COGenBlog

Another new database at the Colorado State Archives (CSA) allows you to locate birth entries in the “Denver, Boulder and Elbert County Pre-1907 Birth Index.” Kit Carson County is also included. (Note: births shown in Denver County prior to 1901 actually occurred in Arapahoe County.)

Here is part of the database description at the CSA Web site:

The kind of information usually found on these early birth records is the baby’s name … date of birth, physician, the father’s name and occupation and the mother’s maiden name. If someone applied for a delayed birth certificate for a pre-1908 Denver birth, there may also be a court file available which is referenced on the birth record.

There are currently over thirty-two thousand entries in the database:

The earliest birth recorded in the database occurred in 1863 (William Clarence Hamilton), but there are only ten births indexed for all of the 1860s. The first year which includes more than a thousand entries is 1893. Here are two sample entries:

   Name                    Record Type  County  Date
   MALONE, DWIGHT PATRICK  Birth        Denver  1898-NOV-4
   MALONE, ETHEL MARY      Birth        Denver  1901-JUN-1

Both Dwight and Mary were the children of Ernest J. and Jessie Malone, as seen in the 1900 (Denver)[1] and 1910 (Portland, Oregon)[2] censuses.

You can search this database at kiwi.state.co.us/archive/publicrecordsearch.do. Specify “Birth” as the Record Type. Tip: To search for a surname which is also a given name (such as Gordon), include the comma in the Name field (Gordon, ). Instructions for accessing or ordering the original records can be found on the CSA Web site.

[1] 1900 U.S. census, Arapahoe County, Colorado, Denver ward 12 precinct 2, E.D. 100, sheet 11A (27 front), dwelling 235, family 249 (Ernest J. Malone); National Archives microfilm T623, roll 119. See image at Ancestry or Heritage Quest.

[2] 1910 U.S. census, Multnomah County, Oregon, Portland ward 7 precinct 45, E.D. 178, sheets 8A & 8B (75 front & back), dwelling 181, family 181 (Jessie Malone); National Archives microfilm T624, roll 1288. See image at Ancestry or Heritage Quest.

One of the new databases at the Colorado State Archives (CSA) will allow you to locate “WWI Civilian Service Questionnaires (1917-1922).” Here is a description from the CSA Web site:

Following World War I the State of Colorado Historical and Natural History Society through the Governor’s Office compiled surveys concerning the home front services civilians provided during the war. Information found on these questionnaires may include: name; city and county of residence; detail of service of any kind in aid of the war; names of organizations and offices held in aid of war; nature of duties performed; drives participated in; names of others who did notable civilian war work; and date of record.

The database currently contains 514 entries, including many women. A typical entry looks like this:

   Name                   Instrument Type    County      Date
   Jameyson, Mrs. Champe  WWI Questionnaire  Las Animas  1919-Dec-30

Mrs. Jameyson was probably Anna Bradford Baker who married Champe Jameyson in Denver in 1888.[1] In 1920, about two weeks after the date of the civilian questionnaire, they are found in the Las Animas County census.[2]

You can search this database at kiwi.state.co.us/archive/publicrecordsearch.do. Specify “WWI Questionnaire” as the Record Type. Instructions for accessing or ordering the original records can be found on the CSA Web site.

[1] Denver Public Library, Index to Colorado Marriages 1859-1939, CD-ROM (Denver, Colorado: Colorado Genealogical Society, 2004). Based on microfilmed Marriage Record Report cards, State of Colorado, Bureau of Vital Statistics. Available from CGS (order form).

[2] 1920 U.S. census, Las Animas County, Colorado, Trinidad ward 3 precinct 43, E.D. 138, sheet 7A (49 front), dwelling 141, family 144 (Champe Jameyson); National Archives microfilm T625, roll 167. See image at Ancestry (indexed as Champs Jameyson) or at Heritage Quest.