Utah County (Utah). County Clerk

These records register deaths in Utah County for the years 1898 to 1905, as required by law of the county clerk. Each entry has the decedent's name, age, sex, race, color, term of residence in city or county, birthplace, marital status, occupation, last place of residence, cause of death, date of death, and the entry's assigned number. The second volume adds the name of the person making the report. The third also includes birthplace of parents, and burial date and place.These registers record deaths occurring in the county. They were created from certified death reports filed with the county clerk. From 1898 to 1905, the county clerk was required "to keep separate registers, to be known as the 'register of births' and the 'register of deaths' in which births and deaths certified to him must be registered in the order by which they are reported to him" (Utah Rev. Stat. 57:1032 (1898)). In 1905, the responsibility of recording deaths was transferred to the State Department of Health. OBSOLETE RECORD

This series contains three registers used to record deaths in Utah County. One of the registers appears to have been created by Springville City and includes deaths that occurred in Springville and Mapleton, along with deaths of individuals who died elsewhere, but were buried in Springville. The other registers were maintained by the Utah County Clerk from 1898 to 1905, as required by state law. The registers include such information as the decedent's name, age, sex, race, color, term of residence in city or county, birthplace, marital status, occupation, last place of residence, cause of death, date of death, and the entry number. The first county register also includes the name of the person making the report and the second register includes birthplace of parents, and burial date and place.

Beginning in 1898, each physician, clergyman, justice of the peace, and undertaker was required to keep a registry of the name, age, residence, and time of death of the decedent. Each person registering deaths filed quarterly with the county clerk or the local board of health in the case of incorporated cities (Revised Statutes of Utah 1898, Title 57, p. 474-475).

In 1905, the Utah legislature passed a law that required uniform death certificates to be filed with the local registrar who in turn filed with the State Bureau of Vital Statistics. The last county register notes that beginning in September 1905 all deaths were recorded in another record. This is an apparent reference to the transition to the creation of death certificates. It appears that death certificates were created for all the individuals listed in the last register.