California, County Birth and Death Records

California, County Birth and Death Records includes birth and death records from 1800 to 1994. 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 Contra Costa, Imperial, Kern, Kings, Modoc, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Siskiyou, Solano, Tulare and Ventura counties. See the birth and death coverage tables to determine the number of records in each collection for each county. The name index for death records covers Stockton, Lodi and Manteca cities and San Benito and San Joaquin counties. Some images are not available for viewing between the years 1824-1974.

What might you learn from these records?

Birth

1. Child's birth date - . The birth date assists you with the discovery of the marriage and death.

2. Place of birth - If your ancestor is found living in a different location than the birth place, you have more than one place to search for records

3. Name of Child - Many times the name used in records is the nickname or a shortened name.

4. Gender

5. Race or Color

6. Number of children in family - You can look for the other children.

7. Living or stillborn

8. Names of Parents - You can look for marriage information on the parents and the grandparent's of your ancestor.

9. Race and nativity of parents -

10. Father's occupation

11. Parents' birth place - It's easier to locate the grandparents of your ancestor when you have the birth place of the parents.

12. Age of parents - Knowing the age of your ancestor's parents, makes it easier to locate them at their birth and the years in between/

13. Residence

14. Maiden name of mother - You can find the parents with the mother's surname

15. Legitimacy of child - This lets you know if the current spouse is the father of your ancestor.

Death

1. Death date - The death date can lead you to other information such as an obituary, cemetery, funeral home, church, etc.

2. Place of death - This is sometimes different from where your ancestor lived. When you find that your ancestor died in a different place search both locations for records.

3. Name of deceased

4. Age at death - You can search for parents when given the birth.

5. Gender

6. Nativity - This tell you where to search for your ancestor at place of birth,

7. Cause of Death

8. Attending physician

To search your ancestor's birth or death record it will be helpful to know the name of your ancestor, the approximate date of the birth or death, and the county where the birth or death occurred.

Birth Record

Let's look for Margarethe Grigorian born 1907 in Los Angeles:

Margarethe Grigorian, #143314, June 1907, Los Angeles, California, United States, California, County Birth and Death Records, FamilySearch.org, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9SX-3942-B>

Margarthe Grigorian, a female, was the second child born on 14 June 1907 to Michail and Aculina Sroistunoff Grigorian. Her father was American and her mother was Russian. They were both Causcasian.

We could find death records on the parents and Margarthe if follow her closely enough to determine her marriage. We can trace this family in the city directories and the US Census. From that we could determine the names of her other siblings.

We could also trace the parents back to find who their parents and siblings were. Because Aculina is Russian, we may need to look for naturalization records which can tell us what part of Russia she came from.

See other birth records: Los Angeles County, California Genealogy - Birth Records

Death Record

Next, we looked for William Brown who was colored. He was died in 1878 in Los Angeles.

William Brown (Colored), #641, 28 November 1878, Los Angeles, California, United States, Norwalk, California, public cemetery, ca. 1855-1905, California, County Birth and Death Records, FamilySearch.org, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9SF-F9ZF-X?>

We found a Wm. Brown who was listed as colored. His certificate number is 641. He died 28 November 1878. There is a lot of missing information on Wm. Brown, but turn to other records to learn more:

1. The 1870 US Census can tell us where and who he was living with.

2. The local newspaper might make mention or him.

3. The city directory can shed line on who he lived with.

See other birth records: Los Angeles County, California Genealogy - Death Records. Here is a place that you can find more clues: Los Angeles, California Genealogy.78.