Utah Cemeteries

The Family History Library has transcriptions for many Utah cemeteries. Cemetery records often include birth, marriage, and death information. They sometimes provide clues about military service, religion, or membership in an organization. These records are useful in identifying children who died young or women who were not recorded in family or government documents. They are helpful in establishing family relationships and locating family members. For Utah, there are statewide indexes and collections for many cemeteries. Some of these have been indexed in the Early Church Information File.

Transcription Projects
Genealogical society members often copy and publish tombstones inscriptions. The USGenWeb Archives have records from more than 46 Box Elder, Davis, and Washington county cemeteries listed on their Internet site at:

"The Utah Tombstone Transcription Project." In USGenWeb Archives Digital Library [Internet site]. N.p.: USGenWeb Archives, 24 June 1999 [cited 27 October 1999]. Available at www.rootsweb.com/~cemetery/utah.html. This is a county-by-county list of scores of cemeteries. The highlighted cemeteries include tombstone abstracts. Abstracted cemeteries are indexed in:

Search the USGenWeb Archives Digital Library In USGenWeb Archives Digital Library [Internet site]. N.p.: USGenWeb Archives, 22 September 1997 [cited 27 October 1999]. Available at:

www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ussearch.htm .

This Internet site indexes cemetery abstracts and other items. Select the state of interest, type the name of the ancestor you seek in the "Query" field, and click the Search button. For best results, use the "Search Tips" and examples at the bottom of the web page. The computer will list any matches it finds and give you the option of viewing the full transcript.

Utah State Historical Society. Burials Database. In Utah State Historical Society [Internet site]. Salt Lake City, Utah: UHS, 1999 [cited 19 October 1999]. Available at:

http://history.utah.org/services/lcburials.html.

This searchable database includes about 150 cemeteries scattered throughout Utah. More cemeteries are added periodically for this ongoing project. The standard search is for surname, given name, dates, and places. The results list shows the name of the deceased, birth and death date, and burial place. The long individual display may also include the birthplace, death place, cause of death, relatives, comments, and grave location.

Indexes and Records
An important collection of cemetery and burial transcripts for more than a hundred cemeteries, excluding Salt Lake City Cemetery, is:

Cemetery Records of Utah, 13 Volumes. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1953. (FHL book 979.2 V3c; On nine films beginning with 874340.) The records are listed by cemetery grouped together by county. The counties are not arranged alphabetically or geographically. There is a separate index for each volume. The cemetery listings will give you the name of the deceased, location of the grave, birth date, and the parent or spouse. This has been indexed in the Early Church Information File.

An alphabetical list of the names of persons buried the largest cemetery in Utah is:

Salt Lake City Cemetery Records, 1847–1992. Orem, Utah: Automated Archives, 1994. (FHL compact disc no. 9 pt. 168.) This compact disc lists more than 100,000 burials, many of pioneers. The information on this record includes the name of the deceased, birth date and place, death date and place, including addresses, burial date, and burial location in the cemetery.

The library also has copies of plat books, interment records, registers and other records for the Salt Lake City Cemetery indexed to help locate your ancestors. The records of the dead give name, birth date and place, death date, cause of death, physician, and burial plot. Similar information is also located in the Interment records. After finding the location of burial, you may look at the plat books and see if family members are buried nearby. These records are located under:

Salt Lake City Cemetery, Sexton. Cemetery Records, 1847-1976. Salt Lake City, Utah: Utah State Archives, 1976. (On 68 FHL films beginning with 1293881.)

A book and Internet index for Utah County give the names of all known people buried throughout the county and their birth date, death date, and cemetery. One appendix gives the cemeteries indexed in the book and the Family History Library call numbers. It is:

Parkinson, Diane. Index to the Utah County Cemeteries. Two Volumes. Provo, Utah: D.R. Parkinson and L. Youngstrom, 1997? (FHL book 979.224 V32p.)

Utah Valley Regional Family History Center. Utah County, Utah, Cemetery Index. In Ancestry.com. Orem, Utah: Ancestry, 1998, 1999 [cited 20 October 1999]. Available at:

http://www.ancestry.com/ancestry/search/3169a.htm.

This has roughly 80,000 entries from Utah County. Each entry lists (when available) surname, given name(s), birth date, death date, and cemetery location.

Veteran Burial Records
Although a complete list of veterans buried in Utah does not exist, there are several important collections. Two of the sources for the state are:

Records of Veterans with Federal Service Buried in Utah, Territorial to 1966. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1966. (On 19 FHL films beginning with 485245.) The first film in this collection is an index to names from all the counties listing name, war served in, county, city, and cemetery of burial. The rest of the collection is arranged by county, city, and cemetery. The record may give name, rank, organization and branch of military, date of enlistment and discharge, date and place of birth and death, and place of burial.

Utah State Archives and Records Service. Database-Alpha Listing; Veteran Burials. Salt Lake City, Utah: Utah State Archives and Records Service, 1986. (FHL fiche 6331395 [set of 16].) This record gives birth and death dates, place of burial, and military service information such as rank, unit, and enlistment and discharge dates. It covers from the 1860s to 1986.

Cemetery Directories
Cemetery directories help you find the location of cemeteries. Many cemeteries in Utah have the same name as the city. For larger cities, directories help identify the cemeteries. One directory of Utah cemeteries is:

''Cemeteries of Utah. N.p., 1983?''. (FHL book 979.2 A1 no. 172; fiche 6018248.) This directory is arranged into three alphabetical lists, one by cemetery name, and the others by the city and the county.

A county-by-county list of cemetery record transcripts and the book and film numbers to locate them at the Family History Library as of 1988 is:

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Family History Library (Salt Lake City, Utah). Index to United States Cemeteries. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1988. (FHL films 1206468-94.) Utah is on film 1206491 among other states.

To locate more cemetery indexes and sexton records, use the Place Search of the Family History Library Catalog under:

UTAH, [COUNTY] - CEMETERIES

UTAH, [COUNTY], [TOWN] - CEMETERIES

Web Sites
http://www.interment.net/us/ut/index.htm

http://utahgravestones.org/