FamilySearch Wiki:WikiProject Utah Experimental CountyEdit This Page

• Church | Obituaries | Cemeteries
  
• Parent counties (before Jan 10, 1856): Iron and Millard

• WikiProject Utah Experimental County residents may also have records in
  Neighboring Counties: Garfield | Iron | Millard | Piute | Sevier plus Lincoln County, Nevada

• Utah Death Certificates at FamilySearch, 1904–1956 ; at State Archives site, 1904-1958
• Utah Burial Records Database

• Utah digital newspapers project
• LOC Chronicling America Digital newspapers for Beaver County, Utah

FindAGrave

Interment.net

Utah Cemeteries & Burial Database

Utah Gravestones

UTGenWeb Cemeteries

Billion Graves

Linkpendium

Veterans to 1966

FamilySearch Library

Early Church Info File

WorldCat

Utah Periodicals

FindAGrave

USGenWeb Tombstone Project

UTGenWeb Cemeteries

Epodunk

Utah Hometown Locator Cemeteries

Utah Cemeteries Search

Genealogy Trails

Community of Christ

Church records, 1870-1904, Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Beaver Branch (Beaver, Utah). Film 1940483 item 3

To do and Decisions

Decisions (and dates)

10 Oct 2012 Deal with discontinued wards/branches. Reed ward. Stake level. or perhaps on the county level OK to do as a table, not show/hide except for very large. Color - some like the purple, others do not. Jaussi and Chaston and Jensons -- agreed with some concern to not have them on the county page.

Decision: 10/3/2012 Do a show/hide table for LDS churches, adapted from the Municipalities template. Clone and mutate.

• can do several parts -- like extinct, or not identified. Even extinct, if records exist, how to access.
• (later discussion with MJM) Other denominations: for most counties, where only a few, list them under their own heading on the county page. They can link to a page similar to the LDS page for more info, if they wish. Do need contact information, website, etc.
• Counties with many denominations: show/hide table for all (or still a separate one for LDS?)

• (29 Aug) Instead of each ward, list by town.
  • Timeline is easier to create for the whole town.
  • Won't have to link to/from wards as much. And user won't have to click back and forth as much.
  • Records at FSL easy to link to town, rather than list on the page
  • Easier for user?
• List each ward, link to form (29 Aug)

To do: Add info about 1) limitations on access and use?

To Do 5 Sep 2012

• group by town
• boundaries and how they changed
• names - put alternate names in parens

No longer to do:

• Names of ward pages
• Form for each ward (Each must be categorized to x County, Utah; and to ____)
  • Next week: work on the form. Scanning process: do a word-searchable PDF? *Explanations must include limitations of access. We must mention restrictions as well Annual genealogical reports (form e's) Photocopying restrictions: redacting

Court Records

• The Family History Library Catalog lists some court records in Beaver County, Utah. Some of the books – and others – may be on Google Books, on WorldCat, or available at public libraries.

Directories

• The Family History Library Catalog lists some directories in Beaver County, Utah. Some of the books – and others – may be on Google Books, on WorldCat, or available at public libraries.

Ethnic and Other Groups

Funeral Homes

Decisions, discussions, to do

Link to Utah Funeral Homes page in process.
Discussions Merged Aug 22 and Aug29 discussions into one list.

• Lois Fowles is almost finished inputting funeral homes on the county pages
• Lois is also contacting the State Board of Funeral Directors with important questions
  • Funeral homes that have discontinued business: where are those records?
  • Laws that affect what records they create, what they keep.
    • Early times vs now.
    • When did the records begin to reflect only what was on a death certificate?
    • Typical practices for keeping records beyond what the law requires
  • Funeral programs, obituaries, other funeral-specific records created
• We need a ‘’death-related records’’ page that discusses the paper trail when a death or burial occurs.
  • That page will discuss each record with it’s genealogical contents, years it was used, if still extant, how to access. It will be very nice to also have an image for each.
    • Current weakness: we talk about records in the Wiki, but not about why you should use them, or the contents, how to use the records, how to analyze, how and why to compare with other records, and include images of the records so they can see for themselves.
    • The beginner finds one record about death and thinks they found it all. Analyze, get more than just one. – and why they need to do this.
    • Liz did not find such a page on the Wiki in a quick look 8/29.
    • We need someone to research this in the Wiki. We DO need to know where burial permits, for example, are kept and how they are accessed, whether in the archives, in funeral homes, or held by sextons.
  • Records, paper (or computer) trail: what do they create for each death/funeral/burial. What do they keep?
    • Where are the records? Who has them, how do we access them, what years do they cover?
    • Differences between early records and later records. Do early records give more or less genealogical info? Does computer technology encourage more or less info gathered and preserved?
    • Is there more than just what is on the death certificate?
    • transportation records; embalming, care of body; another location for burial, esp if in different states; burial permits; purchasing gravesite, funeral programs; embalming, care of the body
    • Funeral homes that have gone out of business, where are those records? Do you have records from previous funeral homes. Do they know where early records might be?
• Questionnaire for info gatherers or for the funeral homes themselves
  • What do users need
    • Years their records began, any gaps?
    • Did they preserve the funeral programs?
    • How to access those records. Suggested we give the contact info for the records person, rather than the front desk, if possible.
  • Types of records (but shall we do this in a general way, rather than each funeral home?) Do we have to ask each funeral home about each type of record, or just say that the records are typically these types.
    • Decided to do a deeper look into a few, and see if we need to expand it.
    • Sometimes they may have much more. We’d like people to know about it.
  • Do you have records from previous funeral homes. Do you know where earlier records might be?
  • Pros and cons of asking too much, or too little. Let's let the people ask whatever they want, and gather whatever they want. Make a basic project for now, and more detail later. We may discover some record types that are unique to Utah or that have not been considered previously.
  • Those who contact, if they have their cameras and request permission to take pictures. Copyright -- funeral home and family?
  • Wiki page for each funeral home? If we find out they are quite similar, don't need a separate page -- unless they have something unusual.
• What will Funeral Homes want?
  • Will they care if they are listed on our Wiki?
  • Will they encourage or discourage people contacting them for genealogy?

Gazetteers

Genealogy

A FamilySearch Community Tree is available for this place.

History

• Bradley, Martha Sonntag. A History of Beaver County available at Marriott Library Digital Collections. Searchable.
• The Family History Library Catalog lists some Histories in Beaver County, Utah Some of the books – and others – may be on Google Books, on WorldCat, or available at public libraries.

Emphasis for this timeline is on events that affected migration, records, or record-keeping.

Wikipedia has more about this subject: Beaver County, Utah

• 1776. Southern Piute Indians inhabited the area when the Dominguez-Escalante Expedition visited the area.
• 1856 January. Beaver County created by the Utah Territorial Legislature from a section of Iron County.
• 1856. Mormon settlers (from Parawan?) founded the city of Beaver, Utah. By 1869, there were enough people to organize a stake.
• 1873. Ft. Cameron was established by the U.S. Army. The fort was abandoned after World War I (1914-1918).
• 1880. Arrival of the Utah Southern Railroad increased development.
• 1880s. Mining increased development, then declined after World War I (1914-1918).

Decisions, to do

• Marty Simon is working on historical timelines (started in earnest Aug 28).
• Scope: events that influenced migration, records, or record-keeping.
• Purpose: 1) give users a quick guide; 2) give writers a pattern for other states
• Added value: When completed, include events in other topics as appropriate. **Example: 1872 Fort X was established. This would be of interest under the Military section, especially if that section also discussed records that may exist for that fort.
  • Example 2: "x year, x community was settled by Mormons from x place. They were mostly Welsh." This would go under Migration and under Ethnic Groups. It may also go under Church and be linked to all places mentioned.
  • In other words, the historical timeline is a foundation for many things.
• Sources: Wikipedia and Utah History Encylopedia (UHE)
  • Exact citations included for UHE.

Land and Property

WikiProject Utah Experimental County county “first owner” land records are housed in agencies responsible for land records in several counties. Thus for Pioneer Era (1847-1869), Federal (1869-present) and State (1896-present) “first owner” land records see Utah Land and Property.

After a tract of land had a “first owner”, the records of subsequent owners are found at the county level:

• The Family History Library Catalog lists some Land and property records in Beaver County, Utah Some of the books – and others – may be on Google Books, on WorldCat, or available at public libraries.
• Courthouse - County Recorders Office
  • Here you can check for deed and mining claims; get assistance in finding ownership of a particular property, and obtain copies of county plat maps.
• State Archives

Are you a first time land record user? There is lots to learn about this record type! Go to Beginning Land and Property Research

County Recorder's Office: check deeds, file mining claims, get assistance in finding ownership of a particular property, and obtain copies of county plat maps. This office has county plat records dating back to 1878, prior records having been destroyed in a fire.

Maps

Migration

Early migration routes to and from Beaver County, Utah for emigrant settlers included:

• Mormon Trail 1846 to 1869 from Nauvoo, Illinois to Salt Lake City, Utah^[1]
• Mormon Trail to Southern California 1847 from Salt Lake City, Utah to Los Angeles, California^[2]
• Union Pacific Railroad 1869 Ogden, Utah (among others) to Omaha, Nebraska^[3]

• The Family History Library Catalog lists some migration or emigration to Beaver County, Utah. Some of the books – and others – may be on Google Books, on WorldCat, or available at public libraries.

Military

• World War II (1941–1945) army enlistments at the county GenWeb site About 400 names with year and state of birth. Mostly Beaver and Salt Lake Counties. Key to codes and columns at end of name list. Free.
• The Family History Library Catalog lists some military records in Beaver County, Utah. Some of the books – and others – may be on Google Books, on WorldCat, or available at public libraries.

Naturalization and Citizenship

• Some Naturalization records. of WikiProject Utah Experimental County are listed in the FamilySearch Library. To obtain closer-to-home access to resources, see. public libraries.

Newspapers

Small town newspapers contain obituaries, birth or death notices, community news (such as the visit of someone's relatives), legal notices and provide historical content. See Utah newspapers for tips, resources, and details.

Resources include:

• Utah Digital Newspapers Project presents newspaper images online. Search All Newspapers by name or keywords, or Browse by County to view all newspapers digitized for WikiProject Utah Experimental County.
  • The Southern Utonian and Beaver City Press, covering 1881-1929 are included.
• Existing copies of newspapers. newspapers for WikiProject Utah Experimental County] are listed in Chronicling America by Library of Congress (LOC).
  • The list by dates and towns (from Chronicling America)

Obituaries

Obituaries may mention birth, marriage, spouse, parents, and living family members. See Utah Obituaries for state level compendiums and United States Obituaries for tips and insights regarding this record type.

Obituaries for residents may be found in:

• Newspapers of Beaver County, Utah
• Local Funeral Homes, Societies, Libraries, or in family records.
• Obituaries of neighboring counties
• Newspapers of major cities: Deseret News and/or The Salt Lake Tribune both in Salt Lake City
  

See Talk page for notes/discussion.

Periodicals

PERSI is a subject index for articles published in periodicals in the United States. It allows you to search simutaniously for x county, Utah and record type. For example, one can have PERSI return an index listing for all articles on vital record in x county, Utah.

Once you access the index/catalog listing for the article, note the periodical's state of publication, then go to the periodical section of the appropiate state page to discover availibility.

Poorhouses, Poor Law, etc.

In Utah, such records may be difficult to find. Try records of the church they may have attended. Realize, however, that such records may have not been preserved, and would not be in the typical records of membership.

It is possible there were records kept by civilian authorities. Ask town or county officials and local librarians and the State Archives. Also try National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (online).

Probate Records

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Probate records may state spouse, children and/or other relatives; residences of relatives; and/or property owned by the deceased in other localities. The deceased’s death date is either given or can be narrowed.

See Utah Probate Records for state level compendiums that include WikiProject Utah Experimental County and United States Probate Records for instructional resources.

Probate Records of x county, Utah provides resources on:

• Electronically Searchable Resources
  
• Abstracts and Indexes
  
• Record Books and Registers (ie: Will Books)
  
• Probate Case Files/Estate Packets
  
• Adoption and Guardianship
  
• Dockets
  
• Minutes
  
• Register of Actions
  
• Additional Record Types

The Family History Library Catalog lists some Probate records in Beaver County, Utah. Some of the books – and others – may be on Google Books, on WorldCat, or available at public libraries. Many of these are already discussed on the x county, Utah Probate Records, but some newer resources may be listed.

OLD PROBATE IDEA:

Locating  original, microfilmed, digitized and/or name searchable or indexed versions of these records can be tricky as no one repository has them all. Key places to check are:

• FamilySearch Digital Collections holdings for WikiProject Utah Experimental County:
  • holding1 goes here
  • holding2 goes here
• Utah State Archives holdings for WikiProject Utah Experimental County:
  • holding1 goes here
  • holding2 goes here
• The Family History Library Catalog lists some Probate records in Beaver County, Utah. Some of the books – and others – may be on Google Books, on WorldCat, or available at public libraries.
• The County Clerks office at the Courthouse holdings:
  • holding1 and citation to Handy Book for Genealogist (current ed) goes here

It is anticipated as researchers discover the existence, availability and location of WikiProject Utah Experimental County probate records, they will share the information in the appropriate categories on the x county Probate Record Page.

Public Records

• The Family History Library Catalog lists some Public records in Beaver County, Utah. Some of the books – and others – may be on Google Books, on WorldCat, or available at public libraries.

Taxation

Vital Records

Vital records are records of birth, marriage and death kept by a goverment agency at town, county or state levels. When vital records do not exist, other records such as church and cemetery records are used.

See clues for using vital records at Utah Vital Records

• Some birth, marriage, death and Divorce records are at the FHL for Beaver County, Utah. These and other books may be on Google Books, on WorldCat, or available at other libraries.
• Early Utah Community Trees
• Utah Vital Records Index (FamilySearch Historical Records)
• Early Church Info File
  

Records of children (birth, marriage, or death) may tell about the parents.

Birth

Below are the best sources to find birth information (dates and places of birth and names of parents) for WikiProject Utah Experimental County. Also available: How to Find Birth Information in Utah.

Follow the suggestions under the year span that matches when your ancestor was born:

• 1856–1897
• 1898–present)

Before 1856

Beaver County, Utah was formed in January, 1856.

• If your records show the person was born here before 1856, search the records of Beaver's parent counties.

Before county formation, go to Utah Censuses to locate the family around the time of birth.

1856-1897

No birth records were created for WikiProject Utah Experimental County by either by county or state civil authorities in this time period.

Follow these suggestions to find birth information for this time period:

• Utah Death Certificates 1904-1961 give birth date and place (recorded at the time of death), names of parents, and name of spouse. Search by names or by exact death date.
• Church records usually give birth date and place and names of parents.
• See also other records that give birth information, such as Death records, Census, Funeral Homes, Cemeteries, Obituaries
• See also neighboring counties for birth information, due to family members living in that area, religious preferences, convenience, and other reasons.

1898-present

County clerks became responsible for recording births beginning in 1898.^[4] In 1905, the State Department of Health assumed responsibility and required the counties to forward copies of the records to them.

It took a few years after the requirements for people, doctors, midwives, and officials to comply, so some early birth registrations were missed.

Records open to the public

Birth records created more than 100 years ago^[5] are open to the public.

• Online index to births 1897–1905 Series 83773 for WikiProject Utah Experimental County by the Utah State Archives. (Free) Search by names of parents, as many entries do not give the child's name. Each entry includes date of birth, sex, residence, etc.
• 1898-1905 Series # at Utah state archives. Not online. Copies available through FamilySearch Library: FSL film 485235 item 1 . There is one record of birth for December 1897. There are no names of children in the records.
  • Idea: use censuses and church records to learn those missing children's names.
• 1906-1910 online images for WikiProject Utah Experimental County at the State Archives. Browse the "not yet indexed" area by year and county. Most entries do have names of children.
  
  • Later records open to the public are housed at the Utah State Archives, but not online.
• Online Utah, Births and Christenings, 1892-1941, a FamilySearch Historical Records Collection. (Index only, free). Created from the old IGI, this is a mix of some extracted records and submissions by patrons. Please realize it is not complete.

Restricted records

Access to official birth records within 100 years is restricted to those who meet certain requirements. Order copies:

• Office of Vital Records and Statistics, 288 North 1460 West, Salt Lake City, Utah, Phone: (801) 538-6105. How to order online, by mail, or in person.

• Southwest Utah Public Health Department (Beaver County) PO BOX G Beaver, UT 84713 Phone: (435) 438-2108
• Beaver County Public Health Department, 75 West 1175 N. Beaver UT, 8473 Phone: (435)438-2482

To Do - Births:

• James is sending a note when US birth records page: to review next week (Sep 5?) or following.
• Graphic symbol: stork, baby, document, overlay, hospital, midwife, for death tombstone with RIP, cabbage leaf. What about having 3-4 to pick from and not have the same graphic on each county.
  • Needs to be the same thing all the way through
  • Needs to be consistent - symbolism
  • Variety is the spice of life
    • Liz, Jana, Wilma will do mock ups to review and decide on one graphic only or select from 2 or three
• One graphic under birth area. If we have a birth graphic, don't use a graphic for the link to How to find... - all agreed
• Do we need a teaching link to a page that describes "How to spot direct and inferred data on birth records" page.
  • Evaluate the Evidence Is it clear, effective enough? Group will evaluate this page. Wilma emailed the link to it.
• Need a flow to help people add to this county and topic after the project. (An expansion page? Specific resources? Details can be given, such as current location of original records.
• Use footnotes to explain further?

Style guide and Decisions - Births

Style guide

1. Birth year spans - 3 only
   1. before county formation
   2. Span when no civil birth records were created
   3. After year civil birth records started. This is separated (in bold) by "Available to the public" and "Restricted Records"
2. Format: Bold the year spans
   1. Italics and indent the explanation for that year span
   2. Bullets and indent the items for that year span
3. Time period for when no civil birth records were created was deeply planned, so it was tight, gave strategic information, and linked to other county topics.
4. Repeated information for each county is put into a template as much as possible.
5. No long paragraphs
6. Citing sources of information
7. Explanation page for specific sources as appropriate. Example is the Chronicling America page for newspapers.

New ideas that were spurred

• Idea for How to Find Birth Information in Utah which also led to How to Find Birth Information in the United States

Other decisions:

• Utah Birth Records wiki page (the idea here is to refer to a separate wiki page which is a comprehensive discussion of levels and sources..ie county vs state...why should get both...where orig located in x time period, before moved to present location, etc...history of county record keeping)
  • Decision: if we micro-focus it will sidetrack the project; do this only when the data requires it
• If you are unsuccessful at locating a birth record in x county, then try Utah Vital Records to search on a broader level. The broader level Utah Vital Records page will miss small county specific resources, but will give you more alternatives/substitute ideas.
  • Decision: How to Find... article does this adequately

Marriage

Marriages in Beaver County, Utah started being recorded by civil authorities in [verify year - found some in the index below in 1892.]

• Utah Marriage Index gives names and ages of the bride and groom and the county where they married. Search by surnames and county.

The actual marriage records usually give: Name of the groom Name of the bride Names of the officiator and witnesses Date of the marriage Residences of the bride and groom Age of the bride and groom

Ideas: 28 Nov -- Church records - when wives changed their names, they are on the membership roles under different name; wedding announcements for first marriages (about 1856?); 1907 form e's on; Ogden, SLC - 1852-1888; %?, everyone? leaders mostly? Signature books for marriages - link to Tracing LDS Ancestors. ECIF is online - marriage license card index; 1880-1940's scanned into ecif. (HRC under Utah). Mgs in Endowment House don't give the date when someone was only sealed. Difficult to verify and president's office. Logan were lost, may be found. May be extracted. Pat will call Susan Hilton. Not available for searching.

Blurb: polygamy? Probably need to address it. Instead of explaining on each county page, have a state-level page that addresses it. Sensitive. Handle with care. Don't be apologetic, face it. Records went up to this period of time until polygamy stopped. 2 manifestos. Is there a person who will contact someone: MJM will send an email to Paul Nauta.

• Western States Marriage Index This index has suggestions for locating Utah pre-1887 Sources for marriages.

See also Statewide collections.

Types of marriage records:

• Marriage license applications give the names, ages or birthdates, birth places, residences, names of parents, [someone examine these records to know what they contain]

Death

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, birth date, parents, gender, marital status, spouse and place of residence.

• 1900-1905 - Beaver County Death Records. FHL film 485235 item 2.
  
• 1904 deaths This county GenWeb site contains about 45 entries and may not be complete. Click on a filename to see details entered from state death certificates. Free.
• FamilySearch Historical Collections Utah Death Certificates 1904 - 1956 free internet access.

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Birth information: Date, place, names of parents, maiden name of mother

Substitutes for death records

• Utah State Burial Index for death before 1904

Meeting: 28 Nov -- good to mention what is not there that might be expected.

Voting Registers

Find Records

Archives

• The Family History Library Catalog lists inventories of holdings, etc. in Beaver County, Utah. Some of the books – and others – may be on Google Books, on WorldCat, or available at public libraries.

Courthouses

Beaver County, Utah Website

County Administration Building
Post Office Box 392
105 East Center
Beaver UT 84713

Beaver County doesn't have a main switchboard, and each department has its own mailing address. To get individual phone numbers, fax numbers, and mailing addresses, go to that department's page or check the Officials page. ^[6]

Family History Centers

• Introduction to LDS Family History Centers
• Beaver Utah Family History Center
• Milford Utah Family History Center

Libraries

Local libraries frequently have indexes and manuscript copies of records for the area they serve. They may have genealogies, histories, and transcripts of records, such as cemeteries, censuses, and probate.

Even small libraries in Utah often have a room or section designated for those resources.

To do - list local libraries likely to have local collections or manuscripts of value to genealogists.

Catalogs of distant genealogical libraries list their holdings for WikiProject Utah Experimental County that will help with genealogy and history. To obtain closer-to-home access, see Gaining Access to Books, Microfilms, and Records.

• Inventories of libraries and archives. of WikiProject Utah Experimental County are listed in the FamilySearch Library. To obtain closer-to-home access to resources, see. public libraries. (Links to the FamilySearch Catalog have also been added under each topic for this county.)
• WikiProject Utah Experimental County holdings in Allen County Public Library, Ft. Wayne, IN. (Results are not displayed in topic order.)
• WorldCat
• Utah libraries and archives
• U of U, Special collections, BYU, Utah State, DUP (in each county), SUP, Church History Library, State Archives, State Historical Society

• • Many are on a city basis - historical/genealogical societies. Only a few. Not good websites. Not many records.
  • If the library section covers the other repositories, we're OK.

Note: include WorldCat, Google Books, Inter-library loan, FHC's WorldCat. See what books are near your zip code (About) Unless there is a good explanation, people can't really use it easily Ordering Microfilm or Microfiche Community Meeting Agenda 6 October 2009 has discussion on worldcat, inter-library loan, etc. FamilySearch Wiki:Contributors Meeting 27 September 2012 also. Interlibrary loan is a separate page. Public libraries.com hathitrust.com (digitizing resource)

Convenience link to Libraries area of talk page

Museums

Societies

Guides to Using Records

Towns and Communities

The mining industry in Beaver county created several boom towns, most of which are now ghost towns.

v • d • e Municipalities and communities of Beaver County, Utah County seat: Beaver Town Minersville Communities Adamsville · Blueacre · Cook Corner · Cunningham Hill · Greenville · Laho · Manderfield · Murdock · North Creek · Read · Shenendoah City · Smyths · Upton · Yellow Banks · Historical Communities Frisco · Newhouse · Lincoln · Shauntie · Sulphurdale · Thermo Neighboring Counties Garfield · Iron · Millard · Piute · Sevier Nevada County: Lincoln

References