Apache County, Arizona Genealogy: Difference between revisions

== Boundary Changes ==  

Arizona was part of [[New Spain]] until 1821, and then part of [[Mexico]] until 1846. Some records of early Arizona settlers may have been sent to an [http://www.mcu.es/archivos/MC/AGI/index.html archives] in Seville, Spain, or to [[Mexico Archives and Libraries|archives]] in Mexico City. Moreover, Arizona was part of the United States' [[New Mexico]] Territory from 1846 to 1863. In 1852 New Mexico Territory set up counties that stretched east and west including all the land that became part of Arizona. Present-day Apache County, Arizona was once part of [[Taos County, Arizona|Taos]], [[Rio Arriba County, Arizona|Rio Arriba]], [[Santa Ana County, Arizona|Santa Ana]], [[Valencia County, Arizona|Valencia]], and [[Socorro County, Arizona|Socorro]] counties of New Mexico.<ref>William Thorndale, and William Dollarhide, ''Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses, 1790-1920'' (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1987), 26. {{WorldCat|69672637|disp=At various libraries (WorldCat)}}; {{FHL|545087|item|disp=FHL Book 973 X2th}}.</ref> When Arizona was created in 1863, these former counties were dissolved within Arizona's borders and eventually new counties were created. If an ancestor lived in what is now Apache County, Arizona between 1852 and 1863, first check for records in Apache County. However, there is also a small chance that a few papers were recorded in a parent county's courthouse in Arizona (if any), or in the corresponding parent county in New Mexico. When it was created in 1879, Apache County contained all of what is now Navajo County until the county was split in March, 1895 leaving a total area of 11,218 square miles (29,054.5 km²).