Utah Government records cover a broad range of genealogy subject areas that can help you as part of your research, such as land ownership, courts, taxes, and naturalization’s. Given that Utah court records cover such a wide selection of topics, they could aid you in many different ways. As an example, they could aid you in finding ancestors’ residences, identify occupations, locate financial information, determine citizenship status, or shed light on relationships between individuals. The whole thing relies upon on the type of court records that the ancestors” names show up in. For Definitions of all court terms see the Genealogy Encyclopedia.
Utah Courthouse records change extensively from county to county in both level of quality and volume. You will find different kinds of court records that are most likely to possess information related for your genealogical research below.
Utah Court Records
During the early history of Utah, the LDS bishops court system presided over civil and criminal cases in various church wards. Civil courts and church courts did overlap for a certain period of time.
In 1849, the county court system was put into place. The county courts presided over both criminal and civil cases that involved amounts over $100. In 1851, Utah Territory was formed and county probate courts replaced county courts. In 1849, Justice of the Peace courts were also established. They presided over cases under $100 until 1874 and then began presiding over all cases under $300. They are still in existence in modern-day Utah.
The territorial district court took over all probate, criminal and civil matters in 1874, when county probate courts were eliminated. The territorial district court and the county probate court had concurrent jurisdiction from 1852 until 1874. That concurrent jurisdiction came about because the local citizens and the federal government had gotten into disputes over where the legal jurisdiction should lie. A compressed court record history can also be found on the website for the Utah State Archives.
Utah became a state in 1896. That’s when a statewide system of district courts was created. That court system took over probate cases, as well as criminal and civil matters. The Utah State Archives has volumes of those court records on microfilm, but they have not been indexed. Those records include transfers and registers of mining claims from miners’ courts, which functioned similarly to county clerks. The Utah Historical Society also contains documentation about Utah mining camps and related historical material.
The Utah State Archives has a guide to researching adoption records on their website. In 1999, a law was put into place allowing researchers to look at adoption records that were created more than 100 years prior. See Also Research In Court Records.
- U.S. Circuit Court Criminal Case Files, 1790-1871
- Utah, Territorial Case Files of the U.S. District Courts, 1870-1896 (familysearch.org) 2,593 territorial case files of the U.S. district courts of Utah, 1870-1896. The district courts were located in Salt Lake City, Ogden, Provo, and Beaver. Most of the cases involve polygamy, but other issues were dealt with as well, including robbing of the mails, illegal voting, violations of liquor and tobacco tariff laws, possession of counterfeit coins, and embezzlement. Records were arranged by the surname of the defendant and numbered.
- Utah Third District Court, Territorial Criminal Case Files Index, 1882-96 (search.ancestry.com) This database is an index to the criminal case files of the Third District Court in Utah that are on microfilm at the Utah State Archives. The cases may be from any of the counties in Utah but most are from Salt Lake, Tooele, Summit, and Davis Counties. Information provided in the index includes the name of the defendant, case number, charge, year, and number of the microfilm reel the file is located on.
- LDS Redress Petition Listing, 1843 The Judiciary Committee of the Twenty-eighth Congress of the United States received a petition in 1843 to redress the “injuries to persons and properties” of Mormons expelled from Missouri in the 1830s. This database is a listing of residents of Hancock County, Illinois who signed that petition.
- Utah Court Record Books (amazon.com)
Utah Land Records
The Mormons first emigrated to Utah in 1847. They were the first non-natives to settle in the area. After the Mexican War, the United states gained possession of Utah. That was in 1848. However, it was known as a “provisional state” and called “Deseret” until it was declared a territory in 1850. In 1869, the first federal district land office in the state was established in Salt Lake City. At that time, the Homestead Act officially took effect in Utah.
Federal land distribution played a big role in how land changed hands in Utah, but so did Mormon land holdings and practices. Other land records and resources can be found on the website for the Utah State Archives.
Family-sized lots of land were distributed by the LDS Church prior to Utah Territory being subjected to the Homestead Act. Any land previously held before 1869 was granted legal titles by the Salt Lake City Federal Land Office at that time. Two meridians, the Uintah Basin Meridian and the Salt Lake Meridian, determined how land was distributed in Utah. It was divided according to rectangular surveys that were based from one of those meridians. The Washington D.C. Bureau of Land Management Office (BLM) and the National Archives-Rocky Mountain Region each have master card indexes of Salt Lake Land Office cash entry files.
After 1874, deed books were consistently kept by the county recorder’s office. However, county recorders’ offices existed prior to that time. The county seat holds most land transaction records from years before 1874. However, those records may be found along with a variety of other documents, including probate and county court proceeding records. All land transactions have been kept in deed books since that year. Land holding indexes are kept by each county and are usually called grantor or grantee indexes. See Also Guide to U.S. Land Records Research
- BLM Land Records (glorecords.blm.gov)
- Utah Land Record Books (amazon.com)
