California, Oakland, Alameda County, Newspaper Record Collection - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States California  Alameda County

What is in the Collection?
The collection consists of card file indexes created from local newspapers and includes obituaries, wedding announcements, anniversaries, and birth announcements. The obituaries are mixed with biographical news stories. Some obituaries are included from the Los Angeles Times and Orange County Register of persons who were natives of Oakland or the Bay Area and died in southern California. The card files for 1985-2002, 2003-2006 and 1986-2011 are located at the Oakland Family History Center. This collection is being published as images become available.

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
Information found in this collection may include:

Obituary or Death Record
 * Name of deceased
 * Birth date and place
 * Death date and place
 * Names of parents
 * Name of spouse
 * Names of children
 * Name of cemetery
 * Place of residence
 * Name of newspaper
 * Date of obituary publication

Wedding or Anniversary Announcement
 * Names of bride and groom
 * Names of parents
 * Date of wedding
 * Ages of bride and groom
 * Name of officiator
 * Names of other relatives (sibling, grandparent)
 * Place of residence

Birth Announcement
 * Name of child
 * Name of parents
 * Birth date and place
 * Name of other relatives (sibling, grandparent)

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search you will need to know at least some of the following:


 * The name of your ancestor.
 * The date for the event.
 * The names of relatives and other associates.

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.

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page then select the Date Range and Name Range.

For tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line 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 age in the record to find an approximate birth year, 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):

Image Citation: