Arizona Genealogy and Ancestry Resources

Arizona Genealogy Resources

Arizona History Timeline

Mid 1500’s – Early Spanish explorers came into what is present-day Arizona. It was considerably later before settlement began.
1753 -Governor Diego Ortiz Parilla established a fort at Tubac.
1775 – Tucson was founded. Marauding Apaches later forced the Spanish out of the region, although Tucson remained under a Mexican flag until the 1840s.
1821 – Mexico’s independence from Spain.
1826 – Garrisons occupied the presidios at Tucson, Tubac, and Santa Cruz with their surrounding settlements precarious because of the Apache had not conceded the frontier to Mexico.
1848 – The end of the Mexican-American War. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ended the war and enforced the Mexican Cession of the northern territories of Alta California and Santa Fe de Nuevo Mexico to the United States.
1853 – The Gadsden Purchase added the area south of the Gila River. The region north of the Gila River (acquired in 1848) and the area south of the Gila River were part of the New Mexico Territory until the Arizona Territory was separated from it in 1863.
24 February 1863 – Arizona Territory was established.
14 February 1912 – Arizona was admitted to the Union as the state of Arizona.

Arizona Vital Records

July 1909 – Arizona began statewide recording of births and deaths in July 1909, though marriage records are still recorded only in the county clerk of the superior court’s office where the marriage occurred.
Marriage records are still recorded only in the county clerk of the superior court’s office where the marriage occurred. FamilySearch.org has the following collections:

Arizona Census Records

Federal Population schedules

Indexed–1860 (Arizona County only), 1870, 1880,1900. 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940
Soundex – 1880, 1900, 1920 (You can find definition of Soundex at FamilySearch.org wiki at https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Soundex).

Mortality Schedules

1870 (Mahave through Yuma counties only), 1880 (index available).

The 1860 federal census contains that portion of the state below the Gala River (as Arizona County) that was enumerated as part of the New Mexico Territory. People who resided in Pah-Ute County in 1870 were enumerated as part of the Pah-Ute County, Nevada, and possibly part of Washington County, Utah.

Territorial and State

Both the 1864 and 1866 territorial censuses are available as well. Original and duplicates of the 1864 territorial census, in addition to being on microfilm, are housed in the Arizona State Archives, which also holds microfilm copies of the 1882 state census available for Cochise, Gila, Graham, Maricopa, Mohave, Pina, Yahapai, and Yuma counties. Several Territorial censuses are indexed at ancestry.com.

Arizona County Map

Arizona Specific Research Links

Arizona State Library, Archives, & Public Records Website
https://azlibrary.gov/arm/research/genealogy/portals
https://azlibrary.gov/arm/research-archives/genealogy-online-resources

Family Search – Arizona, United States Genealogy
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Arizona,_United_States_Genealogy
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Arizona_Online_Genealogy_Records
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Arizona_Archives_and_Libraries

Arizona Genealogy Birth and Death Certificates-AZ.gov
http://genealogy.az.gov/

Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness (RAOGK) – Arizona Genealogy Research Guide
https://www.raogk.org/arizona/

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

The University of Arizona – University Libraries –
https://new.library.arizona.edu/find/genealogy

Source: 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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