California, County Birth and Death Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States California

What is in the Collection?
This collection includes birth and death records from 1800 to 1994.

The collection consists of images of registers, records, and certificates of county birth and death records acquired from county courthouses. This collection contains some delayed birth records, as well. Some city and towns records are also included. Records have not been acquired for the following counties:

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
Birth records may include the following information:


 * Child's birth date
 * Place of birth
 * Name of Child
 * Gender
 * Race or Color
 * Number of children in family
 * Living or stillborn
 * Names of Parents
 * Race and nativity of parents
 * Father's occupation
 * Parents' birth place
 * Age of parents
 * Residence
 * Maiden name of mother
 * Legitimacy of child

Death records may include the following information:


 * Death date
 * Place of death
 * Name of deceased
 * Age at death
 * Gender
 * Nativity
 * Cause of Death
 * Attending physician

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know:
 * The name of your ancestor.
 * The date of birth or death.
 * The place where the birth or death occurred.
 * The names of known relatives or 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: Fill in the requested information on the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the ancestors in the list to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to compare the information about more than one person to find your ancestor.

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page: To search the collection you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒Select "Browse through images" on the initial collection page ⇒Select the "County/Town" category ⇒Select the “Record Type, Date Range and Volume" category which takes you to the images

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 records to help you find other records such as marriage or census 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.

Known Issues with This Collection
For a full list of all known issues associated with this collection see the attached Wiki article. If you encounter additional problems, please email them to [mailto:support@familysearch.org support@familysearch.org]. Please include the full path to the link and a description of the problem in your e-mail. Your assistance will help ensure that future reworks will be considered.

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: