California, San Francisco County Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States CaliforniaSan Francisco County

What Is in the Collection?
The collection consists of records from San Francisco County, California for the years 1824 to 1997. The collection includes the following:


 * General index
 * Alphabetical newspaper clipping file of the "San Francisco Examiner"
 * Death reports
 * Deeds and indexes
 * Marriage certificates, licenses and indexes
 * Naturalization records and indexes
 * Coroner's records
 * Alien registrations

This collection is being published as images become available.

What Can These Records Tell Me?
Naturalization indexes generally include the following:


 * The name of registrar
 * Where registrar is living at time of registration
 * Age
 * Occupation
 * Nativity (Where born)
 * When Naturalized
 * Where Naturalized
 * Date of Registration

Probate indexes generally include the following:


 * Full name of individual
 * Deceased, Incompetent, or Minor
 * Volume and Page number

Marriage licenses generally include the following:


 * Name of groom
 * Age of groom
 * Name of bride
 * Age of bride
 * When and where couple was married
 * Names of witnesses

Death reports generally include the following:


 * Name of person reporting case
 * Name of deceased
 * Date and place of death
 * Age, gender, civil status, occupation, and race of deceased
 * Residence
 * Cause of death

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

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know at least some of the following:
 * The name of your ancestor.
 * The age of your ancestor.
 * The approximate date or place of event.
 * The type of record you want to research.

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. Many of these volumes have indexes at the beginning or end. You should search these first. If your ancestor is in the index download a copy or write down the page numbers listed for your ancestor. You can then quickly turn to those pages.

Search by Name by visiting the Collection Page.

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Pagethen: ⇒ Select the "Record Category" ⇒ Select the "Record Type, Volume, and Year 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 information in each record to find additional records such as birth, census, and marriage 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 Top of Page