California County Resources

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This entry was originally written by Dwight A. Radford, Thelma Berkey Walsmith, and Nell Sachse Woodard for Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources.

This article is part of
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the California Family History Research series.
History of California
California Vital Records
Census Records for California
Background Sources for California
California Maps
California Land Records
California Probate Records
California Court Records
California Tax Records
California Cemetery Records
California Church Records
California Military Records
California Periodicals, Newspapers, and Manuscript Collections
California Archives, Libraries, and Societies
California Immigration
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California County Resources
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The following is a listing of the extant vital, land, probate, and court records for each county. Some counties encompass land settled in the eighteenth century; their records pre-date county formation. Land transactions and vital records recorded in the county are at the county recorder's office. The county clerk generally has probate books and files from the county's superior court, civil court records, and naturalizations. Divorces may be in either place, depending on how they were filed.

The California State Archives and the FHL both have microfilms of selected county records. Current information for county offices can be found at www.state.ca.us/state/portal/myca_hompage.jsp and the California Association of Counties website at www.csac.counties.org.

California's records are fairly complex, due in part to the nature of how counties were formed. Land was often added to the different counties several times for years after a county was formed. It is therefore an extremely subjective process to determine a beginning date for California's early records, a process that is complicated by the changes in jurisdiction during the territorial period, Mexican period, and the Spanish period, which all generated records. The result is that any inventory of beginning dates for county records will vary depending on how a county record is defined.

To address this problem, several published sources and Internet sites were consulted and compared to verify the county list that follows, including the following references:

  • Coy, Owen C. California County Boundaries: A Study of the Division of the State into Counties and the Subsequent Changes in Their Boundaries. Berkeley: California Historical Survey Commission, 1923.
  • . Guide to the County Archives of California. Sacramento: California State Printing Office, 1919.
  • Sperling, Muriel. Sources of Genealogical Help in California. Burbank, Calif.: The Southern California Genealogical Society, 1990. Reprinted 2000.
  • Nicklas, Laurie. The California Locator: A Directory of Public Records for Locating People Dead or Alive in California. Modesto, Calif.: Nicklas Publishing Co., 1996.


B3 || Plumas || 520 W Main St, Quincy 95971-9115|| 1854 || Butte ||1873 ||1854||1873||1854||1854||1854
Map County County Address Date Formed Parent County(ies) Birth Marriage Death Land Probate Court
D6 Alameda 1221 Oak St Ste 536, Oakland 94612-4224 1853 Contra Costa/ Santa Clara 1873 1853 1859 1853 1853 1853
D4 Alpine 99 Water St/ P.O. Box 158, Markleeville 91620-0158 1864 El Dorado/Amador/ Calaveras/ Tuolumne 1873 1864 1864 1864 1864 1864
C8 Amador 500 Argonaut Lane, Jackson 95642-6470 1854 Calaveras/El Dorado 1873 1854 1873 1854 1854 1854
Land from El Dorado was added in 1855 and again in 1857 and 1863
Branciforte (renamed Santa Cruz in 1850) original
C2 Butte 25 County Center Dr, Oroville 95965-3316 1850 original 1859 1851 1859 1846 1850 1850
C8 Calaveras 891 Mountain Ranch Road, San Adreas 95249-9713 1850 original 1858 1854 1858 1850 1866 1850
A6 Colusa 546 Jay St, Colusa 95932-2400 1850 original 1873 1873 1873 1844 1851 1851
Attached to Butte County for administration until it was organized in 1851. Land was later added from counties Yolo (1851), Butte (1856) , and Sutter (1856) .
D6 Contra Costa 651 Pine St. Rm 106, Martinez 94553-1229 1850 original 1850 1850 1850 1850 1850 1850
A1 Del Norte 555 H St, Crescent City 95531 1857 Klamath 1873 1857 1873 1853 1848 1848
Land was later added from counties Siskiyou (1887) and Humboldt (1901) .
B8 El Dorado 330 Fair Lane, Placerville 95667-4103 1850 original 1878 1851 1907 1851 1850 1850
Land from Placer County was added in 1863
G3 Fresno 2281 Tulare St, Fresno 93721 1856 Mariposa/Merced/Tulare 1873 1856 1873 1856 1880 1856
Land was later added from counties Merced (1856) and Tulare (1856)
C2 Glenn 526 W Sycamore St, Willows 95988-2746 1891 Colusa 1895 1891 1891 1891 1891 1891
Land from Mendocino County was added in 1907.
A1 Humboldt 825 Fifth St, Eureka 95501-1153 1853 Trinity 1873 1864 1873 1874 1853 1853
Land was later added from counties Mendocino (1860), Klamath (1875), and Del Norte (1901) .
G6 Inyo 168 N Edwards St, Independence 93526 1866 Tulare/Mono 1905 1873 1905 1866 1866 1866
Land was later added from counties Mono (1870) San Bernardino (1872) , and Kern (1872) .
H5 Kern 1115 Truxton Ave, Bakersfield 93301-4617 1866 Tulare/Los Angeles 1850 1850 1850 1850 1866 1866
Land from San Luis Obispo was added in 1866.
G4 Kings 1400 W Lacy Blvd, Hanford 93230-5905 1893 Tulare 1893 1893 1893 1893 1893 1893
Land from Fresno County was added in 1909.
Klamath 1851 Trinity
Abolished 1874; parts annexed to Humboldt and Siskiyou.
C1 Lake 255 N Forbes St, Lakeport 95453-4759 1861 Napa 1867 1867 1867 1867 1867 1867
Land was later added from counties Mendocino (1864) and Calusa (1868).
A3 Lassen 221 S. Roop St, Susanville 96130 1864 Plumas/Shasta 1864 1864 1874 1857 1864 1863
Land from Plumas County was added in 1872.
J5 Los Angeles 500 W Temple St, Los Angeles 90012-2713 1850 original 1849 1850 1874 1850 1850 1850
Land was later added from counties Mariposa (1851) and Santa Barbara (1851) .
F4 Madera 209 W Yosemite Ave, ,Madera 93637-3534 1893 Fresno 1883 1893 1892 1893 1893 1893
D1 Marin Civic Center, Rm 329, San Raphael 94903 1850 original 1868 1857 1873 1834 1850 1850
E4 Mariposa 5100 Bullion St, Mariposa 95338 1850 original 1873 1851 1873 1850 1850 1850
C1 Mendocino 501 Low Gap Rd, Ukiah 95482-3734 1850 original 1859 1859 1859 1852 1854 1858
Attached to Sonoma County from administrative purposes until 1859 .
F3 Merced 2222 M St, Merced 95340-3729 1855 Mariposa 1873 1855 1889 1856 1855 1855
A4 Modoc 204 Court St, Alturas 96101 1874 Siskiyou 1894 1874 1882 1874 1874 1874
E5 Mono P.O. Box 715, Bridgeport 93517 1861 Calaveras/Fresno/Mariposa 1873 1862 1877 1861 1864 1864
Land from Amador County was added in 1866 .
G2 Monterey 240 Church St, Salinas 93901-2695 1850 original 1824 1887 1887 1850* 1850 1850
*Alcalde records from 1781. See Land Records. Land from San Luis Obispo was added in 1863 and 1872 .
C6 Napa 1195 Third St Rm 310, Napa 94559-3035 1850 original 1868 1850 1873 1848 1851 1849
Land was added from counties Lake (1872) and Solano (1855)
A8 Nevada 950 Maidu Ave, Nevada City 95959-8617 1851 Yuba 1873 1856 1873 1856 1856 1856
Land was added from counties Yuba (1852) and Sierra (1856) .
K5 Orange 10 Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana 92701-4017 1889 Los Angeles 1887 1889 1889 1889 1889 1889
B8 Placer 175 Fulweiler Ave, Auburn 95603-4543 1851 Yuba/Sutter 1873 1851 1873 1851 1850 1852
Land was added from El Dorado County in 1913 .
Land was added from Sierra County in 1866.
K7 Riverside 4080 Lemon St, 14th Floor, Riverside 92501-3679 1893 San Diego/San Bernardino 1893 1893 1893 1893 1893 1893
C7 Sacramento 700 H St, Sacramento 95814-1216 1850 original 1858 1850 1850 1848 1849 1849
F2 San Benito 481 Fourth St, Hollister 95023-3840 1874 Monterey 1850 1874 1874 1850 1874 1874
Land was later added from counties Fresno (1887) and Merced (1887).
F2 San Benito 481 Fourth St, Hollister 95023-3840 1874 Monterey 1850 1874 1874 1850 1874 1874
J7 San Bernardino 385 N. Arrowhead Ave, San Bernardino 92415-0110 1853 Los Angeles 1854 1854 1873 1854 1856 1853
Land was from Los Angeles County in 1878.
K6 San Diego 1600 Pacific Hwy, San Diego 92101-2429 1850 original 1860 1850 1851 1850 1848 1855
F1 San Francisco 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlet Place, San Francisco 94102-4603 1850 original 1860 1850 1851 1850 1848 1855
Extensive record loss caused by the 1906 earthquake; some records re-registered.
D7 San Joaquin 222 E Weber Ave Rm 701, Stockton 95202-2709 1850 original 1860 1850 1858 1850 1850 1851
Land was later added from Sacramento County in 1878.
H3 San Luis Obispo 1050 Monterey Rm 370, San Luis Obispo 93408-2040 1850 original 1857 1850 1873 1881 1854 1854
Land was later added from counties Santa Barbara (1854 and 1872), Monterey (1861), and Kerns (1885).
E1 San Mateo 400 County Center, Redwood City 94063-1668 1856 San Francisco/Santa Cruz 1865 1853 1865 1856 1856 1871
Land from Santa Cruz County was added in 1868.
J3 Santa Barbara 105 E Anapamu St, Santa Barbara 93101-6054 1850 original 1859 1850 1873 1844* 1854 1850
*Alcalde records included from 1779. See Land Records
Land was added from San Luis Obispo in 1852 and 1872.
F2 Santa Clara 70 W Hedding St, San Jose 95110 1850 original 1873 1846 1873 1850 1850 1850
F2 Santa Cruz 701 Ocean St, Santa Cruz 95060-4003 1850 (as Branciforte; renamed, 1850) original 1873 1851 1873 1847* 1850 1850
*Alcalde records included from 1779. See Land Records
A2 Shasta 1815 Yuba St Ste 1, Redding 96001 1850 original 1873 1852 1873 1852 1850 1850
Land was added from Plumas County in 1872.
C3 Sierra P.O. Box D, Downieville 95936 1852 Yuba 1857 1853 1873 1852 1852 1852
Land was added from counties Yuba (1866) and Plumas (1863 and 1866).
A2 Siskiyou P.O. Box 338 Yreka 96097 1852 Shasta/Klamath 1850 1852 1873 1852 1852 1852
Land was added from counties Klamath (1875) and Del Norte (1887).
C6 Solano 580 Texas St, Fairfield 94533 1850 original 1873 1850 1873 1848 1850 1850
Land was added from More Island in Solano County in 1853.
D1 Sonoma 575 Administration Dr, Santa Rosa 95401 1850 original 1858 1846 1873 1841 1850 1848
Land was added from Mendocino County in 1855 and again in 1859.
E3, D7 Stanislaus 1010 Tenth St, Ste 6500, Modesto 95354 1854 Tuolumne/San Joaquin 1873 1854 1873 1854 1854 1854
Land was added from counties San Joaquin (1860) and Merced (1868).
B7 Sutter 1160 Civic Center Blvd, Yuba City 95993 1850 original 1873 1850 1873 1849 1872 1854
Land was later added from counties Placer (1866) and Butte (1852, 1854, and 1866).
B2 Tehama 332 Pine St/P.O. Box 250, Red Bluff 96080 1856 Colusa/Butte/Shasta 1889 1856 1889 1856 1856 1856
Land was later added from Shasta (1857) and Butte (1857).
B1 Trinity 101 Court St/P.O. Box 1613, Weaverville 96093 1850 original 1873 1857 1873 1855 1860 1854
For the first year of organization, Trinity County was attached to Shasta County.
Land was later added from counties Klamath (1855) and Mendocino (1860, 1872).
G4 Tulare 2800 W Burrel, Visalia 93291 1852 Mariposa 1852 1852 1873 1854 1854 1854
E4 Tuolumne 2 S. Green St, Sonora 95370 1850 original 1858 1850 1859 1850 1852 1852
J4 Ventura 800 S Victoria Ave, Ventura 93009 1872 San Luis Obispo/Santa Barbara 1873 1873 1872 1871* 1873 1873
*Alcalde records from 1782; county land records begin 1871.
Land was later added from Los Angeles County in 1881.
B6 Yolo 625 Court St, Woodland 95695 1850 original 1878 1878 1863 1849 1850 1850
Land was later added from Solano County in 1857
A7 Yuba 215 Fifth St, Marysville 95901 1850 original 1853 1851 1858 1850 1850 1851