Wasatch County, Utah

Places: Charleston · Daniel · Heber  · Midway ·

Church units without above place names: Buysville · Center · Daniel's Creek · Elkhorn · Hideout · Independence · Timber Lakes · Wallsburg

Court Records

• Court Records . of Wasatch County, Utah are listed in the FamilySearch Library. To obtain closer-to-home access to resources, see. public libraries.

Directories

Ethnic and Other Groups

Funeral Homes

Olpin-Hoopes Funeral Home^[3]
288 North Main St.
Heber City, Utah 84032
Phone: 435-654-1161

Gazetteers

Genealogy

A FamilySearch Community Tree is available for this place.

History

Named for a Ute Indian word, meaning mountain pass or low place in the high mountains. The county seat is Heber City. It is largest city in the county.

• Histories . of Wasatch County, Utah are listed in the FamilySearch Library. To obtain closer-to-home access to resources, see. public libraries.

History Timeline

NOTE: Unless otherwise mentioned, the events below were gleaned from Wikipedia for Wasatch county, Utah.

• 1850's. Heber City was founded by English emigrants who were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the late 1850s, and is named after the Mormon apostle Heber C. Kimball.
• 1858. A wagon road was completed through Provo Canyon, which brought the first settlers to the area. Two small communities were established: Mound City and a lower settlement sometimes referred to as Smiths Grove. Smiths Grove was first settled by the Robey, Epperson, Bronson, McCarroll, and Smith families. Indian hostilities grew, and territorial governor, Brigham Young, encouraged settlers to build forts for protection. The two settlements built a fort, "midway" between the two communities.
• 1859. The first house was built by William Manning late in the year. Manning and George Noakes were the only residents until 1863. Heber City was first settled in 1859 by Robert Broadhead, James Davis and James Gurr. John W. Witt built the first house in the area. The area was under the direction of Bishop Silas Smith who was in Provo.
• 1860. Joseph S. Murdock became the bishop over the Latter-day Saints in Heber City and vicinity.
• 1860's/1870's. A large number of Swiss immigrants arrived, including the Gertsch,Boss, Huber, Kohler, Probst, Zenger, Durtschi, Krebs, Murri, and Abegglen families. Descendants of some of these families still live in Midway. The finding of silver, gold and lead sparked the first silver mines in Park City.
• 1861. John H. Van Wagoner constructed the first commercial gristmill. Bonner Mercantile Store was the first retail store.
• 1862. Wasatch County was created 17 January 1862 from Davis and Green River Counties (old). There is no longer a Green River County. County seat: Heber City ^[4]
• 1862. Wallsburg was established.
• 1877. The Charlston Ward was formed in July, with Nymphus C. Murdock as bishop.
• 1898. Once the site of the largest silver-mining camp in the country, Park City was virtually destroyed by fire.
• 1900's. The basin at the top of the canyon in Park City was good for grazing, and a few families settled there. Early on, the area was deeded to Samuel Snyder, Heber C. Kimball and Jedediah Grant. The settlers named it "Parley's Park City", which was shortened to "Park City" in the early 1900s.
• 1902. Tragedy struck when 34 miners were killed in an explosion in the Day West Mine in Park City.
• 1947. Midway Swiss Days brings thousands of people to the town. The event was started through the efforts of Luke's Hot Pots Resort owners, Joseph B. and Pauline S. Erwin and was originally called Harvest Days.
• 1950's. While silver was thriving in Utah, other mines across the world were depleted, drawing many of these miners to Park City. The town flourished with crowds of miners and wealth. However, the city nearly became a ghost town by the end of the 1950s because of a drop in the price of silver, and the determent of World War I and the Great Depression.

Historical Facts

Wasatch county was named for a Ute Indian word meaning mountain pass or low place in the high mountains

Land and Property

• Land and Property Records. of Wasatch County, Utah are listed in the FamilySearch Library. To obtain closer-to-home access to resources, see. public libraries.

Herdsmen branded their cattle to keep track of stray animals. A 1913 directory displays the marks used by various Wasatch County, Utah cattle owners:

• Peterson, H.F. Brand Directory, Comprising Davis, Weber, Summit, Morgan, Wasatch, Part of Utah and Part of Uintah Counties. Wanship, Utah: H.F. Peterson, 1913. Digital version at Internet Archive.

Maps

Google highway map of Wasatch County 2012

Migration

Military

• Military Records . of Wasatch County, Utah are listed in the FamilySearch Library. To obtain closer-to-home access to resources, see. public libraries.

Naturalization and Citizenship

• Utah, State Archives a collection digitized by FamilySearch (free), includes 1896-1935 naturalization records. 
• Wasatch County, Utah Naturalization Record Books, 1896-1906 Ancestry.com ($) Cites as its data source: Utah State Archives and Records Service. Series 84056.
  
• Wasatch County, Utah Citizenship Certificate Stubs, 1907-1924 Ancestry.com ($) Cites as its data source: Utah State Archives and Records Service. Series 85182.
  
• Naturalization and Citizenship Records . of Wasatch County, Utah 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.

• 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 Wasatch County, Utah.
  • Wasatch Wave, covering 1889 - 1922 is included.
• Existing copies of newspapers. newspapers for Wasatch County, Utah] 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:

• Pre-1960 - Wasatch County Pre-1960 Obituary Index at UTGenWeb - free.
• Newspapers of Wasatch 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

Periodicals

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

• Probate Records . of Wasatch County, Utah are listed in the FamilySearch Library. To obtain closer-to-home access to resources, see. public libraries.

Public Records

Resource Repositories

Courthouses

www.co.wasatch.ut.us/
Wasatch County Courthouse
25 North Main
Heber City, Utah 84032
Clerk/Auditor phone (435) 657-3190

Family History Centers

Libraries

• Archives and Libraries - Inventories, registers, catalogs. of Wasatch County, Utah are listed in the FamilySearch Library. To obtain closer-to-home access to resources, see. public libraries.

Societies

Taxation

Vital Records

• Vital Records . of Wasatch County, Utah are listed in the FamilySearch Library. To obtain closer-to-home access to resources, see. public libraries.

Birth

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

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

Before 1862

Wasatch County, Utah was formed on 17 January 1862.

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

1862-1897

No birth records were created for Wasatch County, Utah 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, 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.^[5] 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^[6] are open to the public.

• 1898-1905 Series #83881 at Utah State Archives. Not online, no online index.
  • FamilySearch Library copy: FSL film 483507 . 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 Wasatch County, Utah 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.

• Wasatch County Health Department, 55 South 500 East, Heber City, Utah 84032, Phone 435-657-3307.

Marriage

• 1887-2001 - Wasatch County Marriage Licenses Index (1887-2001) at UTGenWeb - free.
  

• 1887-1906 - Western States Marriage Index. Includes Wasatch County 1887-1906.^[7]

• 1916-present - Marriage License Lookup (Beta Version at Wasatch County Government site - free.
  

Death

Utah Death Certificates 1904 - 1956 -A free internet access to the 1904-1956 death certificates can be viewed on the 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

Death Record Substitutes

• 1870 - U.S. Federal Census Mortality Schedules, 1850-1885 at Ancestry ($). Includes 1870 Wasatch County, Utah mortality schedule.
  

USGenWeb Archives contain the vital records of births in Wasatch County 1917-1918

Voting Registers

Towns and Communities

• Cities: Heber City | Midway

• Unincorporated Communities: Bryants Fork | Buysville | Center Creek | Charleston | Cranmer | Daniel | Hailstone | Jordanelle | Keetley | Mound City | Mountain Spa | Parkview | Soapstone | Soldier Summit | Three Forks | Timber Lakes | Wallsburg

References

1. ↑ Alice Eichholz, Red Book: American State, County and Town Sources, 3rd ed. (Salt Lake City: Ancestry Pub., 2004), 676-677. At various libraries (WorldCat); FHL Book 973 D27rb 2004.
2. ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), Wasatch County, Utah Page 688 At various libraries (WorldCat); FHL Book 973 D27e 2002.
3. ↑ Funeral Home & Cemetery Directory.(Youngstown, OH: Nomis Publications, Inc., c2009,937.
4. ↑ The Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America,10th ed. (Draper, UT:Everton Publishers, 2002).
5. ↑ Utah State Archives, Birth Records guide, accessed 28 July 2012.)
6. ↑ State Department of Health Birth, Marriage, and Death Certificates page. Accessed 7/31/2012
7. ↑ "Wasatch County, Utah: Family History and Genealogy, Census, Birth, Marriage, Death Vital Records and More," Linkpendium, http://www.linkpendium.com/genealogy/USA/UT/Wasatch/, accessed 1 February 2012.