The following announcement was written by FamilySearch:
SALT LAKE CITY—The Utah State Archives and Record Service and FamilySearch announced today that digital images of the state’s historic brand books are now available at http://historyresearch.utah.gov/digital/540.htm. FamilySearch digitized the state’s brand books from about 1849 to 1930, which were then added to the Utah State Archives’ Digital Collections. A free, full text search and name index link to the newly available images. Brand books officially started in 1851 to prevent the duplicate use of brands by local livestock owners and as a means to identify and control animal inventory. Information included in a brand entry could be a helpful and interesting addition to a family’s history.
"Brand books have been a popular request in the research center for years. We are happy that more researchers will not only be able to view and print from these books anywhere and anytime, but that more might discover this unique resource from Utah's history," said Gina Strack, digital coordinator for the Utah State Archives. Brands have been registered in Utah since 1851 and include all brands and ear marks registered with the State Department of Agriculture. According to the database, over 42,000 livestock owners used brands to help distinguish their animals from the livestock of other owners. Later, as regulations expanded state control over inspection for disease, transportation, and slaughter of livestock, maintenance of a central brand registry became even more important.
“Family historians might find some of the information in the brand entries fun, interesting, or helpful in providing context to their family stories,” said Wayne Metcalfe, director for FamilySearch Record Services. Entries in the brand books include the brand symbol, the name of the person registering the mark or brand, the location on the body of the animal, the county of residence of the applicant, and the date the brand was recorded. Illustrations of where the marks and brands appeared on the body were added to the books in 1901, as were the names of brand owners. “How many people know about or have a picture of the family’s official animal brand? That would be a fun conversation piece to any family history discussion or collection,” Metcalfe added. Holdings of the brand books are not complete.
The law regulating the printing of brand books was passed by the first session of the territorial legislature in 1851. It required the general recorder to furnish printed copies of all marks and brands to the clerks of different counties. The brands were published and distributed to all county clerks.
FamilySearch is a nonprofit organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. FamilySearch maintains the world's largest repository of genealogical resources accessed through FamilySearch.org, the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, and over 4,500 family history centers in 70 countries.
Wow. This is really cool. In about fifteen minutes I was able to use this collection to find the brand my great-grandfather, Levi Snow, used on his cattle in southern Utah. It's so fun to get "extras" like that that add to the static facts and dates. Thanks!
Posted by: J1980 | October 09, 2007 at 11:34 AM
I am delighted with this site. Not only did I get to see the brand that my Greatgrandfather Mark Fletcher registered in 1859, but there is a link called "Looking for death certificates?", and I was able to print an actual copy of his death certificate, and one for my gf's sister. Hooray!
It is true that the list is not complete, but this was a boon. I even got to add one more alternate spelling of his mother's name. There was one more document, Lietenant Governor's Executive Records. There is a not a link on the record page, but if you look under Historical records you can find a description of different record group. You can send for copies if you want them.
Thank you very much for this link.
Posted by: Ann Lamb | October 09, 2007 at 05:45 PM
I wrote to the Wyoming bureau that handles cattle & sheep brands, and they sent me a huge manila packet containing copies of my collateral ancestors' brand designations from Lusk, Niobrara Co., Wyoming, at the Agnew & Ord Ranch (aka Rawhide Buttes Ranch), at no cost to me. As far as I know, they are not online yet. They even sent me the brands for the previous owners of the ranch, the Russell Thorpe family, who sold the ranch in 1902 to James R. Agnew, my great-grandfather's brother. The ranch was one of the original stations on the old Cheyenne to Deadwood Stagecoach Trail. The ranch is now for sale, but I don't have $11 million for the 22+ square miles of the ranch... lots of history there. You can see the stagecoach displayed in the Lusk museum.
Posted by: James D. Agnew | October 10, 2007 at 11:42 AM