Online California Death Indexes & Records
- California Vital Records Indexes at Ancestry (these require payment)
California Death Records Indexes, Obituaries & Cemeteries by County
- Alameda County...
- Alameda County: Berkeley Daily Gazette Obituary Index for assorted years 1894-1982
- Alameda County: Tri-Valley Newspapers Index of Obituaries, 1874-2004 (Livermore area) large PDF file
- Oakland, Alameda County, Newspaper Record Collection, 1985-2011 from FamilySearch; includes obituaries, birth and wedding announcements and anniversaries
- Oakland, Coroner Records Index, 1926-1994 from FamilySearch
- Alameda County: Genealogy Data Records for Eastern Alameda County includes cemetery records and obituaries indexes; from the Livermore-Amador Genealogical Society
- Alameda County Obituary Forms (index), 1968-1977 from the San Leandro Morning News and the Alameda Star Times newspapers
- Oakland, Mountain View Cemetery Records, 1857-1973 from FamilySearch
- Alameda County Cemeteries
- Amador County Cemeteries burial indexes, some with tombstone photos
- Anaheim - see Orange County below
- Bakersfield - see Kern County below
- Butte County Obituary and Cemetery Indexes from the Paradise Genealogical Society
- Butte County Vital Records Index, 1854-1897 from local newspapers
- Contra Costa County Obituary and Probate Indexes from the Contra Costa County Historical Society
- Fresno County...
- Humboldt County Wills Index for Feb. 26, 1855-Aug. 7, 1931; from the Humboldt County Historical Society
- Kern County...
- Lassen County...
- Lodi - see San Joaquin County below
- Los Angeles County...
- The Los Angeles section has moved to its own webpage...
- Marin County Genealogical Society Indexes includes Coroner's Inquest Records Index, 1941-1967; Wills Index, 1856-1908; and Probate Records Index, 1850-1940
- Mariposa County Databases includes some early obituaries
- Mendocino County...
- Merced County, California Deaths, 1852-1999 (requires payment - part of an Ancestry subscription)
- Modesto - see Stanislaus County below
- Monterey County...
- Napa County...
- Nevada County...
- Oakland - see the Alameda County section above
- Orange County (includes Anaheim, Costa Mesa, Cypress, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Santa Ana, and other cities)...
- Orange County Catholic Cemeteries - Burial Search
- Orange County Cemetery District - Burials includes Anaheim Cemetery, El Toro Memorial Park, and Santa Ana Cemetery
- Orange County Digitized Cemetery Records Index, 1802-1978 for Magnolia Memorial Park, St. John's Lutheran (sections I and II), El Toro, Holy Cross, San Juan Capistrano Mission, Yorba, Anaheim and Santa Ana Cemeteries. Coverage varies by cemetery. From the Orange County California Genealogical Society.
- Saddleback Valley News Vital Record Indexes, 1969-1989 indexes births, marriages and deaths listed in the newspaper; from the South Orange County California Genealogical Society
- For Forest Lawn Cemetery in Cypress, see the Los Angeles County link above
- Placer County...
- Riverside County...
- Sacramento County...
- San Benito County Registrar, Burial Permits, 1911-1948 from FamilySearch
- San Bernardino County...
- San Diego County...
- San Francisco County...
- California: County Birth, Marriage, and Death Records, 1849-1980 (at Ancestry/requires payment) includes death records for San Francisco, 1853-1905 (with gaps): early years (to 1874) are from deaths reported in the San Francisco Evening Bulletin; later years are death registers or mortuary registers; not complete: 1875-1881 is missing and there may be other gaps; also has BMD records for some other CA counties (coverage varies)
- San Francisco Death Records, 1865-1904 digitized microfilm of mortuary or death registers/indexes (1865-June 1904 with gaps), and death certificates (July-December 1904 only) from FamilySearch; images only/not searchable by name; some years are missing
- San Francisco County Genealogy Records, 1824-1997 from FamilySearch includes coroner's records, probate indexes, marriage licenses, and other items; coverage varies by type of record
- San Francisco Area Funeral Home and Mortuary Records at Ancestry...
- The San Francisco Morning Call and the Call and Post, 1878-1913 searchable newspapers; includes some birth, marriage and death notices (free to search)
- The San Francisco Call Database indexes births, marriages and deaths in this newspaper from 1869-1899 (fee required for full details)
- San Francisco: A List of Persons Who Died as a Result of the Great Earthquake and Fire, April 18, 1906
- Records From Tombstones in Laurel Hill Cemetery, 1853-1927
- Odd Fellows Cemetery San Francisco Registry, 1865-1906 A PDF that lists burials from the Odd Fellows memorial cemetery in San Francisco that were reinterred at Greenlawn Memorial Park in Colma, San Mateo County, California.
- San Joaquin County...
- San Mateo County...
- Santa Ana - see Orange County above
- Santa Barbara County...
- Santa Clara County...
- Santa Cruz County...
- Shasta County Registered Deaths, 1890-1997 may not be complete
- Siskiyou County...
- Solano County...
- Sonoma County, Sebastopol, Evergreen Lawn Cemetery Burial Records, 1800-2010 at FamilySearch
- Sonoma County: Sebastopol Memorial Lawn (Evergreen Lawn) Cemetery Log Book, August 29, 1915-December 30, 1935 scanned book at the Internet Archive
- Stanislaus County (Modesto)...
- Stockton - see San Joaquin County above
- Tulare County...
- Tuolumne County: City of Sonora Cemetery Burials includes Old City Cemetery and Hebrew Cemetery
- Ventura County...
- Yolo County: Davis Cemetery District Burials Index
General California Death and Burial Databases
- California Cemetery Transcriptions, 1850-1960 at FamilySearch; Includes some cemeteries in Amador, Fresno, Los Angeles, Mariposa, Merced, Napa, Riverside, Sacramento, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Siskiyou, Solano, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tulare, Yolo, and Yuba counties. Coverage varies by cemetery.
- California, Death and Burial Records from Select Counties, 1873-1987 at Ancestry/requires payment; for Butte, Colusa, El Dorado, Fresno, Santa Clara, Stanislaus, Sutter, and Yolo Counties; and the Portuguese Union of California; coverage varies by county and organization
- California Deaths and Burials, 1776-2000 general collection with over 500,000 entries from FamilySearch
Also Helpful...
- California Vital Records Indexes - Birth, Marriage and Death Records
- Ancestry's California Genealogy Records Collection (requires payment) includes census records, WWI draft cards, WWII army enlistments, vital records, city directories, and historical newspapers
- Online California Naturalization Records and Indexes
- Early California Population Project contains baptism, marriage, and burial records in the California mission registers from 1769-1850, documenting nearly 110,000 early residents
Ordering California Death Certificates & Vital Records
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