San Diego County, California Genealogy

United States California  San Diego County

Guide to San Diego County, California ancestry, family history, and genealogy birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

County Courthouse
Superior Court records from 1850. Superior Court has probate, civil and divorce records.

Main County Courthouse

220 W. Broadway

San Diego, CA 92101

Courthouse website

County Administration Building
County Clerk Recorder has birth records from 1857 marriage records from 1856 death records from 1873 and land records from 1850’s.

www.co.san-diego.ca.us/

Parent County
18 February 1850: San Diego County was created as an original county. County seat: San Diego

Boundary Changes
For animated maps illustrating California county boundary changes, "Rotating Formation California County Boundary Maps" (1850-1925) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Records Loss
For a list of record loss in California counties see: California Counties with Burned Courthouses

Neighboring Counties

 * Imperial
 * Orange
 * Riverside

Cemeteries

 * Mount Olivet Cemetery, San Diego (city) BillionGraves
 * Masonic Cemetery, Fallbrook BillionGraves

Court Records
San Diego Superior Court records are maintained at several courthouse locations and at a records warehouse.

Germans
Archives, Libraries, and Museums Biographies Church Records Cemetery Records Court Records Histories Immigration/emigration/migration Maps Newspapers Societies

Maps

 * Maps of California (1850-1925)

Naturalization and Citizenship
A wiki article describing an online collection is found at:

California, San Diego Naturalization Index (FaamilySearch Historical Records)

Archives, Libraries and Museums
Carlsbad City Library - click on "Genealogy" on right side for details.

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers
 * El Cajon California Family History Center
 * El Cajon, California
 * Escondido California Family History Center
 * Escondido, California
 * Jamul California Family History Center
 * Jamul, California
 * Penasquitos California Family History Center
 * San Diego, California
 * Poway California Family History Center
 * San Diego, California
 * San Diego California East Family History Center
 * San Diego, California
 * San Diego California Large Multi-stake Family History Center
 * San Diego, California
 * San Diego California Sweetwater Family History Center
 * Bonita, California
 * Vista California Family History Center
 * Vista, California

Societies
Alpine Historical Society

Carlsbad Historical Society

Computer Genealogy Society of San Diego

Congress of History of San Diego and Imperial Counties

Coronado Historical Museum

Del Mar History

El Cajon Historical Society

Encinitas Historical Society

Escondido History Center

Japanese American Historical Society of San Diego

Lakeside Historical Society

Lemon Grove Historical Society

Oceanside Historical Society

Portuguese Research and Education San Diego

Poway Historical and Memorial Society

Guy B Woodward Museum

Rancho Santa Fe Historical Society

San Diego Chinese Historical Museum

San Diego Genealogical Society

San Diego History Center

San Dieguito Heritage Museum

San Marcos Historical Society

Santee Historical Society

Solana Beach Civil and Historical Society

Spring Valley Historical Society

Temecula Valley Historical Society

Valley Center Historical Society

Vital Records
See also How to order California Vital Records

Death

 * San Diego County, California Obituary and Death Notice Collection Free from GenealogyBuff.com. Obits and death notices from Various Funeral Homes in the San Diego, Oceanside, Chula Vista, Escondido, San Marcos, El Cajon and Carlsbad areas.

Voting Registers
California county clerks were to keep voting registers every other year from 1866 and well into the 20th century. These large books, called Great Registers, listed the men who registered to vote in that county. Besides name and age, the record may show place of birth, address, occupation, naturalization date and sometimes even a physical description.

These records are at the California State Library (1866-1944), and microfilmed copies are available through Family History Centers (1866-1910). Ancestry ($) has a searchable database of San Diego Great Registers from 1867-1898.

The San Diego records indexes for 1866-1879 are available on the RootsWeb site, by clicking here.

Genealogy Societies, Archives and Libraries

 * List of California Archives, Libraries, Publications, Historical & Genealogical Societies

Web Sites

 * San Diego County, CA History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
 * California Genealogy Network Community on Google+
 * California Genealogy Network Group on Facebook
 * San Diego County CAGenWeb
 * Linkpendium
 * USGenWeb Archives
 * USGenWeb Archives backup site