California Birth Records 1905-1995
Do you have any relative born in the state of California between 1905 and 1995 (most of the 20th century)? Those records are in the form of an index collection which includes the name of the child, name of the mother, date of birth, and county and covers about 24,614,871 California births.
The index is part of the online ‘American Ancestors.org‘. Call up the database to search. Place a surname plus a span of years, say a birth between 1910 and 1920. You will then get a list that match the name, date or any other info you placed in the search.
For example, just placing the surname ‘Kershaw’ for any dates produced nearly 21,000 results. So you see, narrow down the search some with dates or if there is an unusual given name, use that also. If you find one of interest, you can log in as a ‘guest’ to search further. You can sign up to be a paid member and have great access to their various databases.
More important is that this full database of births in California from 1905 to 1995 is also on FamilySearch.org — free. Same thing, place a surname. In this case with FamilySearch.org, the surname of ‘Kershaw’ produced 2,345 results.
Reminder all are an index, not the original birth certificate. However, it can supply information you did not have yet. The full name of the baby, the mother’s maiden name, place and date of birth also will be on the index. In the search the surname you placed, if it was the mother’s maiden name, it will show also, even if she was not born in California.
The beginning date of 1905 represents when official records were kept for California births. For those adopted, people who have been adopted are sometimes listed by their birth name, sometimes listed by their adopted name, sometimes by both and sometimes not listed at all, so it can be more difficult. Even families from other states or countries, many moved to California in the 1930s, followed by the birth of children / grandchildren in California.
Photos: 1946 Robert Ellis Kershaw Index; children at play in Whittier, California in the 1910s; Ferndale California in early 1920s; and in the 1930s many migrant farm families move to California.
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