Washington

	Washington Online Records

Counties

Extinct or Renamed Counties:
Chehalis |Sawamish | Slaughter | Vancouver

Featured Content

• Orting, Washington USA Soldiers Home Applications
• Index to Naturalization Records (Digitized Collection within the State Archives of Washington)
• Naturalization Records (Digitized Collection within the State Archives of Washington)

Did You Know?

• Washington is a public land state. The area that now comprises the state was part of the public domain and was administered by the federal government through local land offices under the direction of the General Land Office (GLO), later known as the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The first land office in Washington was established at Olympia in 1855.
• In the early 1800s, traders and trappers came from Canada, Russia, Latin America, and the United States into what is now Oregon and Washington.
• In 1811 The American Fur Company, owned by John Jacob Astor, an American, established the first white settlement at Astoria, Oregon.
• Most early settlements of the 1830s and 1840s were in the Willamette Valley.
• In 1843 more than 900 emigrants came to Washington Territory from Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri.
• Washington Territory was created February 8, 1853 from northern part of  Oregon Territory north of the Columbia River in the west, and north of the 46th parallel east of the Columbia River.
• Gretna Greens. When a Washington State couple's marriage is not in their home county, search for it in alternate places like Port Orchard for the greater Seattle area, or Coeur d'Alene ID for Spokane and eastern Washington.^[1]

Research Tools

• Join the Facebook or Skype Washington Genealogy Research Community!
• Find which county a town is in, what town a cemetery is in, even where a postoffice or building is by using the United States Geographical Survey's Geographical Names Information System.
• Atlas of Historical County Boundaries Washington State at The Newberry Library Dr. William M. Scholl Center for American History and Culture. Provides pdf of county boundaries and KMZ files for use with Google Earth.  
• Georgraphic Dictionary of Washington, 1917
• University of Alabama Historical Map Archive
• Historic Maps and Navigation Charts from the NOAA Office of Coast Survey
• University of Oregon Map and Aerial Photography Library Historic Nautical Charts
• David Rumsey Map Collection is a large online collection of rare, old, antique historical atlases, globes, maps, charts plus other cartographic treasures.
• The Washington GenWeb Project has a wealth of information and is a part of the larger USGenWeb Project. The USGenWeb Project provides internet information on every county in every state in the United States.
• The Washington State Genealogical Society has Resource Guides for most counties in the state of Washington.
• The Free Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History.[1]
• The Evolution of Washington Counties by Newton Carl Abbott & Fred E. Carver, 1979. Published by the Yakima Valley Genealogical Society and Klickitat County Genealogical Society. Book gives a complete recap of formation and dissolution of Washington Territory and Washington State counties.

Things You Can Do

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Sources