On Granny’s Trail’s “Washington links” have been updated and include some interesting-looking immigration records, county inventories, and vital records. There are also links to records related to the Native American populations in that area.
Category: Research tips
Updated California Links
I’ve added a ton of new links to the “California Links” page. There are many resources specific to individual counties and cities, and quite a few immigration records for San Francisco and San Diego. There are a good number of links to newspapers for the state.
In addition to all of the digital collections for vital records, I would recommend checking out California, Local government records at the California State Archives, for an “Inventory of County and City Records Available at the California State Archives”.
Here is an example of what you can find in that resource: Stanislaus County – Probate, 1854–1941*; Bonds, Letters, and Wills, 1911–1921*; Naturalization, 1856–1978*; Deeds, 1854–1902*; Homesteads, 1860–1904*; Birth, 1873–1905*; Marriage, 1854–1920*; Declaration of Intention, 1854–1976*. While these records are not necessarily digitized (parts are included in various databases), they are available onsite at the State Archives.
If you are doing California research you’ll want to bookmark this page!
Updated Arizona Links
I’m beginning a project to update and add new links to each of the state resource pages here on the On Granny’s Trail blog. If you are an Arizona researcher you’ll be interested to see what’s been added to the “Arizona links” page. I am pulling in my favorite links from a variety of places, including FamilySearch, state archives and libraries, and digital collections from various academic institutions around the state.
Stay tuned for updates to links for other western states in the coming weeks!
Salt Lake County mining records – a boon to anyone researching miners
Was your ancestor a prospector? If they staked a mining claim in Salt Lake County, Utah 1863-1920 or 1976-2000, you are in luck. But even if they never set foot in Utah, this collection could benefit your research. The Salt Lake County Archives has just digitized a huge collection of mining records for the mining districts located within its boundaries. It includes
- Assessment Rolls, Index to Mining Claims, 1897-1938
- Index to Mining Abstracts, books A-F
- Index to Mining Deed Record, book Q
- Index to Mortgage Record Mining Properties, Book A
- Mining Claims, Index to Agreements, Book C; Power of Attorney
- Mining Claims, Index to Mining Location Notices, books E-F
- Mining Claims, Index to Patented Mines, 1898
- State Assessments Book B, 1977
Even if your ancestor did not mine in Salt Lake County, this collection has something for you. Take a look at the titles of the records in this collection. Did you realize these kinds of mining records existed? Do you know what kinds of mining records exist in the county where your ancestors prospected? These titles can give you some ideas for keyword searches on county and state archive sites, or in your favorite search engine.
The Salt Lake County Archives has posted an excellent guide to their collection which is also a very good overview of mining records in general. Much of it appears to have been taken from the Utah State Archives “Mining Claims“ guide. I highly recommend reading these documents to educate yourself on the ways federal mining laws impacted state and county laws and requirements.
Guide to the Mining Records at the Salt Lake County Archives, prepared by Daniel Cureton, April 15, 2021
And if your ancestor was a Utah prospector from someplace other than Salt Lake County, be sure to check out the list of Utah mining records for other counties which were processed and are housed at the Utah State Archives. These are records which are in microfilm format. Be sure to make note of the Finding Aids associated with each county’s collection.
Researching Spanish Families in Early California
Reprinted with permission from a series of articles written by Gary Carlsen for the Monterey County Genealogy Society Newsletter, from 1997-1999.
Monterey History “They Followed Serra” part 8
Researching Spanish families in early California can be difficult at best, but the following can be extremely helpful in locating your ancestors.
Once the ancestor’s family name is located a good staring point is Marie Northrup’s two volumes, Spanish-Mexican Families of Early California, 1769-1850. The families are listed alphabetically by last name, and includes known information on the spouse and children. In many cases the children’s families are also listed. She includes a brief description of military service, taken from Bancroft’s Pioneer Index, at the end of each family.
In addition to Northrup’s volumes Dorothy G. Mutnik has put together five volumes, Some Alta California Pioneers and Descendants Division One and Two. Division One consists of three volumes and covers descendants of the Anza expeditions, while Division Two, which is two volumes covers the 1781 Expeditions to settle Los Angeles and establish the Santa Barbara Presidio. Her work was based on mission records, and the families are listed alphabetically by family name, then spouses name. She has included many notes and sites the location of the events occurring within the families.
Presidio lists of 1782 for San Diego, Santa Barbara, Monterey, and San Francisco are available in the Eldrige Papers of the Bancroft Library. San Diego and Monterey were copied by Northrup and are available on LDS film 1421704, item 12.
Hubert Howe Bancroft’s 7 volume History of California notes military service and other activities when found in Spanish records. While these do not contain a lot of genealogical information, they do list places and times where the soldier was listed. Vol I and II cover the Spanish period, and III and IV the Mexican period.
1790 Padron (census) lists soldiers and their families. While the soldier and spouse are listed by name, children are listed only by sex and age. These lists are available on LDS film 1036747, and were published by Northrup in issues of the Historical Society of Southern California Quarterly.
Service records for California soldiers are stored in the Archives of the Indies in Seville, Spain, and 900 of these records were abstracted by Raymond F. Wood. They were placed in the Research Library of the Autry Museum of Western Heritage, in Griffith Park in Los Angeles.
An Alphabetical Listing of the California Mission Vital Records was recorded by Thomas Workman Temple III, and is available on LDS Micro Fiche 6047009. This listing shows the page, entry no., date, mission, book, and name.
Many of the early mission records have been microfilmed by the LDS Church, and are available through local Family History Centers including Monterey…
[NOTE: The Early California Population Project at https://www.huntington.org/ecpp is an online database of baptism, marriage, and burial records from California missions.]
Northrup, Mutnik, and Bancroft’s books are available through most libraries in California, or through inter-library loan from the California State Library in Sacramento.
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