California Church Records

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Historical Background
The largest religious denominations by number of adherents as a percentage of California's population in 2014 were the Catholic Church with 28 percent, Evangelical Protestants with 20 percent, and Mainline Protestants with 10 percent. Together, all kinds of Protestants accounted for 32 percent. Those unaffiliated with any religion represented 27 percent of the population.

According to the Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) the largest denominations by adherents in 2010 were the Roman Catholic Church with 10,233,334; The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with 763,818; and the Southern Baptist Convention with 489,953.

The first priests to come to California were Roman Catholic missionaries from Spain. Roman Catholics founded 21 missions along the California coast, as well as the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco. California continues to have a large Roman Catholic population due to the large numbers of Mexicans and Central Americans living within its borders. California has twelve dioceses and two archdioceses, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the Archdiocese of San Francisco, the former being the largest archdiocese in the United States.

Missions
For more historical background on California Indian missions, see
 * California Indian Missions, AccessGenealogy
 * Wikipedia: Spanish Missions in California
 * Indigenous Peoples of California

Information Found in the Records
To effectively use church records, become familiar with their content. Click on these links to learn about a specific record type:

Look for online records.
'''Ancestry.com, FindMyPast.com, and MyHeritage.com can be searched free of charge at your local family history center or the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.


 * Early California Population Project Database of information contained in early mission records.

FamilySearch Historical Records

 * 1864-1985 - at FamilySearch — index

Roman Catholic
The first Catholic missions were organized in 1769. Most of the mission records begin in 1770 and are on film. The Family History Library and the Bancroft Library have extensive collections of the early records. For the index to these records, see:


 * Temple, Thomas W. An Alphabetical Listing of the California Mission Vital Records. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1985. 1307621 item 4; fiche 6047009

The following sources may help you find Catholic mission records:


 * Weber, Francis J. A Select Guide to California Catholic History. Los Angeles, Calif.: Westernlore Press, 1966. 979.4 K21c
 * Bowman, J.N. "The Parochial Books of the California Missions, 1961," The Quarterly (Historical Society of Southern California)], Vol. 43, No. 3. 979.4 B2s
 * Barton, Noel R. "Genealogical Research in the Records of the California Missions," Genealogical Journal, Vol. 4, No. 1. 973 D25gj v. 3-4 (1974-1975)

Many original mission records and other Catholic records have been gathered into central repositories. These include:

Santa Barbara (Old Mission)

Old Mission Santa Barbara 2201 Laguna Street Santa Barbara, CA 93105 Phone: (805) 682-4713 E-mail: [mailto:research@sbmal.org research@sbmal.org]

A guide to this extensive collection is:


 * Geiger, Maynard J. Calendar of Documents in the Santa Barbara Mission Archives. Washington: Academy of American Franciscan History, 1947. 979.491 A5. Contact the Santa Barbara Mission Archives to ask if a more recent list has been compiled.

Diocese of Fresno Archives 1550 North Fresno Street Fresno, CA 93703-3788 Phone: (559) 488-3788

The diocese includes the counties of: Fresno, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced and Tulare.

Archdiocese of Los Angeles 3424 Wilshire Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90010-2202 Phone: (213) 637-7000 E-mail: [mailto:info@la-archdiocese.org info@la-archdiocese.org]

Archival Center for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles 15151 San Fernando Mission Boulevard Mission Hills, CA 91345 Phone: (818) 365-1501 Fax: (818) 361-3276

The Archdiocese includes the counties of: Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Ventura.

Diocese of Monterey P.O. Box 2048 Monterey, CA 93942 Phone: (831) 373-4345

The diocese includes the counties of: Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Benito and San Luis Obispo.

Diocese of Oakland 2121 Harrison St., Sutie 100 Oakland, CA 94612 Phone: (510) 893-4711

The diocese includes the counties of: Alameda and Contra Costa.

Diocese of Orange 2811 East Villa Real Drive Orange, CA 92867-1999 Phone: (714) 282-3000

Mailing Address P.O. Box 14195 Orange, CA 92863-1595

The diocese includes the county of: Orange.

Diocese of Sacramento Historical Archives 2110 Broadway Sacramento, CA 95818 Phone: (916) 733-0299

The diocese includes the counties of: Amador, Butte, Colusa, El Dorado, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Solano, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity and Yolo.

Diocese of San Bernardino Archives Office 1201 E. Highland Ave. San Bernardino, CA 92404 Phone: (909) 475-5399

The diocese includes the counties of: Riverside and San Bernardino.

Diocese of San Diego 3888 Paducah Drive San Diego, CA 92117

Mailing Address P.O. Box 85728 San Diego, CA 92186-5728 Phone: (858) 490-8200 Fax: (858) 490-8272

The diocese includes the counties of: Imperial and San Diego.

Archdiocese of San Francisco Archives St. Patrick Seminary 320 Middlefield Road Menlo Park, CA 94025 Phone: (650) 328-6502

The Archdiocese includes the counties of: Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo.

Diocese of San Jose 1150 North 1st Street, Suite 100 San Jose, CA 95112-4966 Phone: (408) 983-0295

The diocese includes the county of: Santa Clara.

Diocese of Santa Rosa 985 Airway Court Santa Rosa, CA 95403 Phone: (707) 545-7610

Mailing Address P.O. Box 1297 Santa Rosa, CA 95402

The diocese includes the counties of: DelNorte, Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Napa and Sonoma.

Diocese of Stockton 1105 North Lincoln Street Stockton, CA 95203 Phone: (209) 466-0636

The diocese includes the counties of: Alpine, Calaveras, Mono, San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Tuolumne.

Methodist
Holt-Atherton Church Archives University of the Pacific 3601 Pacific Avenue Stockton, CA 95211 Phone: (209) 946-2404 Fax: (209) 946-2810

Presbyterian
San Francisco Theological Seminary Library 105 Seminary Road San Anselmo, CA 94960 Phone: (415) 451-2845

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Region 2 Archives(Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming) Carol Schmalenberger ELCA Region 2 Archives Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary 2770 Marin Avenue Berkeley, CA 94708-1597 (510) 524-5264 E-mail: archives@plts.edu

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons)
Early, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church records for California Wards and Branches can be found on film and are located at the Family History Library of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City. The film numbers, for each ward, can be locate through the FamilySearch Catalog. Or by refering to Jaussi, Laureen R., and Gloria D. Chaston. Register of Genealogical Society Call Numbers. 2 vols. Provo, Utah: Genealogy Tree, 1982. (FHL book 979.2258 A3j; fiche 6031507). These volumes contain the film numbers for many (but not all) membership and temple record films

A wiki article describing an online collection is found at:

California Births and Christenings (FamilySearch Historical Records).