While researching ancestors living in the United States, genealogists may encounter a location designated as an "unincorporated area." What does this mean in terms of locating records needed for family history research?
Most regions in the United States are established and governed as villages, towns, cities, counties, states, and provinces. An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local administrative organization.
Unincorporated areas are more common in the United States than in other countries.
Unincorporated areas are not limited to rural areas of the US. In fact one of the largest areas in terms of population is Whittier, California located near Los Angeles.
While most unincorporated areas provide basic essential services to residents such as fire, police, medical, and more, certain services that generate records such as court records, may be difficult to locate.
Locating records for unincorporated areas
Without any formal local government, typical records found for locations such as land records, vital records, court records and more are usually maintained on a county level.
In order to search for these records, determine the specific county where the unincorporated area is located. Recent federal census enumeration maps for the area can provide clues as well as a search on the Internet for the unincorporated area name including the state.
Once a county is determined, here's how to locate records for unincorporated areas:
- County recorder or clerk's Office: The county recorder or clerk's office maintains land and property records. These include deeds, mortgages, land other legal documents related to property ownership. In some states, such as New York, vital records held at the state archives are also maintained by the county clerk.
- County assessor's office: Residents of unincorporated area are not free from paying local taxes in order to maintain essential services. The records maintained by the assessor's office include property tax assessments as well as property tax bills, legal descriptions of land, property valuations, as well property owner information.
- County planning and zoning department: While the assessor's office maintains records pertaining to land ownership, the planning or zoning office handles records pertinent to land use. These include zoning regulations and building permits.
- County law enforcement office: A local law enforcement office - usually a sheriff's office - maintains incident and arrest reports. However, not all records are available to the public.
A useful tip would be to check to see if the county maintains an online records portal which makes it easier to search and even obtain copies of records.
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