Hudson Bay Museum
Federal
Census Records
Federal Census Records for the United States are available from different
sources. All sources are working from the same records. This is the
third copy of the census taker's work. The census taker visited the family
and wrote down the information. This copy was given to the county.
The county copied over the census forms and sent this new copy to the state.
[They promptly lost the original.] The state copied over the census forms
from the county and sent the new copy to the Federal Government. [They
then proceeded to loose the copy from the county.] The Federal Government
stored the copy they had. When microfilming came into existence, the
Federal copy was microfilmed.
National Archives. All of the census records from 1790 through 1930 can be obtained from the National Archives. There is always the footnote that the 1890 was destroyed by fire. Your local library can order these for you.
Family History Library. Each local Family History Center has a different collection of census on premises. However, they can all order the film for your viewing on their film readers. They will also have a machine that will let you print out the pages you want to preserve.
Ancestry dot com. Ancestry has scanned and enhanced the images of all of the census records from 1790 through 1930. They have indexed the 1790 through 1850, the 1920 and 1930, and have a partial index for 1860. To get access to these you must subscribe to Ancestry or find a library that subscribes.
Heritage Quest. Heritage has scanned and enhanced the images of all the census records from 1790 through 1930. They have indexed 1790 through 1810, 1870, 1890 and 1910. This is a more user friendly search engine than the one at Ancestry. Heritage is a subscription site. If you have a library card from Deschutes County, Oregon, enter your 14 digit library card number and it will give you access to the census records.
State Archives. The Oregon State Archives has the entire Federal Census for the State of Oregon. You have to go to Salem to use the films. Check with your State Archives.
Local Library. Many local libraries maintain a collection of the Federal Census films for the local area, if not the entire state. They will borrow the films from the National Archives.
State Census Records.
Family History Library. Each local Family History Center has a different collection of census on premises. However, they can all order the film for your viewing on their film readers. They will also have a machine that will let you print out the pages you want to preserve.
State Archives. The Oregon State Archives has the entire State Census for the State of Oregon. You have to go to Salem to use the films. Check with your State Archives.
Local Library. Many local libraries maintain a collection of Census films for the local area, if not the entire state.
Land Records
BLM-GLO. Bureau of Land Management - General Land Office. The BLM maintains records for the entire United States. The search engine is user friendly.
County Court House. The County Clerks office of the county in which the property was located at the time the record was recorded will have the documents for the property. When a county split, the records of the property within the new county were often copied. One copy remained in the original county and the other went to the new county.
Family History Library. The family history center has access to the filmed copy of County Land Records for many counties through out the world. Records availability varies from place to place.
Marriage Records.
County Court House. The County Clerk's office of the county in which the license was issued. You will also want to check the county in which the marriage took place.
Church Records. The Church was often the entity that preformed the marriage and the ones interested in maintaining a record of the marriage. These records are often maintained by the parish or at the archdiocese for hundreds of years.
Family History Library. The Family History Center has access to the filmed copy of Marriage Records for areas throughout the world.
Family Bible. The family bible was the place that events of import were recorded. Births, Marriages and Deaths.
Military Pension Files. To draw a widow's pension, a widow had to prove she was married to the Veteran. The Veteran was also asked who each of his wives were, who married them, where they were married and where the record of the marriage can be obtained. You will need to order the form to fill out so that you can order the pension file. You want the entire file.
The internet. Marriage records have been put on the internet for many areas throughout the world. The place to start is http://www.usgenweb.org
Probate Files
County Court House. Again the County Clerk's Office will have the records you want. The records may be in several books. The will, the inventory, the evaluation, the probate, the orphans court, the sale, the dispersal, the suit by the heirs, the counter suit by the administrator of the estate, etc.
Family History Library. The Family History Center has access to the filmed copy of Probate Files for areas throughout the world. When there was an index of the files they also filmed and made available the index. These records can be viewed at your local family history center.
Oregon Territory Maps
British Columbia 1896
Oregon Territory 1843
Oregon Territory Hudson Bay Forts
Journals
Fort Nisqually
Alexander Ross 1824
Hudson Bay Company
Library of Western Fur Trade Historical Source Documents
Business Records
Books and Periodicals
Washington State History Bibliography
Oregon History- Bibliography
British Columbia History Bibliography
Idaho History Bibliography
Montana History Bibliography