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Wyoming Genealogy

The western state of Wyoming has Crow, Arapaho, Shoshone and Lakota as some of the original Native Indians to the region. The French fur traders traveled through the region. It was John Colter, of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, who made a written description of the region in 1807.

Not until the Union Pacific Railroad reached Wyoming in 1867 did new settlers come into the area. It quickly became a territory in 1868. No vast amounts of mineral were found, a little gold in the Carissa Mine in 1867 and some copper near Grand Encampment.

People soon noticed the beauty in an area what would become Yellowstone. In 1872, the first national park was created and it was Yellowstone National Park. Also, during the 1870s women pf Wyoming had rights and privileges not offered women in other regions or states. By July 1890 Wyoming becomes the 44th state admitted to the United States.

With vast range land, an influx of emigrants came from the eastern states like Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine to establish small ranches. Looking at Wyoming genealogy, this was a popular area for the foreign-born coming from several of the Scandinavian counties and Germany. In 1870 Wyoming had only 9,000 residents. In 1880 it grew to 20,789 and by 1890 the number was 62,555 people.

Over the decades, the large state in land size has remained small in population. In 1920 its population was 194,000. In 1970 it was 332,000 and in 2009 has approximately 544,200 people.

Looking at Wyoming genealogy, the majority of the people are of German descent, roughly 26 percent. The English ancestry is at 16 percent, the Irish at 13 percent and Norwegian at 4 percent. The African-American population is 1.15 percent. Most citizens are of the various Protestant religions due to the German, Norwegian and English heritage.

The visitors to the state’s national parks is a major industry. Besides Yellowstone, there is Grand Teton National Park, Devils Tower, and Fossil Butte Monument. The state is known for its beef cattle and growing of sugar beets, wheat, barley and hay. Their mineral resources of natural gas, coal and uranium provide jobs for its citizens.

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