California Newspaper Obituaries (1865 - Current)

Reading California newspapers online can help you learn more about your ancestors through obituaries, without having to manually flick through each newspaper. With a quick search, you can explore over 16,000 newspapers that cover years of U.S. history.

Here are some reasons why looking up obituaries is helpful for your search:

• It helps you map out your entire family tree.
• You can find relatives you didn’t know about.
• It reveals stories of family members from the past.
• GenealogyBank holds records that are mostly unavailable elsewhere.

How to Search for California Obituaries

Simply begin by entering the last name of the relative you’re curious about and click the "Search” button. This basic step can lead you to more information about your family's last names and history.

For a more detailed search, follow these steps:

• Step 1: Type in the first and last name to pull up similar obituaries.
• Step 2: Add a keyword like a town or school to focus your search.
• Step 3: Remove certain keywords to avoid cities or towns you’re not interested in.
• Step 4: Limit your search to a specific time period if you have dates in mind.
• Step 5: Decide how to sort the results: oldest first, newest first, or best matches.

Extra Tips To Guide Your Searches

Discovering precise information about certain family members can be tough if the data is missing or misspelt. Try these steps to refine your search:

• Start with what you know from recent family members to find the correct obituary.
• Try searching by initials if full names don’t work, as older records often used initials.
• Look for a husband’s name when researching female relatives.
• Search by just a name and date range to catch any potential misspellings or similar names.

Other resources you can consider adding to your search include:

• U.S. Newspaper Archives
• Records of Births, Marriages, and Passengers
• Government Publications
• Social Security Death Index
• U.S. Cultural Archives

While researching your ancestry, you should try out other repositories to support and extend the information you have gathered. The Genealogy Bank Learning Center is available to you free of charge with lots of top recommendations on how to improve your searches.