California Research Tips and Strategies

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Research Tips and Strategies

California Research Strategies

Below are links to different research strategy pages to help you locate your ancestors in California:

California Online Genealogy Records

How to find California Birth Records

How to find California Marriage Records

How to find California Death Records

California Research Tips

These tips will help you as you research your ancestors in California.

Birth information: Birth records in California start on the county level in 1905 - although not all counties complied with the law. A helpful substitute record to find birth information is a death record. However, date and place of birth on a death record is considered secondary information, as it was not recorded at the time of the birth event. The birth information should be corroborated with other substitute records to improve accuracy.
Finding Parents: The State of California began recording deaths in 1905. They often will list the parents of the deceased and their birth information. Search California death records
Look in all censuses: Always look for your ancestor in every possible census. There are clues regarding immigration, naturalization, and occupation that can lead to other records. Sometimes parents can be found living with their children later in life. Search U.S. Censuses.

[STATE] Record Finder

This brief Record Finder is designed to help you determine the best record to search for the type of information you are looking for. It is most helpful for post-1850 research. For a more complete Record Finder, covering additional research needs, see [[[STATE] Record Finder]].

1. What you are looking for:	2. Try these records first:	3. Other useful records
Birth information	[[How to Find [STATE] Birth Records\|Birth records]] [[How to Find [STATE] Death Records\|Death records]] [[[STATE] Obituaries\|Obituaries]] [[[STATE] Church Records\|Church records]]	[[[STATE] Cemeteries\|Cemeteries]] [[[STATE] Naturalization and Citizenship\|Naturalization and Citizenship]] [[[STATE] Bible Records\|Bible records]] [[[STATE] Military Records\|Military records]]
Marriage information	[[How to Find [STATE] Marriage Records\|Marriage records]] [[[STATE] Obituaries\|Obituaries]] [[[STATE] Bible Records\|Bible records]]	[[[STATE] Church Records\|Church records]] [[[STATE] Probate Records\|Probate records]] [[[STATE] Military Records\|Military records]]
Death information	[[How to Find [STATE] Death Records\|Death Records]] [[[STATE] Cemeteries\|Cemeteries]] [[[STATE] Obituaries\|Obituaries]]	[[[STATE] Probate Records\|Probate Records]] [[[STATE] Church Records\|Church Records]] [[[STATE] Bible Records\|Bible Records]]
Parents	[[How to Find [STATE] Birth Records\|Birth records]] [[How to Find [STATE] Death Records\|Death records]] [[[STATE] Obituaries\|Obituaries]] [[[STATE] Census\|Census]] [[[STATE] Church Records\|Church records]]	[[[STATE] Biography\|Biography]] [[[STATE], United States Genealogy\|Genealogy]]
Maiden name	[[How to Find [STATE] Marriage Records\|Marriage Records]] [[[STATE] Obituaries\|Obituaries]] [[[STATE] Probate Records\|Probate records]]	[[[STATE] Church Records\|Church Records]] [[[STATE] Military Records\|Military Records]]
Immigration date	[[[STATE] Emigration and Immigration\|Emigration and Immigration]] [[[STATE] Naturalization and Citizenship\|Naturalization and Citizenship]] [[[STATE] Census\|Census]]	[[[STATE] Obituaries\|Obituaries]] [[[STATE] Biography\|Biography]] [[[STATE] History\|History]]
Naturalization	[[[STATE] Naturalization and Citizenship\|Naturalization and Citizenship]] [[[STATE] Census\|Census]] [[[STATE] Court Records\|Court Records]]	[[[STATE] Voting Records\|Voting Records]] [[[STATE] Biography\|Biography]] [[[STATE] Periodicals\|Periodicals]]
Physical description	[[[STATE] Military Records\|Military Records]] [[[STATE] Naturalization and Citizenship\|Naturalization and Citizenship]] (after 1906)	[[[STATE] Biography\|Biography]] [[[STATE] History\|History]]

Further [STATE] Research

Remember, for a more complete Record Finder, covering additional research needs, see [[[STATE] Record Finder]].
For online record collections, go to [[[STATE] Online Genealogy Records|[STATE] Online Genealogy Records.]]
For more research on [STATE], including research at the county level, visit the [[[STATE], United States Genealogy|[STATE]]] page on the Research Wiki.
Search all of the California record collections at FamilySearch.

1. What you are looking for:	2. Try these records first:	3. Other useful records
Birth information	[[How to Find [STATE] Birth Records\|Birth records]] [[How to Find [STATE] Death Records\|Death records]] [[[STATE] Obituaries\|Obituaries]] [[[STATE] Church Records\|Church records]]	[[[STATE] Cemeteries\|Cemeteries]] [[[STATE] Naturalization and Citizenship\|Naturalization and Citizenship]] [[[STATE] Bible Records\|Bible records]] [[[STATE] Military Records\|Military records]]
Marriage information	[[How to Find [STATE] Marriage Records\|Marriage records]] [[[STATE] Obituaries\|Obituaries]] [[[STATE] Bible Records\|Bible records]]	[[[STATE] Church Records\|Church records]] [[[STATE] Probate Records\|Probate records]] [[[STATE] Military Records\|Military records]]
Death information	[[How to Find [STATE] Death Records\|Death Records]] [[[STATE] Cemeteries\|Cemeteries]] [[[STATE] Obituaries\|Obituaries]]	[[[STATE] Probate Records\|Probate Records]] [[[STATE] Church Records\|Church Records]] [[[STATE] Bible Records\|Bible Records]]
Parents	[[How to Find [STATE] Birth Records\|Birth records]] [[How to Find [STATE] Death Records\|Death records]] [[[STATE] Obituaries\|Obituaries]] [[[STATE] Census\|Census]] [[[STATE] Church Records\|Church records]]	[[[STATE] Biography\|Biography]] [[[STATE], United States Genealogy\|Genealogy]]
Maiden name	[[How to Find [STATE] Marriage Records\|Marriage Records]] [[[STATE] Obituaries\|Obituaries]] [[[STATE] Probate Records\|Probate records]]	[[[STATE] Church Records\|Church Records]] [[[STATE] Military Records\|Military Records]]
Immigration date	[[[STATE] Emigration and Immigration\|Emigration and Immigration]] [[[STATE] Naturalization and Citizenship\|Naturalization and Citizenship]] [[[STATE] Census\|Census]]	[[[STATE] Obituaries\|Obituaries]] [[[STATE] Biography\|Biography]] [[[STATE] History\|History]]
Naturalization	[[[STATE] Naturalization and Citizenship\|Naturalization and Citizenship]] [[[STATE] Census\|Census]] [[[STATE] Court Records\|Court Records]]	[[[STATE] Voting Records\|Voting Records]] [[[STATE] Biography\|Biography]] [[[STATE] Periodicals\|Periodicals]]
Physical description	[[[STATE] Military Records\|Military Records]] [[[STATE] Naturalization and Citizenship\|Naturalization and Citizenship]] (after 1906)	[[[STATE] Biography\|Biography]] [[[STATE] History\|History]]