California State Facts & Information

California, state in the western United States, bordering the Pacific Ocean. The third largest state in the Union, California covers an area of great physical diversity in which uplands dominate the landscape. The mountains, hills, ridges, and peaks of California flank the coastline, rise to nearly 4,600 m (15,000 ft) in the towering Sierra Nevada, encircle the great fertile basin of the Central Valley, and separate the desert into innumerable basins. However, despite the physical dominance and economic value of the uplands, California’s urban areas and economic production are concentrated in the valleys and lowlands, such as in the huge metropolitan region centered on Los Angeles, the state’s largest and the nation’s second largest city. Manufacturing, agriculture, and related activities are the principal sources of income. They are based in large part on the state’s wealth of natural resources, its productive farmlands, its large and highly skilled labor force, and its ability to market its output both at home and abroad.

California’s size, complexity, and economic productivity make it preeminently a state of superlatives. It has the lowest point in the country, in Death Valley, and the highest U.S. peak outside of Alaska, Mount Whitney. Among the 50 states it has the greatest number of national parks and national forests, and the only stand of giant sequoias. Its annual farm output is greater in value than that of any other state, and it leads the rest of the nation in the production of many crops. It is the leading state in volume of annual construction and manufacturing. California has more people than any other state and more automobiles, more civil aircraft, and more students enrolled in universities and colleges.

Between the late 1940s and late 1980s the rate of growth and actual growth of California’s population and economy were phenomenal compared with other states. However, this growth also gave rise to, or aggravated, several major problems that now face Californians. Much of the growth occurred in the dry south where water shortages must be offset by vast, expensive public projects delivering water from the wetter north. Urban centers extended outward into good farmland, forever removing it from food production. In addition, as population continues to increase, California is faced with the problem of providing its inhabitants with more schools, hospitals, water, highways, recreational facilities, and other services.

The name California was first used to designate the region by the Spanish expedition led by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, as it sailed northward along the coast from Mexico in 1542. The name itself was probably derived from a popular Spanish novel published in 1510 in which a fictional island paradise named California was described. The state’s official nickname is the Golden State, referring to the gold rush, which played a central role in California’s entry into the Union on September 9, 1850, as the 31st state. The nickname also suggests the state’s golden fields and sunshine. The Official State Website is http://www.ca.gov/

In 1769 a small group of military men and missionaries, sent by the Spanish crown, arrived at what was to become San Diego. California was inhabited at that time by various indigenous tribes. It was Spain's goal to conquer the natives and settle the area. They built missions a day's journey apart on El Camino Real (the King's Highway) in fertile valleys beside permanent streams. Inhabitants raised crops and livestock. Several missions were destroyed when a severe earthquake struck in 1812. However, construction continued until the Mexican government secularized the mission holdings in 1833 and the land passed into private ownership. Citizens of Spain and Mexico occupied the coastal area between San Diego and San Francisco Bay.

The first considerable gold discovery in California was made thirty-five miles north of Los Angeles in 1842 by a Mexican rancher named Francisco Lopez. This was followed by a larger discovery at Sutter's Mill in Coloma in 1848. California is not only known for its yellow ore. California's reputation as the "Golden State" came from the early sea otter and cattle-hide trade, the black gold of oil, the fruit growing industry in Southern California, and the large development of agriculture state-wide beginning in the nineteenth century.

In 1800 the Russian American Fur Company of Alaska loaned twenty Aleut natives to a New England ship captain to engage in the illegal but highly successful hunting of sea otters off the California coast. The Russians followed and built Fort Ross about eighty miles north of San Francisco Bay; some of their descendants are living in the area today.

On 31 July 1846, over 200 Mormons from New York landed in San Francisco after sailing around Cape Horn. These Mormons decided to stay on the Coast and worked in lumber camps on the Marin Peninsula across the Golden Gate from San Francisco.

Following the discovery of gold and the Mexican War in 1848, the United States acquired all of the southwestern Mexican possessions. A large number of immigrants, including a substantial influx of Italians, began arriving in California after the declaration of statehood on 9 September 1850. The acquisition of the southwestern lands resulted in many land claims, and much litigation was required both in the courts and in the regulatory agencies before these cases were adjudicated. Not until March, 1851 did Congress send land commissioners west to review all grant titles.

The Central Railroad (later Southern Pacific), after its completion in May 1869, brought thousands of new migrants and goods westward. Numerous towns grew up along the transcontinental route. Thousands of Chinese migrated to California providing cheap labor in the mines as well as on the railroads. Mormon migrating to the West added more to the population.

The most severe earthquake in California's recorded history occurred on 18 April 1906. The city of San Francisco was almost totally destroyed by the quake, and the subsequent fire caused the loss of much of the city as well as many important records.

The depression of the 1920s and drought of the 1930s were followed, with the advent of World War II, by an ever-growing demand for labor and military and naval personnel. Since 1945 the growth of the state has been phenomenal. The census bureau counted more than twenty-three million residents in 1980, increasing about three million since the 1970 enumeration. While early settlers may have been drawn to California for fishing, hunting otters, raising livestock, searching for gold, and engaging in grain agriculture, in this century many have been attracted to the “Golden State” because of the rapidly expanding markets for cotton, fruit, nuts, and vegetables, and the entertainment, aerospace and technological (computer) industries.

About California's Original 27 Counties

On January 4, 1850, a committee of California's first constitutional convention, chaired by General Mariano Vallejo, recommended the creation of eighteen counties. They were Benicia, Butte, Fremont, Los Angeles, Mariposa, Monterey, Mt. Diablo, Oro, Redding, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Jose, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Sonoma, and Sutter.

Between January 4 and February 18, 1850, the California legislature added nine counties to the list recommended by General Vallejo's committee, some of the changes based on additional recommendations by the committee. The nine added counties were Branciforte, Calaveras, Coloma, Colusi, Marin, Mendocino, Napa, Trinity, and Yuba. This brought the total number of counties to 27. The legislature also approved several name changes. Benicia was renamed El Dorado, Fremont was renamed Yola, Mt. Diablo was renamed Contra Costa, San Jose was renamed Santa Clara, Oro was renamed Tuolumne, and Redding was renamed Shasta.

Effective February 18, 1850, twenty-seven counties were created in California. The new counties were Branciforte, Butte, Calaveras, Colusi, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Los Angeles, Marin, Mariposa, Mendocino, Monterey, Napa, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Solano, Sonoma, Sutter, Trinity, Tuolumne, Yola, and Yuba.

In early 1850, not long after the legislature adopted its first statute creating counties, new statutes were adopted changing some county names. Branciforte was changed to Santa Cruz, Colusi was changed to Colusa, and Yola was changed to Yolo.

On September 9, 1850, California became the State of California with the same twenty-seven counties. Of the original 27 counties, after 1850 only Marin neither added nor lost significant land to another county. Of the 32 California counties created after 1850, only seven counties neither added nor lost significant land to another county. The seven are Alameda, Alpine, Imperial, Madera, Modoc, Orange, and Riverside.

In addition to the substantial territorial changes listed, many small changes were made to boundaries. Several of these small changes were made at the time of the creation of new counties. Original county boundaries often followed geographic features such as mountain ridges. In the middle of the last half of the nineteenth century many of these boundaries were changed slightly so that they now run along township lines and section lines.

Ethnic Groups

California's Native American population was unique in that there were many small tribes living a pastoral life when the Spaniards, founding missions and presidios, arrived. The missions fell into decay, and the natives dispersed after the Mexican revolution. By the time of the first census in 1850, California's non-native population had swelled to 92,600. Of this population, 70,000 were Americans living mostly in Northern California.

Migrants, from every ethnic group in the country, continued to arrive at roughly the rate of 300,000 annually until 1900. Many were farmers from the southern tier of the United States including Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. The population increased at an even higher rate for the next four decades.

Chinese, Japanese, Hindus, and other Asians from many eastern lands came to work on the railroad projects and were subject to the prejudices of the resident population. The Okies of the Depression years were at first welcomed, but by 1938 they, too, had become liabilities. The Golden Promised Land, as California has been thought of, has not always been a paradise for minority groups. This situation changed somewhat when the demand for workers rose abruptly in World War II. In modern times, the presence of black Americans, Mexicans, Latin Americans, and Southeast Asians has been, in many quarters, as unwelcome as that of their predecessors. Fortunately, the public records of California include all ethnic groups, and most libraries can be helpful in focusing research on any particular group. In addition to Ryskamp's resource guide, the following are sources or contain background information for some California ethnic groups.

• Beasely, Delilah Leontium. The Negro Trail Blazers of California. New York: Negro University Press, 1969.
• Burchell, R. A. The San Francisco Irish, 1848–1880. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1980.
• Goode, Kenneth G. California's Black Pioneers: A Brief Historical Survey. Santa Barbara, Calif.: McNally & Loftin, 1974.
• Nicosia, Francesco M. Italian Pioneers of California. Italian American Chamber of Commerce of the Pacific Coast, 1960.
• Northrop, Marie E. Spanish-Mexican Families of Early California: 1769–1850. Vol. 1 Burbank, Calif.: Southern California Genealogical Society, 1986. Spanish-Mexican Families of Early California: 1769–1850. Vol. 2. Burbank, Calif.: Southern California Genealogical Society, 1984.

For research on Native Americans in California, contact the American Indian Council of Central California, P.O. Box 3341, Bakersfield, California 93385, or the California Native American Heritage Commission, 915 Capitol Mall, Sacramento, California 95814. Also, Albert L. Hurtado, Indian Survival on the California Frontier (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1988), may be helpful.

Gold Rush

For anyone seeking an ancestor who left for the California gold fields in 1848–50, it would be wise to examine the emigrant companies from Massachusetts and the available lists of Argonauts. Northern California pioneers were called Argonauts in reference to those in ancient Greek mythology who sailed with Jason on the ship Argo. Octavius Thorndike Howe's Argonauts of '49: History and Adventures of the Emigrant Companies from Massachusetts, 1849–1850 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1923) includes a list of the mining companies going from Massachusetts to California in 1849. The list gives the name of the company, the ship's name, the ship's master, and the date of sailing. It catalogs 124 sailings and the number of persons in the company.

In 1890 Charles Warren Haskins published his personal memoirs, The Argonauts of California. Being the Reminiscences of Scenes and Incidents that Occurred in California in Early Mining Days; by a Pioneer (New York: Fords, Howard & Hulbert, 1890). In his narrative, Haskins included the names of number of persons who arrived in California from both land and sea routes. Original sources are not indicated for entries because many sources which might have been used were lost in the San Francisco earthquake and fire. J. Carlyle Parker's preface in Society of California Pioneers' Index to the Argonauts of California, (New Orleans, La.: Polyanthos Press, 1975) is a discussion the problems with Argonaut lists and has an index.

The Libera Martina Spinazze index cards were deposited in the California State Library and, in time, the Sequoia Chapter, DAR, acquired four incomplete copies of these files. The files were finally completed and bound into four sets, copies of which were given by the DAR to the DAR Library in Washington, D.C., the Bancroft Library at the University of California at Berkeley, the California Historical Society, the California State Library in Sacramento, and the Los Angeles Public Library.

The 1852 census, the card catalog, and manuscript and published material in the California State Library are other useful sources regarding the gold rush era. The Bancroft collection of diaries at the University of California, Berkeley, is also useful. The San Joaquin Genealogical Society published five volumes of probate records, newspapers, and vital records, covering the period of 1850–66 for their county in Gold Rush Days, is available from Western Reserve Historical Society, 10825 East Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio 44106.

The following pages in the table below is a listing of the extant vital, land, probate, and court records for each county. Some counties encompass land settled in the eighteenth century; their records pre-date county formation. Land transactions and vital records recorded in the county are at the county recorder's office. The county clerk general has probate books and files from the county's superior court, civil court records, and naturalizations. Divorces may be in either place, depending on how filed.

The California State Archives has microfilm of selected county records, 1850–1919, reproduced by the Utah State Genealogical Society and available through the FHL.

California Discontinued Counties

 

This section provides an list of California counties that no longer exist. They were established by the state, provincial, or territorial government. Most of these counties were created and disbanded in the 19th century; county boundaries have changed little since 1900 in the vast majority of states.

• Branciforte County was one of the original 27 counties adopted by statutes of 1850, but soon after that the legislature changed the name to Santa Cruz County.
• Coloma County was a county proposed by a committee of the California Constitutional Convention. Before the statute was adopted, the legislature changed the name to El Dorado County.
• Coso County was approved by the State Legislature which designated territory in Mono County and Tulare County to be in the new county with the county seat at Bend City. Coso County, however, was never organized. In 1866 substantially the same territory was created as Inyo County.
• Fremont County was a county proposed by a committee of the California Constitutional Convention. Before the statute was adopted, the legislature changed the name to Yola County and later changed the name to Yolo County.
• Klamath County was created on 1851 from the northern half of Trinity County. In 1857 Klamath County lost significant territory to the newly formed Del Norte County. In 1875 Klamath County was abolished and its territory was divided between Humboldt County and Siskiyou County. Territory which at one time was in Klamath County is now in Del Norte County, Humboldt County, Siskiyou County, and Trinity County.
• Mount Diablo County was a county proposed by a committee of the California Constitutional Convention. Before the statute was adopted, the legislature changed the name to Contra Costa County.
• Oro County was a county proposed by a committee of the California Constitutional Convention. Before the statute was adopted, the legislature changed the name to Tuolumne County.
• Pautah County was created on 1852, an act to be effective when the United States Congress ceded to the State of California the territory described, in what is now the State of Nevada. The County seat was to be Carsonville. California never acquired the territory and the act creating the county was repealed in 1859.
• Redding County was a county proposed by a committee of the California Constitutional Convention. Before the statute was adopted, the legislature changed the name to Shasta County.

California Burned Courthouses

 

The destruction of courthouses greatly affects genealogists in every way. No only are these historic structures torn from our lives, so are the records they housed: marriage, wills, probate, land records, and others. Once destroyed they are lost forever. Even if they have been placed on mircofilm, computers and film burn too. The most heartbreaking side of this is the fact that many of our courthouses are destroyed at the hands of arsonist. However, not all records were lost.

   Below is a list of California Counties and the years the Courthouses were subjected to a disaster. This does NOT mean that ALL RECORDS were lost. Often, folks took their documents again in for recording after a disaster and later deeds will contain long chains of title, etc.

• Amador County - Courthouse destroyed by fire in 1862. Some records were destroyed.
• Del Norte County- The courthouse was destroyed by fire in 1948. Some early records were destroyed.
• El Dorado County - A fire in 1910 & 1920 destroyed most courthouse records. For probate records prior to 1951, write County Nuseum, 100 Placerville Drive, Placerville, California 95667; for probate after 1951, write to Judicial Section, 495 Main Street, Placerville, California 95667.
• Inyo County - was destroyed by an earthquake March 26, 1872. On June 30, 1886 a fire broke out in a vacant building in Independence and destroyed thirty-eight buildings. Although the county records and most of the furniture were saved, the courthouse was one of the buildings destroyed.
• Lake County - courthouse in Lakeport burned down in 1867. All earlier records were destroyed.
• Madera County - A fire on Christmas Eve 1906 destroyed the upper floors and tower.
• Nevada County - The first courthouse was damaged by fire in 1856. Fire again damaged the courthouse in 1863.
• Sacramento County- The first courthouse, built in 1851, became the Capitol in 1854 and was destroyed in a fire that same year.
• San Francisco County - Courthouse and all records were destroyed in the great earthquake and fire of 1906.
• Santa Clara County - May 18, 1931, a fire quickly spread through the courthouse, causing extensive damage.
• Shasta County - All records were destroyed in the great fire of June 14th, 1853
• Sierra County - Fire in 1947 destroyed courthouse. No records were lost
• Sonoma County - was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake. Minor record Loss.
• Sutter County - The Courthhouse was destroyed by fire in 1871. A second and larger courthouse, completed in 1873, was also set fire.