The Archives houses a variety of materials that are useful for genealogy research. Most of these records pertain to the nine Wisconsin counties included in the Stevens Point Area Research Center network area (Adams, Juneau, Langlade, Lincoln, Marathon, Portage, Waupaca, Waushara, and Wood).
There are a wide range of different records in the Archives that may be useful for genealogy research. Make sure to share the name of each ancestor you are researching when scheduling your research appointment so that Archives reference staff can attempt to find all the relevant records for your research.
Naturalization records document the process by which immigrants applied to become United States citizens. These records often include information about the nationality of immigrants and when they arrived in the United States. The Archives maintains naturalization indexes for each of the counties in our Area Research Center network area.
Vital records include Birth, Death, and Marriage records. The Archives holds microfilm copies of the pre-1907 vital records for each of the counties in our Area Research Center network area. The Wisconsin Historical Society maintains an index for Wisconsin vital records.
Census records contain information about the members of each household living in a particular area. In general, the records include the name of each individual in a household, their place of birth, and their occupation. More recent census records contain more detailed information.
Tax Rolls contain yearly property tax information for each parcel of land in a township. The records often include the name of the landowner, the legal description of the land, the valuation of the land, and the amount of tax paid. When used with a corresponding plat map, tax records can help researchers visualize where their ancestors lived in the past. The Archives holds tax rolls for all nine counties in our Area Research Center network area, but some county’s records are more complete than others.
The Archives holds City Directories for the City of Stevens Point and various other municipalities throughout Central Wisconsin. Directories often include information about where individuals and families lived in the city as well as the name of their occupation or place of employment.
The Archives maintains the Central Wisconsin Genealogy Index, an index to obituaries printed in several Stevens Point newspapers from the 1890s through the present day. Researchers may access any of the obituaries listed in the index on microfilm in the Archives’ reading room.