Kern County, California Genealogy

United States California Kern County

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

County Courthouse
Kern County Courthouse 1655 Chester Ave Bakersfield, CA 93301; Phone 661.868.6440

County Clerk Recorder has birth, marriage, death and land records from 1850 divorce, probate court and voting record from 1866; An exchange of territory with San Bernardino Co took place in 1963

Parent Counties
2 April 1866: Kern County was created from Los Angeles and Tulare Counties. County seat: Bakersfield

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

 * Inyo
 * Kings
 * Los Angeles
 * Monterey
 * San Bernardino
 * San Luis Obispo
 * Santa Barbara
 * Tulare
 * Ventura

Church History and Records
LDS Ward and Branch Records


 * Bakersfield

Maps

 * Maps of California (1850-1925)



Newspapers

 * Bakersfield Californian- 2700+ issues of the paper digitized and in the Google News Archive; covers 1907-1949.

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers
 * Bakersfield California Family History Center
 * Bakersfield California East Family History Center
 * Bakersfield California South Family History Center
 * Delano California Family History Center
 * Frazier Park California Family History Center
 * Kern Valley California Family History Center (Mountain Mesa)
 * North Edwards California Family History Center
 * Taft California Family History Center
 * Tehachapi California Family History Center
 * Wasco California Family History Center

Vital Records
See also How to order California Vital Records

Marriage
Many early marriages are listed on the Western States Marriage Index.

Genealogy Societies, Archives and Libraries

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

Web Sites

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