boundary Changes
It was formerly part of the Census Bureau's Prince of Wales-Outer Ketchikan Census Area, but the name was changed in 2008 after most of the Outer Ketchikan (except the parts near the community of Hyder, and Annette Island) was lost to annexation by the Ketchikan Gateway Borough.

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

Neighboring Boroughs, Census Areas, and Districts

 * Petersburg Census Area - north
 * City and Borough of Wrangell, Alaska - northeast
 * Ketchikan Gateway Borough - between Prince of Wales and Hyder
 * Kitimat-Stikine Regional District, British Columbia - east
 * Skeena-Queen Charlotte Regional District, British Columbia - south (water boundary only)

Populated Places
For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit Hometown Locator. The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this census area:

Military

 * 1898-1934 - at FamilySearch — index

Newspapers
Alaska Online Historical Newspapers - identifies historical archived and digitized newspapers available online on both free and pay-to-access websites. Includes a title for Thorne Bay.

Other Records
Directories
 * Alaska Online Historical Directories - identifies historical city, county, business and other directories available online on both free and pay-to-access websites.

Vital Records

 * 1816-1959 at FamilySearch — index and images

Websites

 * Ketchikan Gateway Borough and Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Areas GenWeb Project, part of the Alaska GenWeb Project.
 * Linkpendium
 * Prince of Wales-Outer Ketchikan Trails to the Past
 * USGenWeb Archives