Santa Cruz County, California Genealogy

United States California  Santa Cruz County

County Courthouse
Santa Cruz County 701 Ocean Street Santa Cruz CA 95060

Parent County
18 February 1850: Santa Cruz County was created originally as Branciforte county. County seat: Santa Cruz

19 April 1850: Renamed from Branciforte County.

Populated Places
Incorporated Cities (2000): Capitola, Santa Cruz, Scotts Valley, Watsonville

Other populated places:

Amesti Aptos Aptos Hills-Larkin Valley Ben Lomond Bonny Doon Boulder Creek Brookdale Corralitos Davenport Day Valley Felton Freedom Interlaken La Selva Beach Live Oak Mount Hermon Opal Cliffs Rio del Mar Soquel Pasatiempo Twin Lakes

Neighboring Counties

 * Monterey
 * San Benito
 * San Mateo
 * Santa Clara

Archives and Libraries

 * Santa Cruz Central Library

224 Church Street Santa Cruz, CA 95060


 * Genealogical Society of Santa Cruz County library

(housed in the Central Branch Library, significant collection of genealogies)

Cemeteries
Day Valley Cemetery (Aptos)

Evergreen Cemetery (Santa Cruz)

Felton Cemetery (Felton)

Home of Peace Cemetery (Santa Cruz, Jewish)

Holy Cross Cemetery (2 locations Soquel, Catholic)

Oakwood (Soquel)

Pajaro Valley Memorial Park (Watsonville)

Pioneer Cemetery (Watsonville)

St Francis Cemetery (Watsonville)

Santa Cruz Cemetery (Santa Cruz)

Soquel Cemetery (Soquel)

Church History and Records

LDS Ward and Branch Records


 * Santa Cruz
 * Watsonville

Newspapers
Santa Cruz Sentinel (Santa Cruz 1866-present 2011)

Santa Cruz Surfer (Santa Cruz 1889-1919)

Mountain Echo (Boulder Creek 1896-1916)

Register Pajaronian (Watsonville, 1868-present)

Vital Records

 * Santa Cruz County, California Obituary and Death Notice Collection Free from GenealogyBuff.com. Obits and death notices from Various Funeral Homes in the Santa Cruz, Watsonville, Scotts Valley, Capitola, Pajaro, Royal Oaks, Bonny Doon, Aptos and Freedom areas.
 * Santa Cruz County Recorder

701 Ocean Street, Room 230   Santa Cruz CA 95060    831/454-2800

For records generated since 2009 

Santa Cruz County Office of Vital Records 12 West Beach Street Watsonville CA 95076 831/454-8557


 * Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency Public Health Department Birth and Death Certificates

Websites

 * Santa Cruz County CAGenWeb
 * Linkpendium
 * USGenWeb Archives
 * USGenWeb Archives backup site