Hawaii

Hawaii Census Research

The Hawaiian Islands were annexed by the United States in 1898. The 1900 U.S. census was being taken when the islands became a U.S. territory on 14 June 1900. The 1900 U.S. census is arranged by island because there were no counties at that time. The island of Niihau was enumerated as E.D. 84 of Kauai, the island of Kahoolawe as E.D. 107, and Lanai as E.D. 100 of Maui.

Island censuses for portions of Hawaii were also taken in 1866, 1878, 1890, and 1896. The 1878 census covers the islands of Hawaii, Maui, and Oahu, while the 1896 census covers Honolulu only. Copies of these early census records are on file at the Hawaii State Archives and the FHL. The Hawaii State Archives has two "census files" dating from 1840 to 1866 and from 1847 to 1896 which contain miscellaneous records such as school census, population lists, and vital record summaries. These are also on microfilm at the FHL.

Hawaii Vital Records

Hawaii has birth and death records beginning in 1853. Before 1896, however, the records are incomplete. Early vital records were kept by local government authorities and clergymen, including a few missionary reports that date back as early as 1826. These records are on file at the Hawaii State Archives, the Department of Health, and the Daughters of the American Revolution Library in Honolulu, and many are at the FHL in Salt Lake City.

Since 1911, delayed birth certificates can be applied for in Hawaii. They often contain valuable genealogical information. The FHL has seventy microfilm rolls of delayed birth records for Hawaii. This collection contains 50,000 delayed birth records and covers the period from 1859 to 1903, with indexes from 1859 to 1938. Most records are now deposited with the State Department of Health.

• Hawaii State Department of Health – Office of Health Status Monitoring: Holds records of births, marriages, and deaths. Records are available to genealogists 75 years after the event. See the Genealogy Requests page for information on genealogical records requests.
• Hawaii State Archives: The Archives holds records of births, marriages, and deaths, and has scanned images of many records into a Vital Statistic collection digital archive. See the Genealogy Research page for more information.
• Ulukau: The Hawaiian Electronic Library: This growing digital library contains some marriage, divorce, and death records in the Hawaiian Genealogy index. 

Hawaii Research Resources

The organizations listed below provide information about Hawaii history and genealogy. In addition to these state-level resources, many counties and towns maintain important genealogical collections in local libraries, genealogical societies, or historical societies, so check for a local resource when researching.

• Hawaii State Archives
• Hawaii Digital Archives
• Hawaiian Historical Society
• Historic Hawaii Foundation
• Honolulu County Genealogical Society 
• Hawaii GenWeb
• The National Archives at San Francisco: This NARA facility maintains records from Federal agencies and courts in California, including census, military, court, naturalization, and immigration records.
• Bureau of Land Management (BLM) General Land Office Records: The BLM administers Federal Land for public land states including California, and maintains records of land patents which granted land from the Federal Government to individuals. Use the Land Patent Search to locate land grants by name. Many record images are available on the web site. See the FAQ for more information on how to locate and use land patents.
• Bishop Museum Library and Archives: The collection covers Hawaii and the Pacific, and includes books, manuscripts, periodicals, and audio and video.
• Ulukau: The Hawaiian Electronic Library: This growing digital library’s collections include sections on genealogy, newspapers, land, and religions.
• Chronicling America: Online newspapers: Provides searchable online versions of selected Hawaii newspapers.