CENSUS RECORDS

Federal censuses in Utah began in 1850 and continued every ten years thereafter. They are currently available through 1920 (except for the mostly destroyed 1890 census). All have been indexed except 1910. The 1850 census for Utah Territory was taken in 1851. It has been reproduced alphabetically within each county in Annie Walker Burns, First Families of Utah, As Taken From the 1850 Census of Utah (Washington, D.C.: the author, 1949). (The index in this volume is for this transcription of the census records and not the original.) A second index, the Genealogical Society of Utah's Index to Utah 1851 Census (Salt Lake City: the society, 1950), refers to the original entry in the federal returns and is indexed by surname.
There are fragments of what could be construed as territorial or state censuses from 1852, 1856, 1872, and 1896 with enumerations derived from tax lists. The 1852 Bishops Reports, listing L.D.S. heads of households in each L.D.S. ward, is available on microfilm with an index through the FHL. Only the 1856 list, originally developed in an attempt to apply for statehood, has been indexed and published by AIS and Bryan Lee Dilts as 1856 Utah Census Index (Salt Lake City: Index Publishing, 1983). The accuracy of the original enumeration has been questioned, however, since it appears to contain names of deceased persons or members of the L.D.S. Church who were not yet in the territory.

Utah Research Sources

Arrington, Leonard J. Great Basin Kingdom: Economic History of the Latter-day Saints, 1830–1900. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1958.

Poll, Richard D., Thomas G. Alexander, Eugene E. Campbell, and David E. Miller, eds. Utah's History. Provo: Brigham Young University, 1978.

Jaussi, Laureen R., and Gloria D. Chaston. Genealogical Records of Utah.

Archives, Libraries and Societies.
Utah State Archives
Archives Building
P.O. Box 141021
Salt Lake City, UT 84114-1021

Family History Library
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
35 North West Temple
Salt Lake City, UT 84150