Thursday, October 31, 2019

Voter's Records

Photo courtesy Family History Daily
Next week, we go to the voting booths and make our selections to decide the fate of different candidates and issues in our area.

Have you ever wondered if you can access your ancestor's voting records?

The answer is yes, and no. While you can't see which way your ancestor voted, you can sometimes view their voter registration.

Voter's registers can be harder to find, but are well worth the effort. Along with census records, they place our ancestors in specific places at specific times.

You can:
  • Fill in gaps between censuses
  • Find middle names
  • Find spouses and other family members registered at the same address
  • Naturalization information
  • Where born
  • Political party affiliation 
  • Migration from other locations.
  • Physical characteristics

EXAMPLES OF REGISTERS:

1903 Mason Township Lawrence County, Ohio Quadrennial Enumeration.
This places my 4 X great uncle, William Tagg, in Lawrence County in 1903.
He disappeared after the 1900 Census and I have always assumed he died.
Now I know to start my search for his death record after 1903.

State Voter Registration Records:

  • Ohio- Ohio counted adult men every 4 years in various counties to determine voting districts, called quadrennial enumerations. Some of them are view-able on the FamilySearch.org web site and the Ohio History Connection has some of them in their Library And Archives. 
    • Historic records not available on FamilySearch yet. Ohio took quadrennial enumerations of men 21+ years old to determine voting districts from 1803-1911. Under taxation...
    • Current registrations: Check Your Voter Registration
  • Arizona - Has "great registers" similar to California's at Ancestry Library Edition (ALE)  (and Ancestry.com) , FamilySearch.org and at their State Library
  • California - "Great Registers"
    • 1900-1968 is available on ALE  under "California, Voter Registrations, 1900-1968
    • Available on FamilySearch.org "Great Registers 1867-1890"
    • California State Library has 1866-1898 and 1900-1944 on microfilm
  • Chicago - (not a state!) have late 1800 voters records at FamilySearch and some are also available on ALE
  • Georgia -  At FamilySearch.org - has the 1867-68 Returns of qualified voters
  • New York - ALE has a list of registered voters in 1880
  • Kansas 
    • On ALE,  Leavenworth, Kansas Voter Registration, 1859 and Kansas Election List, 1854
    • And for free on the Kansas GenWeb site
  • Massachusetts  - on ALE Massachusetts, Applications of Freemen, 1630-1691
  • Wyoming - The State Archives has poll lists and voting lists in their collection.
RESOURCES:
  • FamilySearch - do catalog search for location "United States, Indiana" then go to bottom of list for "Voting Registers"
  • Ancestry Library Edition - catalog search "voter" narrow by location or date. Returns many census records
  • Fold3 - enter "voting" in search box.
  • Cyndi's List  search for "voters"
  • Worldcat.org - search under the location and "voting register"
WEAKNESSES: 
  • Before 1920, will not include women in most locations in the US
  • In earlier time periods will only include white men of property
  • Convicted felons aren't permitted to vote
Arizona Voter Registration 1866-1955 on Ancestry Library Edition showing the EARP brothers, Wyatt, Morgan and J.C. (James) in Pima County (Tuscon) Arizona. Virgil Earp was listed several pages earlier.
The right half of the entries (not shown) provided information on date and place of naturalization.

This 1904 Voter Registration for Wyatt S. Earp shows his birthplace "Ills" for Illinois.
From  Ancestry Library Edition


These entries from the California Voter Registrations 1900-1968 on Ancestry Library Edition show Walt Disney and
his wife, Lillian. Interestingly, she is listed as a Democrat and he is a Republican.

SOURCES:

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