California Death Index 1905-1939 - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States California

What is in the Collection?
The collection consists of Index and images of death indexes located at the Office of the State Register, Sacramento, and the Butte County Courthouse, Oroville, for the years 1905 to 1939.

California began indexing death records from various counties before July 1905. California became a state in 1850 with 27 original counties. Today there are 58 counties from that original 27. Although the state ordered the keeping of records in 1905, this order was NOT enforced and each county kept records according to the notion of the local County Recorder. Some counties will have records from an earlier date than others. Very few records, if any, are available before the 1860's. Original records are located in California at the Office of the State Register, Sacramento, and the Butte County Courthouse, Oroville. Some of the pages in the index, did not get filmed or were missing when the index was originally filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah in 1990.

Place of death or county where death occurred is given in code as listed in the following chart. Larger cities have the following separate codes: 60 Alameda, 70 Los Angeles, 80 San Diego, 90 San Francisco. :

These indexes are also found in the Family History Library Catalog "California death indexes, 1905-1988 ; 1940-1994" with digital images available for the years 1905 to 1939 under File Notes section by clicking on the camera icons.

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The California Death Index record may include:


 * Name of decedent
 * Initial(s) of spouse
 * Age (coded Units of Age)
 * Sex
 * County of death (coded by County and larger Cities)
 * Date of death
 * Date of registration
 * State file number

An explanation of the information found on the index, including the keys to the codes used for the units of age and place of death, can be found at this link. NOTE: Some county codes erroneously include their larger city code. For example: Alameda (County) should be 01; Alameda (City) is 60.

How Do I Search the Collection?
You can search the index or view the images or both. Before using this collection, it is helpful to know: •        Name of the individual •        Approximate date and or location of the event

View the Images
You will be able to search this collection once it is published.

View images in this collection by visiting the 
 * 1) Select Year Range
 * 2) Select Surname Range

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images.

For more tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line article FamilySearch Search Tips and Tricks.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Copy the citation below, in case you need to find this record again later.
 * Use the information found in the record to locate the death record.
 * Use the age or estimated birth date to determine an approximate birth date to find other church and vital records such as birth, baptism, and marriage records.
 * Use the information found in the record to find land, probate and immigration records.
 * Use the information found in the record to find additional family members in censuses.
 * Repeat this process with additional family members found, to find more generations of the family.
 * Church Records were kept years before counties began keeping records. They are a good source for finding ancestors before 1900.

I Can’t Find Who I’m Looking for, What Now?

 * If your ancestor does not have a common name, collect entries for every person who has the same surname. This list can help you find possible relatives.
 * If you cannot locate your ancestor in the locality in which you believe they lived, then try searching records of a nearby town or county.
 * Try different spellings of your ancestor’s name.
 * Remember that sometimes individuals went by nicknames or alternated between using first and middle names. Try searching for these names as well.
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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.

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