California Church Records
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Historical Background[edit | edit source]
The largest religious denominations by number of adherents as a percentage of California's population in 2014 were the Catholic Church with 28 percent, Evangelical Protestants with 20 percent, and Mainline Protestants with 10 percent. Together, all kinds of Protestants accounted for 32 percent. Those unaffiliated with any religion represented 27 percent of the population.
According to the Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) the largest denominations by adherents in 2010 were the Roman Catholic Church with 10,233,334; The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with 763,818; and the Southern Baptist Convention with 489,953.
The first priests to come to California were Roman Catholic missionaries from Spain. Roman Catholics founded 21 missions along the California coast, as well as the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco. California continues to have a large Roman Catholic population due to the large numbers of Mexicans and Central Americans living within its borders. California has twelve dioceses and two archdioceses, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the Archdiocese of San Francisco, the former being the largest archdiocese in the United States. [1]
Information Found in the Records[edit | edit source]
To effectively use church records, become familiar with their content. Click on these links to learn about a specific record type:
Finding the Records[edit | edit source]
Look for online records.[edit | edit source]
Ancestry.com, FindMyPast.com, and MyHeritage.com can be searched free of charge at your local family history center or the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.
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Online databases are incomplete. This can lead to two common errors:
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- Early California Population Project Database of information contained in early mission records.
=FamilySearch Historical Records[edit | edit source]
- 1864-1985 - California, Church Records, 1864-1985 at FamilySearch — index
Roman Catholic[edit | edit source]
The first Catholic missions were organized in 1769. Most of the mission records begin in 1770 and are on film. The Family History Library and the Bancroft Library have extensive collections of the early records. For the index to these records, see:
- Temple, Thomas W. An Alphabetical Listing of the California Mission Vital Records. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1985. FHL Collection 1307621 item 4; fiche 6047009
The following sources may help you find Catholic mission records:
- Weber, Francis J. A Select Guide to California Catholic History. Los Angeles, Calif.: Westernlore Press, 1966. FHL Collection 979.4 K21c
- Bowman, J.N. "The Parochial Books of the California Missions, 1961," The Quarterly (Historical Society of Southern California)], Vol. 43, No. 3. FHL Collection 979.4 B2s
- Barton, Noel R. "Genealogical Research in the Records of the California Missions," Genealogical Journal, Vol. 4, No. 1. FHL Collection 973 D25gj v. 3-4 (1974-1975)
Many original mission records and other Catholic records have been gathered into central repositories. These include:
Santa Barbara (Old Mission)
Old Mission Santa Barbara
2201 Laguna Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93105
Phone: (805) 682-4713
E-mail: research@sbmal.org
A guide to this extensive collection is:
- Geiger, Maynard J. Calendar of Documents in the Santa Barbara Mission Archives. Washington: Academy of American Franciscan History, 1947. FHL Collection 979.491 A5. Contact the Santa Barbara Mission Archives to ask if a more recent list has been compiled.
Diocese of Fresno Archives
1550 North Fresno Street
Fresno, CA 93703-3788
Phone: (559) 488-3788
The diocese includes the counties of: Fresno, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced and Tulare.[2]
Archdiocese of Los Angeles
3424 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90010-2202
Phone: (213) 637-7000
E-mail: info@la-archdiocese.org
Archival Center for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles
15151 San Fernando Mission Boulevard
Mission Hills, CA 91345
Phone: (818) 365-1501
Fax: (818) 361-3276
The Archdiocese includes the counties of: Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Ventura.[2]
Diocese of Monterey
P.O. Box 2048
Monterey, CA 93942
Phone: (831) 373-4345
The diocese includes the counties of: Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Benito and San Luis Obispo.[2]
Diocese of Oakland
2121 Harrison St., Sutie 100
Oakland, CA 94612
Phone: (510) 893-4711
The diocese includes the counties of: Alameda and Contra Costa.[2]
Diocese of Orange
2811 East Villa Real Drive
Orange, CA 92867-1999
Phone: (714) 282-3000
Mailing Address
P.O. Box 14195
Orange, CA 92863-1595
The diocese includes the county of: Orange.[2]
Diocese of Sacramento Historical Archives
2110 Broadway
Sacramento, CA 95818
Phone: (916) 733-0299
The diocese includes the counties of: Amador, Butte, Colusa, El Dorado, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Solano, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity and Yolo.[2]
Diocese of San Bernardino Archives Office
1201 E. Highland Ave.
San Bernardino, CA 92404
Phone: (909) 475-5399
The diocese includes the counties of: Riverside and San Bernardino.[2]
Diocese of San Diego
3888 Paducah Drive
San Diego, CA 92117
Mailing Address
P.O. Box 85728
San Diego, CA 92186-5728
Phone: (858) 490-8200
Fax: (858) 490-8272
The diocese includes the counties of: Imperial and San Diego.[2]
Archdiocese of San Francisco Archives
St. Patrick Seminary
320 Middlefield Road
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Phone: (650) 328-6502
The Archdiocese includes the counties of: Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo.[2]
Diocese of San Jose
1150 North 1st Street, Suite 100
San Jose, CA 95112-4966
Phone: (408) 983-0295
The diocese includes the county of: Santa Clara.[2]
Diocese of Santa Rosa
985 Airway Court
Santa Rosa, CA 95403
Phone: (707) 545-7610
Mailing Address
P.O. Box 1297
Santa Rosa, CA 95402
The diocese includes the counties of: DelNorte, Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Napa and Sonoma.[2]
Diocese of Stockton
1105 North Lincoln Street
Stockton, CA 95203
Phone: (209) 466-0636
The diocese includes the counties of: Alpine, Calaveras, Mono, San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Tuolumne.[2]
Methodist[edit | edit source]
Holt-Atherton Church Archives
University of the Pacific
3601 Pacific Avenue
Stockton, CA 95211
Phone: (209) 946-2404
Fax: (209) 946-2810
Presbyterian[edit | edit source]
San Francisco Theological Seminary Library
105 Seminary Road
San Anselmo, CA 94960
Phone: (415) 451-2845
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America[edit | edit source]
Region 2 Archives(Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming)
Carol Schmalenberger
ELCA Region 2 Archives
Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary
2770 Marin Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94708-1597
(510) 524-5264
E-mail: archives@plts.edu
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons)[edit | edit source]
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Early, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church records for California Wards and Branches can be found on film and are located at the Family History Library of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City. The film numbers, for each ward, can be locate through the FamilySearch Catalog. Or by refering to Jaussi, Laureen R., and Gloria D. Chaston. Register of Genealogical Society Call Numbers. 2 vols. Provo, Utah: Genealogy Tree, 1982. (FHL book 979.2258 A3j; fiche 6031507). These volumes contain the film numbers for many (but not all) membership and temple record films
A wiki article describing an online collection is found at:
California Births and Christenings (FamilySearch Historical Records).
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ "California: Religion", in Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California#Religion, accessed 27 June 2020.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 Map of the Roman Catholic Dioceses in the United States of America, Office of Catholic Schools Diocese of Columbus, accessed 3 Nov 2010.
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