Utah, United States Genealogy

United States Utah

Utah is a western state of the United States. It was the 45th state admitted to the Union, on January 4, 1896.

Approximately eighty percent of Utah's population live along the Wasatch Front, centering around Salt Lake City. In contrast, vast expanses of the state are nearly uninhabited, making the population the sixth most urbanized in the U.S.

The name "Utah" is derived from the Ute Indian language, meaning "people of the mountains."

Utah Counties
Click on the map below to go to a county page. Hover over a county to see its name. To see a larger version of the map, click here. Utah county creation dates and parent county details will assist you in determining which county would have the records you are seeking.

News and Events

 * The next annual Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy will be held January 23–27, 2012. The week-long courses include A Genealogist's Guide to the Internet Galaxy with Thomas MacEntee, Advanced Methodology with Thomas Jones Ph.D., CG, CGL, FASG, FUGA, Producing a Quality Family Narrative with John Philip Colletta Ph.D., FUGA, Researching in Washington DC Without Leaving Home with Rick Sayre, CG and Pam Sayre CG, CGL, and seven more stimulating courses with highly respected and renowned coordinators. Registration begins June 4, 2011 at 9:00 a.m.
 * The new RootsTech conference in February was a big success. Visit the website to see some of the recorded sessions and keynote addresses! Visit the RootsTech 2011 for information shared at the conferences and links to other wiki pages that were added for the classes that day.

Did You Know?



 * The members of the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers (DUP) have prepared and collected thousands of biographies of early pioneers (1847-1869). A pioneer is an ancestor who came to the Utah Territory/State of Deseret; died crossing the plains; or was born in the Utah Territory/State of Deseret before May 10, 1869, the coming of the railroad. If your ancestor does not fit into this criteria, they will not have a history. Also available are photographs of many of the early LDS church members. You can search for a pioneer on their website and then request a copy of their biography. Read more...
 * Gretna Greens. When a Utah couple's marriage is not in their home county, search for it in alternate places like Farmington, Evanston, West Wendover, or Las Vegas.

Research Tools

 * The Research Courses available on FamilySearch can help you get started in your research.
 * If your ancestor came to Utah during the Territorial time period, 1850-1896, the Utah Territorial Records article will help you with your research.
 * Newspapers report family information in notices of births, marriages, obituaries, and local news. Two major Utah newspapers are the Deseret News and the Salt Lake Tribune. One major resource 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." Newspapers began early in Salt Lake City, Utah. Read more... about using newspapers for your family history research.
 * There are several websites for death records in the state of Utah: Utah Death Certificates 1904-1956 and Utah, Salt Lake County Death Records, 1908-1949 and State of Utah Research Center for Utah State Archives and Utah State History, up to and including 1956.
 * There are a lot of images related to Utah that may help with your own family history research. View the Wikimedia Commons page for Utah for ideas.


 * The Early Utah Community Trees project is the result of merging the 1850-1880, 1900, and 1920 US Census records for Utah with extracted Utah Vital Records (births 1892 to 1941, marriages 1887 to 1966, deaths and burials 1880's to 1956) with the Veterans burials from territorial time to 1966 to create families and extended lineages.
 * The Greeks in the West Community Tree project includes 5000+ Greek men who immigrated to the Western United States between 1900 and 1924 -- many to work in the mines and on the railroads of Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and Nevada. This is an on-going project to document the lineage and preserve the heritage of these immigrants and their descendants. It is part of the Western Hellenic Ancestry and Museum and the Ethnic and Mining Museum of Magna. Initial work is focused on the mining communities in Carbon and Salt Lake counties of Utah.

Things you can do in Utah
Some fun things to do in Utah that would also be related to understanding the locality where your ancestors lived include:


 * Visit the Family History Library in Salt Lake City
 * Visit the Church History Library
 * Top 10 things to do in Utah
 * Visit the Salt Lake City Cemetery
 * Search for your pioneer ancestors at the Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum
 * Visit the Research Center of the Utah State Archives and Utah State History
 * Know of any others? Feel free to add to this list.

Contributors

 * Fran is the moderator and Jennifer is an assistant moderator. If you are interested in being an assistant moderator for the content,
 * Some of the contributors for the Utah content include: JensenFA, DiltsGD, Jbparker, WigginsLE, HealeyJE, Cottrells, Loisfowles, Pipkincom, HendricksonP, Laraleepn, Pittssj, Heaton75, Davide, Dianekay, Dsammy, Ancestorseeker, BingamanTD, Murphynw, AdkinsWH, KirkBE, HardestyPN, Raleighj, Mntvly5, HawkBlade, Dasc.54, Garysturn, Ckwahlquist, MannAE, Banai, Ginastrack, Familyjournals.
 * The Utah Genealogical Association has recently adopted the Utah Wiki content pages. Please welcome them as new contributors to the Utah WikiProject!