Historical Records Index Search

The following records descriptions generally apply to the records. We cannot be responsible for omissions or errors in the original records nor can we "fix" them.

Please contact us if you have questions about this database or would like to request records or follow the instructions on the Index Search Page to submit a request from there.

The 1870 Federal Census normally contains information which includes: name, age, race and gender of individuals in each household, professional status/title, place of birth, parental place of birth, month born in Census (only in year of the Census), month married (only in the year of the Census), school attendance (only in the year of the Census), male citizen over 21 and voting status, whether the citizen is a pauper or a convict. More information about the Federal Census may be found on our site.

The Amache Japanese Internment Camp teachers who were approved and hired to teach in the camp by the War Relocation Authority (1942-1945) have been indexed. The actual record is a listing of the approved teachers and provides no detail as to their academic background. The record usually shows their name and date of hire (month/day/year), what subject or grade level they taught, the date when they left the camp and the reason for their leaving. A final report of the Amache school is available at the State Archives. Other information concerning the internment camp is posted on our web site.

Information found in these records may include: date of registration into the hospital, name, age, sex, dates of hospitalization (relief), state or country of birth, year of immigration to United States, year of settlement in Colorado; if a previous Colorado resident, what county moved from and when moved to Arapahoe County . A short history of the hospital is available.

This index was compiled from the official record of the Arapahoe County (1893-1905) Voter Registration Record. The information contained in the record generally shows the name of the applicant, the date he/she registered, the area where they resided, their registration number and sometimes a lot-block and subdivision notation. Since no 1890 Federal Census exists for Colorado, this index may be especially helpful for those trying to find people in the Denver area in the 1890s. It is also an interesting index as women were allowed to vote beginning in 1894.

May include: handwritten and/or typed correspondence from the applicant to the Colorado Supreme Court requesting their admission to the Colorado Bar, copies of their licenses from other states where they had practiced, correspondence from attorney colleagues supporting their moral and legal character before the Court, cover jacket with summary application information on it and occasionally a notice to the applicant of their acceptance by the Court to practice law in Colorado.

Colorado did not register births until approximately 1908. Before that time only a few counties kept birth records. The Colorado State Archives has birth records for some counties including Denver, Boulder, Lake, Elbert, Gilpin, Custer, Rio Blanco and Kit Carson counties. Denver kept birth records of children who were born in a hospital or when a physician recorded the birth through a hospital. Since many children were born at home, not all births will show up on the Denver Index. The kind of information usually found on these early birth records is the baby's name (although not in the case of Kit Carson County -- see below), date of birth, physician, the father's name and occupation and the mother's maiden name. We also have delayed birth certificates for pre-1908 births for several counties. These court files have information about witnesses to the birth and other supporting documentation proving the birth date for people later needing an official birth certificate.

The State Department of Public Welfare was in charge of enrolling young men from Colorado into the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Depression years of 1933-1942. The statewide CCC enrollment index lists the men who enrolled in the CCC from Colorado and does not include men who enrolled in the CCC from another state who were stationed in Colorado. The index cards generally list the CCC enrollee's name, his county of residence, his birth date, and his assigned camp. We also have applications and sometimes discharge notifications which may contain related correspondence. The applications have biographical information usually including the applicant's name; address; citizenship; birthplace; employment status; usual trade or occupation; and education. Some records may have the individual's height, weight, and marital status. A general history of the CCC may be found on our web site.

After World War I the State of Colorado Historical and Natural History Society sent out questionnaires to citizens who had done some kind of volunteer work to support the war effort at home. Information found on these records may include the name of the person, the city in Colorado where he/she resided, name or names of organizations and offices held in each, nature of duties performed, drives participated in and names of others in the organization who did notable civilian war work. There are many women listed on these questionnaires.

This information was compiled from the Civil War Service Record Index Cards on file at the Colorado State Archives. The names listed are for those among the 4000 volunteer soldiers responding to President Lincoln's call to supplement the regular army, and who lost their lives while serving with the Colorado Volunteers. The cards generally show the name, rank and company of the soldier and how and where he was killed in action. A description of other military records available at the Archives may be found on our web site.

This is an index of the Court of Appeals case files in our custody. It is searchable by either Plaintiff or Defendant. It includes business names such as the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company or entities such as the City of Denver. The indexed items also record the date the case was first filed, the case number and the parties in the case. From the case number we can pull up the Court of Appeals case file which documents the proceedings in the Court of Appeals only. These are not the trial court records from which the appeal is sent to the Court of Appeals, but the file has much valuable information at the appellate level. The Court of Appeals file will also have references to the trial court record and a case number for that record. While we have many trial court records for various counties, we do not have all of them. If we do not have the trial court case at the Archives you will be directed to go to the court where the trial took place.

Colorado did not register births or deaths until approximately 1908. Before that time a few counties kept some kinds of death records, including Denver. These deaths were recorded through the Denver hospitals or physicians so if the person died at home there may not be a record. If one exists then the information commonly found on them includes name of person, date of death, age, sex, address, marital status, occupation, nativity, doctor or coroner, place of internment, undertaker, and cause of death. While the earliest death in this index is dated 1870, most of them were recorded in the 1890's and early 1900's. There are more than 35,000 names in this index.

We now have two kinds of divorce indexes on-line. The main index is massive and was compiled in the 1930’s and 1940’s for the Colorado Department of Health, Vital Statistics. It has approximately 80,000 divorces listed on index cards and spans about 1890-1939. A volunteer for the Archives, Mr. Gerald Sherard, meticulously checked case file numbers etc. that were sometimes hard to read on the original cards. The original index was filed alphabetically by plaintiff, but ours will index both plaintiff and defendant in the case for an easier search in case you only know the name of one or the other. Also, because this index refers to the divorce court case files, you need to either search all records by the individual's name or search the "court" records for the individual. While researchers will be able to get some basic information about the divorce from these cards such as date of divorce, they will also be able to find out the court case number, which may be used to access the case file. The case files normally have the complaint, the decree, names of children and other documentation in them. The State Archives has a large portion of the divorce cases from throughout the state during the time span of the index. It is likely that we can find divorce court case files in Adams, Boulder, Chaffee, Clear Creek (to 1927), Conejos, Costilla, Custer, Denver, Dolores, Douglas, Eagle, Elbert, El Paso, Fremont, Garfield, Gilpin, Grand, Jefferson, Kit Carson (1904-1910 with many missing), Lake, LaPlata, Larimer, Lincoln, Mesa, Mineral, Moffat, Montezuma (to 1923), Montrose (to 1934), Morgan (to 1922), Otero, Ouray (to 1935), Pitkin, Pueblo, Rio Grande, Routt, Saguache, Summit, Teller, Weld, and Yuma counties. Please contact us with a county name, case number and court and we will verify that we have the case file in our custody.

The other index lists divorces from Adams, Bent, Boulder, Conejos, El Paso, Garfield, Park and Pitkin counties from various time spans. These indexes refer to volumes where certain documents from the cases are filed. You can search the database either by individual (all record types) or (divorce record type). The "divorce" record type refers to single documents, not entire court case files. Information contained in this record may show the case number, date of the marriage, the state where the marriage took place, general reason(s) for filing for divorce, names of children, court action and the date the Decree of Divorce was granted.

Docket Books

These books generally list the cases filed in a particular court and the nature of the document filed. They may include the names of the parties involved, the date of the case file, what kind of document was filed, and a case number if one exists. In many cases we will have the actual case file in our custody but you will need to contact us to find out if we have them for a particular court.

Gilpin County Bankruptcy Docket Book

This record documents the actions taken by the Gilpin County Court in bankruptcy cases from 1867-1876. The record consists of the name of the petitioners, whether bankruptcy was voluntary or involuntary, dates when the various actions took place, warrants and orders of the court, to whom case was assigned, names of creditors and amount due to them, case number. The actual case files are not in our custody.

Gilpin County Chancery Cases

This record series represents those of a very early period in Colorado's history. These records document legal decisions rendered by the Territorial and District Court of Gilpin County for the years 1862 - 1878. Chancery cases are those types of cases where justice was applied in circumstances not specifically covered by law during these years. Names appearing on this index include some of the earliest gold seekers that came west in search of fortune and fame. The information contained in the record generally shows the name of the plaintiff and defendant, date of filing, case number, the charge or claim of the plaintiff and supporting documents submitted to the court on behalf of both parties.

This index was compiled from the Gilpin County Clerk (1864-1944). Please note that there are missing records for a number of years. This inventory is not considered to be complete as the recording of marriages with the county Clerk and Recorder was not required until 1881. As is the case with most historic Colorado marriages, the names of the parents do not exist on the marriage record. Please see our marriages page for further information about marriage records.

In the early years of many Colorado counties, the court system was not fully developed and cases could be tried in justice of the peace, county, district or probate courts. These cases, while tried in the Probate Court, were largely civil cases with few probate cases actually represented.

This index is a register of "docked" horses. By 1898 Colorado statute it was illegal to dock the tail of a horse except for special circumstances. Docked horses had to be registered in the county clerk's office. Information on these registrations include the owner's name, post office address, description of the horse, age and size and the use made of such docked horse.

This record is simply an index of the master and journeymen horseshoers in Arapahoe County around 1900. There is no information on the record other than the horseshoer's name and the date of his registration.

This Census is part of the 1900 Federal Census. The index relates specifically to the enumeration of people living at the Colorado Indian Industrial Schools at Fort Lewis and Grand Junction. The main section included the headings found on the 1900 Federal Census. In addition a special section listed the tribe of the Indian as well as the tribe of his/her father and mother. There is also a heading entitled "Mixed Blood" which inquired if the Indian had any white blood and how much. In the Grand Junction index several additional headings are usually filled out including, "Conjugal Condition," "Citizenship" and "Dwelling" ("Is this Indian living in a fixed or in a movable dwelling?"). The information found in this section of the Census is especially helpful since the Federal Indian Census before 1930 provided only information on the person's name, date of birth, gender, and relationship to the head of the family. For more information about this and other censuses, please see our Federal Census page.

Probate records are documents filed with the court to settle an estate when someone dies. The information contained in the Inheritance Tax Record is very useful when a researcher either can't find the probate case file (which includes all of the documentation filed) or needs only the information found on the Inheritance Tax record. This document generally shows the name of the deceased, date of filing, case number, date of death, names of next of kin, a description of real and personal property, value of the estate, and tax liability due.

This record is a summary report of the Kit Carson County births for the years 1892 - 1907 that were recorded in the District Court of this county. The information contained in the records generally shows the name of the father and mother, the date of the birth, sex of the child, whether the infant was living or still born, skin color, maiden name of mother, occupation of the father, parent's residence location and the name of the attending physician if there was one. It is important to note that the name of the child is not entered as part of this record. The record only reflects that the father and mother had a child and recorded the birth at the court house.

These records were compiled from a summary report of deaths for Kit Carson County, recorded in the County District Court. The information contained in these records generally shows the name of the deceased person, the date of death, sex, age at death, ethnicity, whether they were married or not, the deceased's nativity, place of birth, name of the undertaker, name of the cemetery buried in and the name of the attending physician if there was one.

These 7,322 records and certificates cover only patents issued by the State of Colorado and do not cover land entry and patent papers issued by the U.S. Government. The indexed records (compiled by Gerald Sherrard) may cover several land divisions but only one description was extracted for each patent number. Some Colorado towns such as Antonito, Craig, Littleton etc. were encouraged with population growth by selling city lots. These entries are noted by the word "city" in the township entry of the index. Missing patent numbers were land tracts acquired by organizations. Patent numbers 1 - 1027 are only records of the purchase. Information given in these records include: patent number, date of patent, name and residence of purchaser, legal land description including county, acres, purchase price, and date of sale. The date of sale may vary from the date of patent to a few years earlier. Patent numbers 1028 - 7500 are certificates. Information in the certificates is similar to the information given in the records plus the current usage of the land is often given. Much of the land sold was school land. Also, some of the land today may now exist in another county.

La Plata and Mesa County Public Welfare Youth Program Enrollment Files 1934-1941

These files may contain the application and discharge papers for CCC enrollment and National Youth Administration Certificates of Eligibility. There may also be Workers Reports which describe the working capability of the applicant and applications for financial assistance from the Department of Public Welfare. Specific information often found in these files include applicant's name, grade, gender, race, age, eye and hair color, height/weight, household members or dependent relatives, marital status, address, last employment held, place of birth, education, previous work experience and religion.

These records cover licenses issued by the Mesa County Clerk and Recorder in Grand Junction, Colorado, for motor vehicles (automobiles and trucks), motorcycles, drivers, motor vehicle dealers, and motorcycle dealers. Information provided in the record includes name of vehicle owner or driver, post office city of residence, model of vehicle, manufacture's number, name of manufacturer, engine horsepower. For driver's licenses the information includes year, operator's name and license number. Dealer information provided is name of dealer, address and license number. People possessing a motor vehicle or motorcycle license did not need a driver's license number. In the index A=Motor vehicle, M=Motorcycle, D=Driver's License, AD=Motor vehicle Dealer, and MD=Motorcycle Dealer.

These records simply list the names of persons either exempt from military enrollment or subject to enrollment.

Mothers Compensation Records originated with the County Commissioners offices. The information contained in the record generally shows the name of the applicant, the date and amount of the compensation payment and any adjustments to the pension. The record generally shows the person’s age, the town nearest to where they lived and any other actions done by the county in the process.

These indexes were compiled from the official record of the Old Age Pension applications granted by the County Commissioners during the Depression years (1933-1936). The information contained in the record generally shows the name of the applicant, the date and amount of the pension payment and any adjustments to the pension. The record may also show the pensioner’s age and the town nearest to where they lived.

These indexes were compiled from the official Poor Records of Costilla (1890-1932), Weld (1902-1913) and Washington County Commissioners. The information contained in the record generally shows the name of the person, date of registration, nativity, sex, age, time of support, cause of poverty and total amount of aid. It may also show the place of birth, date of arrival into the county and from where, remarks, and time of immigration to the U.S..

Probate records are documents filed with the court to settle an estate when someone dies. They can be a rich source of information for historians. The information contained in the record generally shows the name of the deceased, date of death, a description of real and personal property, value of the estate, tax liability due, names of heirs and next of kin and may include the will if one existed. It may also contain receipts for such items as the cemetery plot, claims against the estate and the final disbursal of money and property. Please see our page concerning court records for further information.

The Routt County Ditch Claim Statements were filed in the District Court of Routt County by the owner(s) of said ditches for the years 1902-1903. The record generally identifies the name of the ditch, names of the owners including post office address, location of headgate and county it is located in, name of river or stream water is being diverted from, legal description at which water is drawn, general direction of the flow of the ditch, its length, width, depth and grade. The information generally includes the original date of appropriation, enlargement or extension of the ditch is recorded to include the amount of flow, cubic footage capacity and the number of acres irrigated.

Prior to 1960, there was a County Superintendent of Schools who oversaw the educational needs of children within the county. Each local community had their own school(s), was assigned a district number, and annually reported enrollment statistics to the Superintendent. The lower the school district number, the earlier that school district was established. The indexes were compiled from the official school census or pupil records from the County Superintendent of Schools The census records usually show the name of the student, their age at the start of the school year, place of birth, date of birth, school grade last attended, and nationality of parents. The Custer County Pupil Register may show the name and age of the student, birthplace, name of parents or guardians, day of enrollment, number of days in attendance each month and grades in different subjects. The Elbert County 8th Grade promotions may show a student's overall grade average, his/her achievement grades in various subjects, the name of the teacher, name of the school (many of which were one-room schools) and the school district number. Lake County School District records generally show the school district number, age of student, town of residence and years in school there. A list of school district numbers is available on-line while a further description of the school records we have is also available.

These records document the Colorado Volunteers during the Spanish-American War in 1898. The documents usually include name, rank, age, organization, occupation, where born, physical description, residence, when and where enrolled into the service and by whom, when and where mustered out and by whom , as well as special comments.

What is entered into the database is an index of Colorado State Penitentiary inmates from 1871-1973. From the inmate's number we can access various kinds of penitentiary records from which people can obtain more information. We normally send out the Record of Convicts which is a compilation of most of the other records unless additional records are asked for. The Record of Convicts normally has the convict's name and aliases, his/her number, when convicted, when received, crime, sentence, county sent from, age, height, complexion, color of eyes, color of hair, occupation, where born, names of parents or next of kin and residence, marital status, name of wife or husband and where living, whether reads and writes, signature, scars and remarks.

What is entered into the database is an index of the Colorado State Reformatory from 1887-1939. Reformatory prisoners were usually male, aged 16 to 25 years old and were convicted of crimes other than murder or voluntary manslaughter. The prisoner records normally recorded the inmate number; name; alias; crime; county of conviction; court; date of sentence; date received at the Reformatory; nativity; name of parents and their address; age; weight; height; complexion; color of eyes and hair; size of hat and shoe; educational background; occupation; religion; use of intoxicants, narcotics, tobacco and cigarettes; previous criminal record; date paroled and to where; and photo of inmate. Inmate numbers 1-727 usually do not contain an inmate photo.

We have tax lists for Huerfano County from 1873. The list usually includes the name of the person owing the taxes, land description, total valuation, county tax, territorial tax, school tax, poll tax, military tax, total tax and remarks such as "paid".

This record generally includes the name of the teacher, their date of certification, the grade they taught, their town of residence, and where they came from.

These records contain information about teachers in most counties. They do not, however, include Denver teachers. The records usually consist of a "Teachers Permanent Record" card that has the years taught, school district numbers, county, type of position (superintendent, principal, supervisor or teacher), grade taught, subjects taught, number of years taught in Colorado and elsewhere and total teaching experience. On the "Record of Teachers Training" card there will be information about the college or university granting the degree, graduate school, type of degree or diploma and number of years of courses completed. The "Certification Record" card includes the full name of the teacher, kind of Colorado certificate issued, counties where issued, date of issuance, date of expiration, and certificate date and county of renewal. Finally the "Oath of Allegiance" card is a signed document declaring the oath of allegiance to the United States and State of Colorado. The date on the database index is the date of first certificate issuance.

The Transcript of Records is a compilation of the military records for the Colorado Volunteers from 1861-1865. The information found in this source may include: name of enlistee; rank; place of birth; age; occupation; date, place and name of enlisting officer; duration of service; color of eyes, hair and complexion; height; date last paid; name of paymaster; bounty amount due (if applicable); date and place mustered in, out and by whom; and remarks. If you believe that a person was a Colorado Volunteer during the Civil War and they are not listed in the Transcript of Records then you may find them in the Index of Colorado Volunteers in the New Mexico Campaign (1862).

This index was compiled from news releases of "casualties in connection with the conflict in Vietnam", during 1966 and 1968. The information contained in the record generally shows the name of the deceased, branch of the armed forces, date of the news release and circumstances of the soldier's death. Some news releases are accompanied by a newspaper obituary.

Active duty servicemen entering World War I (the European War) were entitled to war service insurance which would entitle them to compensation claims for disabilities or death. These records document the soldiers who carried risk insurance. Information includes rank and unit, insurance rate and amount, and benefactor to whom the insurance benefit was to be paid. Often the name of the serviceman's spouse or mother was listed as the benefactor. Many of the servicemen were recruits in basic training.

The information found on this record generally reveals the name of the veteran, organization and rank when discharged, name and number of his post, his last address, name of his widow, and if he was a member of the American Legion. There may also be information concerning whether the soldier died in Colorado, the date and place, and names of orphaned children under the age of 16.

Records Descriptions

Docket Books

Gilpin County Bankruptcy Docket Book

Gilpin County Chancery Cases