Death records from various counties prior to July 1905 when the state of CA began indexing the deaths of the state. California became a state in 1850 with 27 original counties. Although the state mandated the keeping of records, this mandate was NOT enforced and therefore each county kept records according to the whim of the local County Recorder. Today, there are 58 counties from that original 27. Thus, some counties will have records from an earlier date than others, depending upon both whimsy and the inception date of individual counties.  Very few, if any, records are available before the 1860s. Please use the map link above the Table of Counties to see how the counties have changed over time.

Even though we present it to you freely, obtaining this information has been very costly. Thousands of hours of drudge work and a considerable amount of dollars have been spent just on postage alone. Many people are involved in helping to make this information free to the researcher.  If you feel moved to donate some funds, we will gladly accept. Please contact Elvina.

For more information or to volunteer to help in any way you can, please contact: