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You'll love this if…
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- You're getting started tracing your ancestors in Wyoming
- You want new ideas and resources to get past a Wyoming brick wall
- Your genealogy search is focused mainly on Wyoming —you don't need the full State Research Guides collection
- a how-to article detailing Wyoming’s history and records, with helpful advice on tracking your family there
- the best websites, books and other resources for Wyoming research, handpicked by our editors and experts
- listings of key libraries, archives and organizations that hold the records you need
- timeline of key events in the state's history
- full-color map to put your research in geographical context
- Despite its location in the path of migrants, Wyoming’s population didn’t begin booming until around 1868, when it became a US territory and the Union Pacific Railroad reached its capital, Cheyenne. Chinese, Irish and Mexican laborers built the railroad, which drew Midwestern settlers, Texas cattlemen, Idaho Mormons and Finnish immigrants.
- A few counties kept vital records before 1909; they’ll be with county clerks or at the state archives. The archives also has some delayed birth certificates for those born between 1868 and 1895.
- Wyoming’s wide-open land was a magnet for pioneers. Land records begin as early as 1841 and include cash entries (for land bought outright), homestead certificates (for land acquired by fulfilling conditions such as farming) and cancelled homestead entries (for which conditions weren’t fulfilled).