View source for Pierce County, Washington Genealogy

==== History  ====

{{WA History Intro}} 

*[http://search.ancestryinstitution.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=26110 ''Commemorative celebration at Sequalitchew Lake, Pierce County, Washington, July 5th, 1906''] (If the link does not work, go to [http://www.ancestry.com/ ancestry.com] ($), click '''Search''', select '''Card Catalog''', paste Title into search box, click '''Search''')

*[http://www.piercecountylibrary.org/services/research-corner/subject-links/history-local.htm "History - Local"] at Pierce County Library

*''History of the Puget Sound Country'', [http://www.sos.wa.gov/history/publications.aspx Volume 1], [http://www.sos.wa.gov/history/publications_detail.aspx?p=15 Volume 2] by William Farrand Prosser [New York, Chicago, The Lewis publishing company, 1903]

*[http://www.sos.wa.gov/history/publications_detail.aspx?p=302 Three Cities Of Washington; Origin Of Their Names...] by Edmond Stephen Meany [Seattle: Washington University State Historical Society, 1917?] at Washington History covers the origins of the city names Seattle, Spokane and Tacoma

===== History Timeline  =====

[http://publications.newberry.org/ahcbp/documents/WA_Individual_County_Chronologies.htm#PIERCE Historical County Boundaries] from Newberry Library<ref>John H. Long, ''Atlas of Historical County Boundaries'' (Chicago: Newberry Library, 2006) [http://publications.newberry.org/ahcbp/ online].</ref><br><br> Emphasis for this timeline is on events that affected migration, records, or record-keeping. Unless otherwise mentioned, the events below were gleaned from Paula Becker. ''Pierce County -- Thumbnail History'', [http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=8001 History Link.org] Essay 8001. 

*The land that would become Pierce County was home to the present day Nisqually, Puyallup, Squaxin, Steilacoom, and Muckleshoot tribes. 
*1833 April - Hudson's Bay Company employee Archibald McDonald established Fort Nisqually. 
*1841 May 11 - The crews of the U.S. Navy ships Vincennes and Porpoise, dropped anchor near Fort Nisqually during the first American charting of Puget Sound. 
*1849 - In response to increasing tensions between Indians and settlers, the United States Army established Fort Steilacoom. 
*1852 December 22 - Pierce County was established. 
*1853 - March 2, U.S. President Millard Fillmore establishes {{wpd|Washington Territory|Washington Territory}}. 
*1854 December 26 - Leaders of major Western Washington tribes, met with Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens and signed a treaty relinquishing their land. 
*1855 April 30 - The United States Congress ratified the Treaty of Medicine Creek. 
*Family farming was essential to the survival of early Pierce County pioneers. 
*Commercial farming in Pierce County has over time included hops, flower bulbs, berries, dairy cattle, and Christmas trees.