Research Aids

 

Ordering Vital Records

You can order some vital records through these links:

Colorado started requiring birth and death certificates in 1907, although some counties didn't begin to comply with the new law until sometime in 1908.
A few birth records before January 1907 may be obtained at the office of the county registrars, after January 1907 at the State Bureau of Vital Statistics in Denver. A few death records before January 1900 may be obtained from the respective county registrars. After these dates, from the State Bureau of Vital Statistics in Denver.
Marriage records were not generally recorded until after 1881, but some counties have marriage records as early as 1860, and are kept by the county clerks, as are probate matters, wills, etc. All land titles, deeds, mortgages, leases, etc are kept by the county recorder.

The best place to start looking for your family is in the county where your ancestor/s lived. Other local sources are historical and genealogical societies, libraries, area archives, museums, and Colorado Historic Newspapers Online.

Book: The Rocky Mountain Directory and Colorado Gazetteer, for 1871. This book is from Google books, is in public domain and in a PDF format. The file is large almost 34 mb so be patient for the file to open.

Links to helpful resources and websites:
A * donotes an offsite link.

History Colorado Center *
Colorado Books
Colorado Land Records *
COGenWeb Obituary Special Project
USGenWeb Archives Colorado Census Project
COGenWeb Colorado Places
COGenWeb Military Special Project
COGenWeb Colorado Tombstone Transcription Project
Mortality Schedules Online *
State of Colorado Vital Records: Birth, Death, Marriage & Divorce *
Denver Public Library: Genealogy *
Colorado State Archives *
Colorado State Archives: Naturalization Records Pre: 1907 *
National Archives, Rocky Mountain Branch *     
Naturalization Records Post 1907+ earlier records filed in the federal courts *
University of Colorado at Boulder Archives *
Colorado Genealogical Society *
Colorado Public Libraries (public libraries by city & county, with contact information). *
FamilySearch.org (has tons of Colorado specific information and research tips) *
Colorado Genealogy Society Directory *
How to Date Tintypes
Colorado Medical Directory 1903-1904 * (digital images of actual pages. Listings=state wide)
Colorado Medical Directory 1904-1905 * (digital images of actual pages. Listings=state wide)
Colorado Historic Newspapers *
Colorado "Black Sheep" ancestors (Prison, Convict, Court Records, Executions, Insane Asylum Records, and Biographies of Famous Outlaws, Criminals & Pirates). *

 

 

 

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