Douglas County, Nevada Vital Records, 1862-1923

Douglas County is located in west central part of Nevada. To the north is Carson City; Lyon County is to the east and the State of California to the west and south. The Sierra Nevada Mountains border the Carson Valley to the west. Douglas County includes the towns of Genoa, Minden and Gardnerville (these three towns plus the surrounding land encompass "Carson Valley"). The Carson Valley is one of Nevada's first settled areas and includes this state's first permanent settlement, Genoa. This book contains birth, marriage and death records for Douglas County for many of the county's earliest families. Since Douglas County was primarily a ranching community, the area was much less transient than those counties whose chief source of industry was mining. Many of the families found in these records still have descendants living on the same ranches and in the same towns that were inhabited by these early Nevadans over 100 years ago. This database contains birth records from 1885 - 1900, marriage records from 1862 - 1919, and death records from 1887 - 1923.

Birth Records: 1885 - 1900 All Birth Records contain a minimum of four pieces of information: father's name, date of birth of the child, whether son or daughter and witnesses, if any. These records were, for the most part, the original birth record for the child. Many of the Birth Records are "Supplemental", meaning that they were redone after the original record to include additional information or make corrections# this was often done many years after the original. These records include: father's name, mother's name (normally maiden name), child's name, place of birth, date of birth, and witnesses (normally a family member whose is vouching for the individual on the addendum) plus Volume and Page number. Notations are also included in the "Witness" field. Marriage Records: 1862 - 1919 Each record contains the name of the groom, bride, date of marriage, location of marriage, witnesses and volume and page number where the original record can be found. Also included is a complete list of marriage officiates and where they performed their ceremonies. Death Records: 1887 - 1923 Although these are referred to as Death Records in the county book, they are actually the burial records filled out by the Undertaker. The Death Records contain the name of the person who died (Decedent), where they were born, date of burial or shipment date, witnesses and any notations on the record Always check for spelling variations on the name when searching the records or using the index. Spelling is always an issue with old records. Spelling was often at the discretion of the individual entering the information into the record, so the names are often spelled as they "sounded" instead of the official spellings. An example would be: Marquart, Marquardt, Marquat - all the same family under different spellings. "Source: On Microfilm, Douglas County Birth, Death and Marriages records - located at the Douglas Co. Library in Minden, Nevada and the Nevada State Library and Archives in Carson City, Nevada" - Douglas Co. Vitals