California Fast Facts and Key Resources

• Statehood: 1850First federal census: 1850
• Available state census: 1852 (1849 for US territory census)
• Statewide birth and death records begin: 1905
• Statewide marriage records begin: 1905
• Public-land state
• Counties: 58 (27 original counties)
• Contact for vital records: California Department of Health Services, Office of Vital Records, MS 5103, Box 997410, Sacramento, CA 95899, (916) 445-2684

Websites

• California County information: Click on California’s Counties.
• California Genealogy
• California GenWeb Project
• Early Arrivals Record Search
• Virtual Museum of San Francisco
• Online Archive of California
• San Francisco Genealogy

Publications

• The California Indians: A Source Book edited by Robert Fleming Heizer (University of California Press)
• California Pioneer Register and Index, 1542-1848 by Hubert H. Bancroft (Janaway Publishing)
• California Place Names: The Origin and Etymology of Current Geographical Names by Erwin G. Gudde and William Bright (University of California Press)
• Rush for Riches: Gold Fever and the Making of California by J.S. Holiday (University of California Press)
• Spanish Mexican Families of Early California by Marie E. Northrop (Southern California Genealogical Society

Archives & Organizations

• Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94704, (510) 642-3781
• California Genealogical Society, 2201 Broadway, Ste LL2, Oakland, CA 94612, (510) 663-1358
• California Historical Society, 678 Mission St., San Francisco, CA 94105, (415) 357-1848
• California State Archives and Museum, 1020 O St., Sacramento, CA 95814, (916) 653-7715
• California State Library, California History Room, Rm 200, 900 North St., Sacramento, CA 95814, (916) 654-0176
• California State Library, Sutro Library, 1630 Holloway Ave, San Francisco, CA 94132, (415) 469-6100
• Los Angeles Regional Family History Center, 10741 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025, (310) 474-9990
• NARA Pacific Region, Riverside, 23123 Cajalco Road, Perris, CA 92570, (951) 956-2000
• NARA Pacific Region, San Francisco, 1000 Commodore Drive, San Bruno, CA 94066, (650) 238-3501

Timeline

1542: Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo arrives in San Diego

1579: Sir Francis Drake lands north of San Francisco and claims the territory for England

1769: Father Junipero establishes California’s first mission, San Diego de Alcala

1812: Russian fur traders found Fort Ross in what’s now Sonoma County

1821: Mexico wins independence from Spain and takes control of California

1846: Americans establish California Republic

1860: The Pony Express arrives in Sacramento

1887: Prohibitionist Horace Wilcox founds Hollywood

1910: Angel Island immigration station opens

1937: Golden Gate Bridge is completed

1967: Up to 100,000 converge on San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district for the Summer of Love

 

1989: The 7.1-magnitude Loma Prieta earthquake hits San Francisco

 

Modern County Boundaries Map

 

 

View a detailed 1908 map of California on the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection website.

 

From the January/February 2017 issue of Family Tree Magazine.