Alaska

Alaska Genealogy Resources

Alaska History Timeline

Summary of Jurisdictions:

  • 1799 – 1861 – Russian jAmerican Company
  • 1861-1867 – Russian Imperial Administration for Customs
  • 1867 -1877 – US War Department
  • 1877-1884 – US Treasury Department Administration
  • 1884-1912 – US District Status
  • 1912-1959 – US Territorial Status
  • 1959-Present – Statehood

Alaska Vital Records

  • 1913 Began recording Birth, deaths and marriages.
  • 1950 and after Divorce records can be obtained from the Bureau of Vital Statistics. Earlier divorce records are at the clerk of the superior court in the judicial district where the divorce was granted. This includes Juneau and Ketchikan (First District), Anchorage (Third District), and Fairbanks (Fourth District).
  • Another important source for vital records is the periodical Anchorage Genealogical Society quarterly, which has serialized the society’s extraction of early vitals.

Alaska Census Records

Although Alaska was purchased in 1867, the US government did not record an 1870 census. The US censuses for 1880 and 1890 for accessible village have not survived.

In the absence of Alaskan counties, the census takers created enumeration areas for 1900 and used judicial divisions for 1910. The Act of 1912, which made Alaska a territory, prohibited the creation of counties without the approval of Congress; therefore, no counties were ever created. The 1910 federal census was enumerated in four judicial divisions.

Alaska census were enumerated for Sitka in 1879 and 1881; the Aleutian Islands (villages of Bellovsky, Nicholaevsk, and Protossoff, which is also called Morzovog) in 1878; St. Paul and st.  George Islands in 1904, 1905, 1906-07, 1914, and 1917. Cape Smyth, Point Barrow in 1885; and the Pribiloff Islands in 1890-95. Early Alaskan censuses are indexed in several different publications as well as the volume entitled Alaska Census Records, 1870-1907,  by Ronald Vern Jackson (Bountiful, Utah: Accelerated Indexing Systems, 1976). 1

Alaska State Map of Boroughs and Census Areas

Alaska Boroughs and Census Areas

Alaska Genealogical Links

Alaska State Libraries, Archives & Museum
https://archives.alaska.gov/genealogy/genealogy.html

FamilySearch.org – Alaska Genealogy and Online Genealogy Records
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Alaska_Online_Genealogy_Records
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Anchorage_Municipality,_Alaska_Genealogy

Ancestry.com   – Alaska Data Collections
https://search.ancestry.com/Places/US/Alaska/Default.aspx

Access Genealogy – Alaska Genealogy -Free Alaska Genealogy
https://www.accessgenealogy.com/alaska-genealogy

The Library of Congress – Resources for the Local History and Genealogy by State – Alaska
https://www.loc.gov/rr/genealogy/bib_guid/states/ak/ak.html

Anchorage Genealogical Society
https://anchoragegenealogy.org/

AK Genealogy – Alaska Genealogy and History
http://www.alaskagenealogy.com/

Explore North website – Genealogy Resources & Databases: Yukon & Alaska. 
http://explorenorth.com/library/ya/bl8y.htm

  1. Third Edition Red Book, American State, County, and Town Sources, Edited by Alice Eichholz Ph.D., C.G., Ancestry Publishing,The Generations Network, Inc.1989, 1992, 2004. Now digitized online at Rootsweb wiki: https://wiki.rootsweb.com/wiki/index.php/Red_Book:_American_State,_County,_and_Town_Sources.

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