Sanpete County, Utah Genealogy

United States Utah Sanpete County

Parent Counties
County seat: Manti

Neighboring Counties
Carbon | Emery | Juab | Sevier | Utah

Histories
Sanpete County was created on 3 March 1852. The origin of the Sanpete County name came from a mispronunciation of a local Indian tribe, the San Pitch. Nestled at the base of the mountains, the communities of San Pete county were set up primarily as agricultural communities.The early pioneers set up farms with the use of canals and wells. A vanguard group of 224 men, women, and children settlers were first sent to the area from the Salt Lake Valley in 1849. Although the first Scandinavian settlers, consisting of mostly Danish immigrants, may have reached the Sanpete Valley as early as 1852, the main influx didn’t begin until 1853 and 1854. Upon arriving, the first group of Scandinavians joined other settlers in present-day Ephraim. The area population peaked from about 1900 to 1910, and then declined until the 1970s.

Ghost towns
Clarion | Dover

Cemeteries
The Utah State History Cemetery and Burials Database has records from these Sanpete county cemeteries: Centerfield, Chester, Dover, Fairview (upper and lower indexed together), Fayette, Fountain Green, Freedom, Gunnison, Indianola, Manti, Mt. Pleasant, Spring City Pioneer Cemetery, Sterling, Wales, Yorgason Family Cemetery. (current as of May 2009)

The Sanpete County GenWeb project has internment lists for these Sanpete county cemeteries: Fairview Pioneer Cemetery, Fountain Green Cemetery, Moroni Cemetery. (current as of May 2009)

Ephraim Park Cemetery. The City of Ephraim is putting Park Cemetery online.

Ephraim Pioneer Cemetery. This is an individual project - the result of transcribing the cemetery's internment records and posting them at findagrave.com. (project not yet complete as of May 2009)


 * List of Sanpete County Cemeteries

Census
The 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 U.S. federal population schedules of Sanpete 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.


 * 1856
 * 1860
 * 1870
 * 1880
 * 1890
 * 1900
 * 1910
 * 1920
 * 1930

Church
LDS Ward and Branch Records


 * Axtell
 * Centerfield
 * Chester
 * Clarion
 * Ephraim
 * Ephraim N.
 * Ephraim S.
 * Ephraim W.
 * Fairview
 * Fairview N.
 * Fairview S.
 * Fayette
 * Fountain Green
 * Freedom
 * Gunnison
 * Hamilton
 * Indianola
 * Manti
 * Manti Center
 * Manti N.
 * Manti S.
 * Mayfield
 * Milburn
 * Moroni
 * Moroni E.
 * Moroni W.
 * Mt. Pleasant
 * Mt. Pleasant N.
 * Mt. Pleasant S.
 * Mountainville
 * Oakville
 * Spring City
 * Sterling
 * Wales

Early church records, for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for Sanpete County Wards and Branches can be found on film and are located at the LDS Family History Library in Salt Lake City. The film numbers, for each ward, can be locate through the Family History Library Catalog at https://www.familysearch.org/. Or by refering to Jaussi, Laureen R., and Gloria D. Chaston. Register of Genealogical Society Call Numbers. 2 vols. Provo, Utah: Genealogy Tree, 1982. (FHL book 979.2258 A3j; fiche 6031507). These volumes contain the film numbers for many (but not all) membership and temple record films.

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." One newspaper from Sanpete County is included in this digital project, the Manti Messenger. Read more... about using Utah newspapers for your family history research.

Vital Records
Sanpete County Birth Register, 1898-1904 are online and also at the Utah State Division of Archives and Records

The Sanpete County marriage records index is available online from 1850.This list is alphabetical by surname of the groom. Each entry shows groom's and bride’s full names, certificate number, and complete date of marriage. 

Western States Marriage Index.

Sanpete County Death Register 1898-1904. The scanned images are online and searchable at the Utah State Division of Archives &amp; Records Services.

Utah Death Certificates 1904 - 1956 -A free internet access to the 1904-1956 death certificates can be viewed at https://www.familysearch.org/. 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.

Utah State Burial Index for death before 1904

Societies and Libraries
The Mt. Pleasant Pioneer Historical Association is a non-profit organization. We have our own blog:  http://mtpleasantpioneer.blogspot.com/. We feature a Pioneer of the Month, Pictures from the Past,  Pioneer Recipes, as well a current events with an historical theme. Current names and histories that can be found there are: Wheelock, Christensen, Madsen, Anderson, Tidwell, Burns, Hyde, Peel,   Farnworth, Coates and many others. We also have a Tombstone Page where actual photographs of  the headstones can be seen.

This Mt. Pleasant Pioneer Historical Association are the owners of the Mt. Pleasant Relic Home and Blacksmith Shop located  at 150 South State in  Mt. Pleasant. During the Summer months we hope to be open every day from 1:00 to 3:00  p.m. We feature artifacts, Photos, Histories, Genealogical Information of the Pioneer Era. We are also encouraging and accerpting all biographies and histories of anyone who has ever lived in Mt. Pleasant.

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers
 * Ephraim Utah Family History Center
 * Gunnison Utah Family History Center
 * Gunnison Utah Correctional Facility Family History Center
 * Moroni Utah Family History Center
 * Mount Pleasant Utah Family History Center
 * Mount Pleasant Utah North Family History Center

Web Sites

 * Utah GenWeb project - Sanpete County. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.
 * Mt. Pleasant, Utah Pioneer Histories, Biographies, Photos and More
 * Sanpete County, Utah Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
 * Scandinavian Heritage Festival
 * Scandinavian Heritage Festival

County Courthouse
Sanpete County County Clerk: 160 N. Main, PO Box 219 Manti, Utah 84642 Phone: 435-835-2131