Record Atlas
5 eras · 1787–2026 · 59 places

Colorado — from Kansas, Nebraska, Utah and New Mexico territories

Denver, Pueblo, Colorado Springs, Durango, San Luis. Which empire held this ground in which years — and, the part that matters, which archive that means.

Whose archive this ground was

YearsWho held itWhose archive that means
1787–1821 Spanish claim south and west of the Arkansas River no registers survive

Before registers. Juan Bautista de Anza founded San Carlos near present-day Pueblo in 1787, and the settlement quickly failed.
1821–1848 Mexico — claims inherited from Spain no registers survive

The Treaty of Córdoba gave Mexico Spain's territorial claims in 1821. The Arkansas River line was set by the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819: U.S. claims south and west of the river were ceded to Spain.
1848–1861 Kansas, Nebraska, Utah and New Mexico territories FamilySearch · National Archives Catalog (NARA)

Before February 28, 1861 a Colorado place lay in Kansas, Nebraska, Utah or New Mexico territory, so earlier county and probate records are filed under those. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) opened the southern Rockies to American settlement, the Pikes Peak Gold Rush began in July 1858, and the extralegal Jefferson Territory existed from October 24, 1859 to 1861. In the Compromise of 1850 Texas gave up claims to land including parts of present-day Colorado.
1861–1876 Colorado Territory FamilySearch · National Archives Catalog (NARA) · Chronicling America

Congress organised Colorado Territory on February 28, 1861 and the legislature created 17 counties on November 1, 1861. The Sand Creek Massacre took place in November 1864 during the Colorado War of 1863-65.
1876–2026 United States — State of Colorado FamilySearch · National Archives Catalog (NARA) · Chronicling America

Colorado became the 38th state on August 1, 1876. Statewide birth and death registration began in 1907, though some counties began as early as 1876; the Colorado State Archives is in Denver.

The rings are approximate — deliberately. They exist to shade which filing system a place fell under, not to adjudicate a border. A place near a ring's edge should be checked against both neighbours.

See the whole span, 1787–2026, on the map →

The map takes a range, and a range that crosses one of the rows above is where records get lost: the family never moved, and the archive on the far side of the handover will tell you it holds nothing.

59 places on this ground

1742 FamilySearch collections reach this ground

Ranked with the regional ones first — a collection for a province is usually a better lead than a national index, though the national index is often where a name is actually written down. A free account opens the images.

…and 1682 more.

All record regions · The map