The local library in the town or county where your ancestors lived (for 10-100 years) is an excellent place to start your research. This is the place where your ancestors lived and died, married, had children, paid taxes, bought and sold land. Other researchers are also interested in your family and may have deposited information about your ancestor and his extended family in this library. This is also the most likely place to find copies of local newspapers.
Google.com the county and/or town and state plus “public library” for the address and phone number of the local facility. The Central Denver Public Library has a wealth of resources available to people doing research about Colorado and Denver. Free indexes are available online with or without a library card. Go to DenverLibrary.org and click on the Research tab. Select “Popular Topics” and then “Genealogy & Obituaries.” Here’s a partial list of what you’ll find:
• 10th Mountain Division (World War II) Name Lookup Index
• 1885 Colorado State Census for Arapahoe County including the City of Denver
• Arapahoe County Coroner’s Reports, 1876-1891 Index
• Calvary (Catholic) Cemetery Lot Purchases, 1889-1893
• Clear Creek Pioneer Index
• Colorado 1861 Territorial Election Voters
• Colorado Directory of Mines by County
• Colorado Divorces, 1861-1941
• Colorado Marriages Index, 1858-1939
• Colorado Obituary Project – 50,000 non-Denver obituary indexes, 1970-1990
• Colorado Statesman Newspaper Index, 1904-1954 of African-Americans
• Denver Marriages, 1940-1974
• Denver Obituary Project, 1913-2016 from Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News
• Douglas County, Colorado, Marriages, 1800-2000
• Mining Fatalities – Colorado 1844-1981 (includes person information, dates, mine name, cause of death).
• Real Pioneers of Colorado – 1,400 names of pioneers in Colorado prior to Feb. 26, 1861
Now think about what information might be available at the local library in your ancestor’s home town. Happy hunting!
Carol Darrow teaches free Beginning Genealogy classes via Zoom on the second Saturday of the month. Register at cogensoc.us.