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This post is the third in a 3-part series on the Salt Lake County Probate Case Files. See Part 1 and Part 2. When Brigham Young died on August 29, 1877, he left behind a thriving frontier community grown from a few arriving wagons in 1847. He also left behind a complicated set of heirs with the practice of polygamy,

First Female Lawyers in Utah The Utah Bar admitted Phoebe Couzins and Georgia Snow on the same day in 1872. Couzins studied law at Washington University Law School in Missouri, and had been admitted to the bar in Missouri and in Arkansas. The Utah bar accepted her automatically, as she had credentials and experience practicing in other states. Judge McKean,

This post is the second in a series on the Salt Lake County Probate case files. See part 1. The remaining case files from 1889 to the end of the territorial period  (numbers 1397-2689) for Salt Lake County are online. As the end of the 19th century approached, the process and documents continued to become more professional, uniform, and better

An infographic visualizing the last year in the Digital Archives with information on number of items, statistics on use, and notable additions.

This post is the first in a 3-part series on the Salt Lake County Probate Case Files. The probate case files in Salt Lake County are some of the oldest records at the Utah State Archives. Since the initial pioneer settlement was concentrated within the boundaries of Salt Lake County, prominent names are easy to find within these estates, such

The Utah State Archives and Records Service is the repository for government records. Historically, these records have not provided a voice for underrepresented groups in Utah. As we work to amplify all voices in Utah, we are shining the spotlight on the LGBTQIA+ community. History Although homosexuality was not always widely accepted, there were still communities in which those of

You may have heard of the Sprague branch of the Salt Lake City Public Library System, but do you know the woman behind the name? Within a year of becoming a state, Utah voted to provide funds for free public libraries. The first library opened on Valentine’s Day 1898 on the top floor of the city-county building in Salt Lake

Utah women volunteered in droves to help the war effort in the 1940’s. There were several different ways to volunteer and serve. If women were trained medically they could be a nurse in the American Red Cross or any military division. The United States Coast Guard (USCG) Women’s Reserve, known as the SPARS, was the World War II women’s branch

Birth certificate images for 1917 are now online at archives.utah.gov/digital/81443.htm. Although they are not indexed by name yet, if one knows the birth date and county it should not be difficult to locate the correct folder and browse through a few images for the time being. Free saving and printing of images is available. Birth certificates are the permanent legal

AnnaBelle Shaw was born in Mississippi in 1922. She moved to Ogden during World War II when her fiancé was stationed at Hill Field, now known as Hill Air Force Base. They married at the end of 1942. After the war they divorced and AnnaBelle met and married her second husband, Billie Weakley in 1947. AnnaBelle Weakley and her husband