United States Research

Wisconsin Iowa Michigan

U.S. Internet Links

The Family History Library has an extensive collection of records for the United States. As I have researched our own family history and that of various clients, I have gained experience in many areas. My husbands family settled in Wisconsin and Iowa and branches of my family also lived in those states for a time before moving west to Texas, New Mexico and Utah. Many French Canadian families migrated to New England, included one branch of my husband's family. Recent research on my own family has been primarily in New England, New York, Michigan, and the Western states. Major family projects have included the Prescott, Blake, and Etheridge families. I have recently resumed research on the southern branch of my family, the Speer and Kennerly families, who originally settled in Maryland, then moved to North Carolina. Some branches of the family moved to Kentucky, then to Indiana. I am familiar with vital, census, land and probate records from many areas of the U.S. While the information below concerns the Mid-West, most of it also applies to research in the rest of the United States.

MIDWESTERN STATES RESEARCH

GENERAL INFORMATION

Midwestern research often begins with census searches. Beginning in 1850, censuses were taken every ten years which name every member of the family. Census records through 1930 have been released to the public, but much of the 1890 census was destroyed. Every name indexes to many of these census records and head-of-household indexes to all of them are now available on the internet, linked to scanned images of the actual census records. New indexes are continually being added to web sites. The sites with actual scanned images are usually pay-for-view sites, but are available at the Family History Library or at many Family History Centers for free. I also have access to these sites from my home. Data from the 1880 census for the entire U.S. has been extracted and is available on CD or on the FamilySearch.org website. Many Midwestern states also took state censuses in different years than federal census records.

Other important sources for Midwestern states research include vital, land, and probate records. Most Midwestern states began keeping marriage records on a county level soon after settlement of the county began. The amount of information given in marriage records varies from state to state and sometime from decade to decade within a state. Birth and death records often did not begin until many years later and all births and deaths were generally not recorded until the 20th century. Because so much of the Midwest involved farming, land records are important. Indexes to original land patents from the United States government are available on the internet at www.glorecords.blm.gov and many are linked to actual scanned images of original documents. Later land records are recorded in county records. The first purchase of land in a county for an individual may name the previous place of residence. The last sale of land in a county for an individual may indicate where the family moved to. If land was sold after an individual died, the deed records may give names and current residency of heirs. This information may appear in land records when no probate record exists. Probate records may give married names of daughters and current residences of all heirs.

County histories are another important source of family information for the Midwest. These often include short biographies of many county residents, not just those who were socially or politically prominent. If more than one history was published, all should be consulted. These were usually published in different years, and included some different individuals or different information on the same individual. Different information on our Davies family appears in three different county histories for Clayton County, Iowa.

An important resources for Midwest (and all U.S.) research is the USGenWeb project. Most counties have a genealogy web-page as part of this project. There is a wide variation in the information available on the county pages, but many of them contain cemetery records. This is also a good place to contact other individuals who may be researching your family in the same area and share information. Another important web site is www.ancestry.com. It contains many kinds of records including census, vital, and immigration records. TI subscribed to the Unites States portion of this subscription web site. Many state and local historical societies have posted data bases on their web sites. Links to these societies can usually be found through the state or county USGenWeb site.

WISCONSIN

State censuses were taken in 1875, 1895, (heads of household only) and 1905 (everyone). The 1895 and 1905 census are available on www.ancestry.com .

There are statewide indexes to pre-1907 marriages, births and deaths for Wisconsin and the corresponding records have also been microfilmed. The indexes list the spelling of names exactly as they appear in the records, so all possible misspellings need to be checked. Marriage records for Wisconsin usually list the names of parents of the bride and groom. Later records may also include the birthplaces of the parents. The statewide marriage index only includes counties Adams-Racine. It does not include counties Richland-Wood.

The State Historical Society of Wisconsin, www.wisconsinhistory.org has an excellent collection of newspapers that are available through interlibrary loan. These are good sources of obituaries. They are not available at the Family History Library. It also has an on-line version of the index to the pre-1907 vital records.

Contact information:

State Historical Society of Wisconsin
816 State Street
Madison, WI 53706
Library Division Telephone: 608-264-6535
Library Division Fax: 608-264-6520
Archives Division Telephone: 608-264-6460

IOWA

Many Iowa cemetery records were indexed by the WPA. State censuses which name every member of the household were taken in 1856, 1885, 1895, 1905, 1915, and 1925. There are indexes or partial indexes to the 1905, 1915, and 1925 census records available at the Family History Library. The 1925 census lists the names of the parents of each individual in the census and where those parents were married! All Iowa state census records are now available at www.ancestry.com.

Recording of births and deaths in Iowa generally began in 1880, though many births and deaths were not recorded. Marriage records generally began in the 1850's. The Family History Library has microfilmed many of these records (it varies from county to county).

MICHIGAN

The Family History Library has many printed cemetery inscriptions for Michigan.

1884 and 1894 state census records which name every family member are available for most counties.

Many of the actual probate packets for Michigan counties have been microfilmed.

Registration of births and deaths began about 1867 though it is not complete until many years later. Most of these records have been microfilmed to about 1913. The records for the city of Detroit have not been filmed but early records may be included in Wayne County records. Marriages were required to be recorded from the formation of a county and the Family History Library has filmed most counties to about 1920.

U.S. INTERNET LINKS

General Sites

1880 U.S. Census

Cyndi's List

Family History Library

USGenWeb

U.S. Land Patents

State Sites

Arizona Birth and Death Records

California Vital Records Indexes

Idaho Death Index, 1911-1951:

Illinois State Archives Databases:

Indiana Marriages to 1850:

Kentucky Death Records

Kentucky Land Patents

Western States Historical Marriage Index: