Find Chelan County Ancestry Records
Chelan County genealogy records are available through the Washington State Digital Archives, the Central Regional Archives in Ellensburg, and the County Courthouse in Wenatchee. The county was created in 1899, and records go back to 1900 for birth and marriage records and even earlier for court and land records. The Wenatchee Area Genealogical Society also maintains unique local collections, including a funeral home records database covering thousands of entries from the early 1900s through 2001.
Chelan County Overview
Chelan County Genealogy at the Digital Archives
The Washington State Digital Archives hosts multiple Chelan County collections covering vital records, land records, professional licenses, and school records. These are free to access online with both an index and images for most collections. Start here before contacting the courthouse or archives branch in person.
The Chelan County Auditor Birth Returns, 1900-1907 covers births filed with the County Auditor from the county's creation in 1899 through the start of statewide registration in 1907. The collection is open for research. For best results, search by the parents' names rather than the child's name. The mother's last name will be her maiden name. Records were filmed and indexed by Washington State Archives Central Regional Branch staff and volunteers.
The Chelan County Auditor Marriage Records, 1900-Present collection is one of the most complete for this county, running from the year after the county was formed through the present day. The records are open for research. Searchable fields include bride and groom names (or Person A and Person B after December 6, 2012), marriage year, and Soundex. This collection provides a nearly unbroken record of Chelan County marriages from 1900 onward.
Death records from the pre-statehood period are part of the Chelan County holdings at the digital archives. The county also has digitized collections for Professional License Records, 1992-2023, Recorded Land Records, 1888-2023, Recorded Agreements and Contracts, 1900-2023, Plats and Surveys, 2010-2023, and Historical School Districts, Registers and Censuses, 1914-1925. The school records are particularly useful for confirming children's ages and identifying families in specific communities.
The image below comes from the Chelan County collections page at the Washington State Digital Archives.
View Chelan County birth returns at the Washington State Digital Archives.
Chelan County birth return records from 1900-1907 are indexed and available with images through the free online digital archives portal.
Chelan County Courthouse Records
The Chelan County Courthouse is in Wenatchee. The County Auditor is the official custodian of marriage records from 1900 to the present and pre-1907 birth and death records. The auditor's office at co.chelan.wa.us also records land documents including deeds, mortgages, and plats. The County Clerk holds divorce, probate, and court records. The County Assessor maintains land records going back to the county's earliest years.
Known beginning dates for Chelan County government records: births from 1900, marriages from 1900, deaths from 1900, court records from 1876, land records from 1882, and probate records from 1888. Court records beginning in 1876 and land records from 1882 predate the county's official creation in 1899, indicating that some records from the predecessor jurisdictions of Kittitas and Okanogan counties were transferred when Chelan County was formed. There is no known history of courthouse disasters in Chelan County.
| County Auditor | Birth/death (pre-1907), marriage records, land documents |
|---|---|
| County Clerk | Divorce, probate, court records |
| County Assessor | Land records from 1882 |
| City Clerk | Burial records (city of Wenatchee) |
Note: For researchers looking at burial records specifically, the City Clerk in Wenatchee holds those records, which is somewhat unusual compared to other Washington counties.
Central Regional Archives and Chelan County
The Washington State Archives Central Regional Branch serves Chelan County and is located on the campus of Central Washington University in Ellensburg at 400 E. University Way, Mail Stop 7547, Ellensburg, WA 98926-7547. The branch is open for in-person research Wednesday through Friday by appointment only. Mondays and Tuesdays are closed for in-person visits, but staff accept phone and email requests. Call (509) 963-2136 or email CEBranchArchives@sos.wa.gov.
The Central Regional Branch holds Chelan County records including birth and death records from the turn of the 19th century, marriage records from approximately 1867-1997, naturalization records, probate records, pre-statehood county censuses, and schoolchildren censuses from roughly 1890-1932. Researchers traveling from outside Ellensburg are strongly encouraged to make advance arrangements to confirm the availability of specific records before making the trip.
The FamilySearch wiki for Chelan County is a comprehensive starting point. It lists all known online collections and provides context for understanding what records exist, when they start, and where they are held. The wiki also highlights the Wenatchee Area Genealogical Society as a key local resource.
The second digital archives image below represents another Chelan County collection available for free online research.
View Chelan County marriage records at the Washington State Digital Archives.
Chelan County marriage records from 1900 to the present are searchable through the digital archives with index and images available.
Wenatchee Area Genealogical Society
The Wenatchee Area Genealogical Society (WAGS) maintains the Wenatchee Area Cemetery Records database and has archived funeral home records from several local funeral homes. Their funeral home records collection includes 27,000 records between 1906 and 2001 from Jones and Jones Funeral Home of Wenatchee, Kuelbs or Braun of Cashmere, Waterville of Waterville, and a few records from Wards of Leavenworth.
These records may include only the funeral card with or without parents' names, or they may include death certificates, obituaries, gift lists, and military records. The variety of documents in a single funeral home file can be a significant find for genealogists. WAGS also publishes The Appleland Bulletin, a genealogical newsletter with a subject index for volumes 1-22. Researchers can search the database online and order copies of records through the society.
The cemetery records database is another key WAGS resource. Chelan County has numerous small cemeteries from pioneer communities, and the WAGS database pulls together burial information that would otherwise require individual visits to each site. For Chelan County ancestry research, reaching out to WAGS early in your search can reveal records not available through any government source.
How to Research Chelan County Family History
Begin with the free online collections at the Washington State Digital Archives. The marriage and birth collections for Chelan County are well indexed and provide direct access to images. Use Soundex if a name search returns no results, especially for immigrant surnames. After exhausting the digital archives, contact the Central Regional Branch in Ellensburg for physical records.
For more recent records, visit or contact the Chelan County Courthouse in Wenatchee. The County Auditor handles marriage records from 1900 to the present. The County Clerk is the place for divorce records, probate files, and court cases, which are common genealogy sources that reveal family structures, property, and disputes. The County Assessor's land records going back to 1882 can trace property ownership across generations.
Federal census records are available through FamilySearch and other platforms for every decade from 1900 through 1940. The 1900 census was the first to cover Chelan County as a distinct jurisdiction, making it a natural starting point for tracing early settlers. County-level state censuses and school records from the digital archives can supplement the federal census for in-between years.
Note: Chelan County was carved out of Kittitas and Okanogan counties in 1899. Ancestors living in the Wenatchee area before that year would have their earliest records in one of those two predecessor counties.
View additional Chelan County collections at the Washington State Digital Archives.
Additional digitized Chelan County records collections cover professional licenses, land records, and school registers from the early twentieth century.
Cities in Chelan County
Chelan County includes the city of Wenatchee, the county seat. Wenatchee has a dedicated genealogy research page on this site.
Other communities in Chelan County include Cashmere, Leavenworth, East Wenatchee, and Chelan. Genealogy research for these communities routes through the Chelan County Courthouse and the Washington State Digital Archives.
Nearby Counties
Chelan County borders Okanogan, Douglas, Kittitas, and King counties. If records are not found in Chelan County or your ancestor lived near a county boundary, check these neighboring jurisdictions.