Orange County, California Genealogy

United States &gt; California &gt; Orange County 

County Courthouse
The Courthouse is not a recommended source for Genealogical Data.

The County Recorder is where most vital record and land records are housed, but most of the vital records are now protected by California law, and the Recorder would be of little help.

For records prior to 1960:

Orange County Archives, Jean O. Pasco, Director Old Orange County Courthouse Room 101 211 W. Santa Ana Blvd. Santa Ana, California, 92701 (714) 834-2536

Orange County Archives

Family History Centers
Orange Large Multi-Stake Family History Center

Located: 674 South Yorba St., Orange, California (Located in the rear of the LDS Church)

Hours: Tuesday -Thursday 9:00 AM-9:00 PM (except 2nd Thursday when we close at 7:00 PM for Staff Meeting)           Friday &amp; Saturday 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM            Closed Sunday &amp; Monday to the Public

Phone: (714) 997-7710

Parent County
1889--Orange County was created 11 March 1889 from Los Angeles County. County seat: Santa Ana

Populated Places
Anaheim, the home of Disneyland, is the most populated city in Orange County. It was first settled by Germans in 1854 who named the city. It was incorporated in 1857. The name refers to the fact that it is the "home" of the Santa "Ana" River. The northern part of the county is heavily populated and the southern area is growing rapidly.

City of Aliso Viejo http://www.cityofalisoviejo.com/ City of Anaheim http://www.anaheim.net/article.asp?id=507 City of Brea http://www.ci.brea.ca.us/ City of Buena Park http://buenapark.com/ City of Costa Mesa http://www.cityofcostamesa.com/

Coto de Caza - unincorporated City of Cypress http://www.ci.cypress.ca.us/ City of Dana Point http://www.danapoint.org/

El Modena - unincorporated City of Fountain Valley http://www.fountainvalley.org/ City of Fullerton (incorporated 1904) http://www.cityoffullerton.com/ City of Garden Grove http://www.ci.garden-grove.ca.us/ City of Huntington Beach (incorporated 1909) http://www.ci.huntington-beach.ca.us/ City of Irvine http://www.ci.irvine.ca.us/ City of La Habra http://www.ci.la-habra.ca.us/ City of La Palma http://www.cityoflapalma.org/ City of Laguna Beach http://www.lagunabeachcity.net/ City of Laguna Hills http://www.ci.laguna-hills.ca.us/ City of Laguna Niguel http://www.ci.laguna-niguel.ca.us/ City of Laguna Woods (formerly Leisure World) http://www.lagunawoodscity.org/

La Jolla - unincorporated City of Lake Forest (formerly El Toro) http://www.city-lakeforest.com/ City of Los Alamitos http://www.ci.los-alamitos.ca.us/ City of Mission Viejo http://cityofmissionviejo.org/ City of Newport Beach http://www.city.newport-beach.ca.us/ City of Orange (incorporated 1888) http://www.cityoforange.org/ City of Placentia http://www.placentia.org/ City of Rancho Santa Margarita

Rossmoor - unincorporated City of San Clemente http://san-clemente.org/sc/News.aspx?PageID=1 City of San Juan Capistrano http://www.sanjuancapistrano.org/ City of Santa Ana (founded 1869) http://www.ci.santa-ana.ca.us/ City of Seal Beach http://www.ci.seal-beach.ca.us/ City of Stanton http://www.ci.stanton.ca.us/ City of Tustin http://www.tustinca.org/ City of Villa Park http://www.villapark.org/ City of Westminster http://www.ci.westminster.ca.us/ City of Yorba Linda http://www.ci.yorba-linda.ca.us/

Neighboring Counties

 * Los Angeles
 * Riverside
 * San Bernardino
 * San Diego

Cemeteries
The Orange County Cemtery District operates four formerly private cemeteries; Anaheim Cemtery, El Toro Memorial Park, Santa Ana Cemetery, Magnolia Memorial Park.

See http://www.oc.ca.gov/cemetery/locate.htm

Catholic Diocese Cemeteries: http://www.occatholiccemeteries.org/

The *Orange Regional Family History Center http://orangefhc.info has two volumes of interment in these cemeteries as of 1999.

Private Cemteries include:

Ascension Cemetery, 24754, Trabuco Road, Lake Forest, CA

Crystal Cathedral Memorial Gardens, 12141 Lewis, Garden Grove, CA

Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery, St John's Lutheran Cemetery, 154 S. Shaffer St, Orange, CA

Fairhaven Memorial Park, 1702 Fairhaven, Santa Ana, CA

Forest Lawn Memorial Park, 4471 Lincoln, Cypress, CA

Good Shepherd, 8301 Talbert, Huntington Beach, CA

Harbor Lawn-Mount Olive Memorial Park, 1625 Gisler, Costa Mesa, CA

Holy Cross Cemetery, Orange and Euclid, Anaheim, CA

Holy Sepulcher Cemetery, 7845 E Santiago Canyon Rd, Orange, CA

Loma Vista Memorial Park, 701 E. Bastanchury, Fullerton, CA

Masonic Cemetery, 505 N. Sycamore, Santa Ana, CA

Melrose Abby Memorial Park, 2303 S. Manchester, Anaheim, CA

Memory Garden Memorial Park, 455 W. Central, Brea, CA

Oakdale Memorial Park, 517 N. Main St, Santa Ana, CA

Pacific View Memorial Park, 3500 Pacific View, Costa Mesa, CA

Roselawn Gardens of Memory, 17952 Beach Blvd, Huntington Beach, CA

San Juan Capistrano Mission Cemetery, San Juan Capistrano, CA

St John's Lutheran Cemetery, 2009 Santa Clara Ave, Santa Ana, CA, and 16782 Fairhaven, Santa Ana, CA

Westminster Cemetery, 12241 Magnolia St, Garden Grove, CA

Westminster Memorial Park, 14801 Beach Blvd, Westminster, CA

Yorba Cemetery, Esperanza and Fairmaon Blvd, Yorba Linda, CA

Church
LDS Ward and Branch Records


 * Anaheim

(714) 533 2772


 * Cypress

(714) 821 5382


 * Garden Grove

(714) 554 0592


 * Huntington Beach

(714) 536 4736


 * Laguna Beach


 * Laguna Niguel

(949) 580 1908


 * Mission Viejo

(949) 364 2742


 * Newport Beach

(949) 737 6701


 * Orange Regional

(714) 997 7710

Court
The main courthouse is at 700 Civic Center Drive, Santa Ana, California. There are three branch courts but even more locations. North Court is in Fullerton. West Court is in Westminster. Harbor Court has locations in Newport Beach, Laguna Niguel and Laguna Hills. The Lamoreaux Justice Center is in Orange.

Local Histories
The greatest repositories of Local Histories are at the Regional Family History Center, 674 S. Yorba, Orange, California, and the collection of the Orange County Genealogical Society, located at the Huntington Beach Public Library, 7111 Talbert Avenue, Huntington Beach.

Also noted is the Orange Public Library and History Center, 407 East Chapman Avenue, Orange, California

(714) 288-2400

Military
Facilities include:

Seal Beach Naval Weapons Depot

Closed:

1997 Tustin Marine Corps Air Station 1999 El Toro Marine Corps Air Station 1972 Los Alamitos Naval Air Station now operated by California Army National Guard

Newspapers
The County is served by the Orange County Register and the Orange County edition of the Los Angeles Times.

There are many community based newspapers as well.

Vital Records
To visit the County site for "Guidelines For Ordering Vital Records" Go to: http://www.ocgov.com/recorder/vitproc.htm

Due to identity theft, California Law now restricts vital records access to immediate family. The Orange Regional Family History Center has access to state-wide databases of Births, Deaths, Marriages and voter registrations. These were compiled before the change in California law, and are not complete. Birth is available to 1986 Death to 1993 Voter registration to 1993 There are also marriage records available at http://abish.byui.edu/specialCollections/westernStates/search.cfm The Western States Marriages at Brigham Young University

Societies and Libraries
For records prior to 1960:

Orange County Archives, Jean O. Pasco, Director

Old Orange County Courthouse Room 101

211 W. Santa Ana Blvd.

Santa Ana, CA, 92701 (714) 834-2536

http://www.ocrecorder.com/archives/ArchMain.asp

Web Sites

 * USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.
 * Family History Library Catalog
 * Orange Regional Family History Center
 * Native American Institute
 * Orange County California Genealogical Society
 * Society of North Orange County, California
 * South Orange County California Genealogical Society
 * Orange County California GenWeb
 * Orange County California Government