California Marriage Index - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States California

What is in the Collection?
This Collection will include records from 1960 to 1985.

The collection consists of an index to marriages from the California Department of Health Services in Sacramento. The index is provided by Ancestry.com.

Coverage Map
To see a coverage map of FamilySearch's holdings of California county marriage records, click here.

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
The index may include the following information:


 * Name of bride and groom
 * Marriage date and place
 * Name of spouse (May only list surname)
 * Reference ID - Page/Volume/Entry/Certificate Number

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know the following:


 * The name of the bride and groom
 * The approximate marriage date and place

Fill in the requested information in the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information in the list to what you already know about your ancestor to determine if it is the correct family or person. You may need to compare several persons in the list before you find your ancestor.

Search by Name by visiting the Collection Page:

For tips about searching on-line collections see the wiki article FamilySearch Search Tips and Tricks.

What Do I Do Next?
Whenever possible, view the original records to verify the information and to find additional information that might not be reported. These pieces of information can lead you to additional records and family members.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Use the information in the index to search for the marriage record
 * Use the date of the marriage to estimate the birthdates. Use the birth dates and place of the marriage find other records such as birth, census, and death records.
 * Use the information in each record to find additional family members.
 * Repeat this process with additional family member’s records to find more generations of the family.
 * Church Records often were kept years before government records were required and are a good source for finding ancestors before 1900.

I Can’t Find Who I’m Looking for, What Now?

 * Try viewing the original record to see if there were errors in the transcription of the name, age, residence, etc. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * Collect entries for every person who has the same surname. This list can help you identify possible relations that can be verified by records.
 * If you cannot locate your ancestor in the locality in which you believe they lived, then try searching records of a nearby locality in an area search.
 * Standard spelling of names typically did not exist during the periods our ancestors lived in. Try variations of your ancestor’s name while searching the index or browsing through images.
 * Remember that sometimes individuals went by nicknames or alternated between using first and middle names. Try searching for these names as well.
 * Search the indexes and records of California, United States Genealogy.
 * Search in the California Archives and Libraries.

Citing this Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

Collection Citation:

Record Citation (or citation for the index entry):