Washington State Databases



The State of Washington has a very complete series of databases for researchers to use. Viewing the homepage note all the listings on the left side. There are records referring to military, census, land, court, licenses, cemeteries, institutions and so many more. Some of the most popular are the birth, marriage, death, nationalizations and photographs; each a separate database. Make sure to look over the Miscellaneous Family History records which have some funeral home records, city & county directories, oral histories and much more.

Birth records are a separate database with individual counties and the years covered. Most are from the 1880s to 1920, but do vary with the county. For the city of Seattle in the period 1890 to 1891 there are 687 births registered. Place a surname or full name in the search box. A matching selection appears, with birth year, parents’ names, then an image you can click to view the actual handwritten document.

The same procedure is followed in the death records, they vary with each county and do have an image of the document. The marriage records tend to cover most of the 20th century with most also having marriage records in the late 19th century. Lewis County has records back to 1847.

A great source for nationalizations in the State of Washington are in these databases. Again based on the individual counties the date range will vary. Use the search box with each listing. The Declaration of Intention will be the image scanned that you can view. This document holds a tremendous amount of information. The full name, place of birth, date, when they entered the USA, name of the ship, occupation, a written description of their physical appearance, plus their full signature. All that is priceless in your family history research.

The collection of photos number 5,274 just from the state archives. They cover some wonderful portraits, buildings, street scenes, homes, businesses, lumber, agriculture, fishing, railroads, etc. The time frame is from 1851 to 1990. Details about each photo are provided and the images can be enlarged. Then there are additional photo collections to view. Make sure to place a family surname and see what turns up.

If you had any ancestors in the Washington region, you have to spend some time with this very complete series of online databases.

Photo – In 1880, the Goldsby Family with:

Fred Goldsby, Frank Goldsby, Wesley Goldsby, John Goldsby, William Goldsby and Marion Goldsby.

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