Seeking Ancestor Records from Pueblo Colorado.?

Question:

Seeking Ancestor Records from Pueblo Colorado.?

My grandmother was born and married in Pueblo Colorado in the early 1900s between 1900 and 1915. I was told the building where public records were kept burned down and there are no records from those years. Does anyone have any ideas who may have birth, baptism, death, marriage records from that period in Pueblo Colo. Thank you.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I'm looking at the County Clerk's site. They don't mention any loss of records to a fire. There is mention on the Pueblo Co GenWeb site of a flood, but it's clear that many records have survived.

http://birthdatabase.net/colorado/birth-...

To call and verify what is indeed available (and you're perfectly right to ask for specific records on specific people over the phone) call: (719) 583-4306 or 583-6628

Here's their website and they make no mention of record gaps: http://www.co.pueblo.co.us/recording/...

I don't know how much you can get from the State Archives. They only have 300,000 records online. But you might get lucky.
http://www.colorado.gov/dpa/doit/archive...

Here's the only blurb about a natural disaster in the county:
1921 A.D. General Assembly creates State Highway Department with seven man Advisory Board. Colorado begins building concrete highways on main traveled routes. Pueblo suffers disastrous flood in June; scores drowned and property damage amounts to $20,000,000. Post war deflation sets in and decline in prices brings trouble in the rural areas. During the next several years, numerous banks serving farming areas close, price and farm lands decline sharply from levels reached in World War I, and farmers clamor for farm relief.
http://www.colorado.gov/dpa/doit/archive...

So the question becomes where do we go if we can't find the birth records? Well, for starters, the State website is clear that they were never good about keeping those records. So then we go to the historical standard. We look for evidence of religious records first and foremost. Those were generally kept safe by priests and nuns and ministers at all costs. Catholics are the best recordkeepers, but the Episcopalians, Methodists, and Lutherans were excellent, too. Search for any churches of your grandmother's faith that were in existence at the time of her birth. You're in trouble if her faith didn't baptize babies. But still not lost.

The next place to look is the US Census Bureau. You have the luxury of 3 of the censuses from her lifetime being published. You can also write to the Social Security Administration and get a copy of her application for a number. That's going to be the earliest information provided by her for recordkeeping purposes.

If her marriage license is missing, then the second step would be to check the State Archives to see if they have copies of the old newspapers. Then you have to pull the copies from around the date of the marriage and see if the banns were published and any information published. With that, see if you can find the records of the person performing the ceremony.

I hope this helps a little. If you need any help finding something, let me know.