Research Tips

"A Research Journey with Ron Filion:  In Search of A.W. Barron"

• It all began with an old photograph of an unknown man that he found in a local antique bookstore.  Ron found himself wondering, "Who was this man?  Where did he come from?  Who and where were his family?"  Follow Ron through a fascinating trip among various records, resources and repositories as he sets out to learn all that he can about the mysterious man in the photograph, A.W. Barron.  Whether you're a beginner or an experienced genealogical researcher, you're bound to pick up some new research ideas and techniques as you read through this interesting article.

NORCAL Genealogy Index

• We also highly recommend that you take advantage of the information you'll find here. Please become familiar with this index and bookmark it! You'll definitely find yourself continually referring to this helpful guide, which not only lists Northern California indexes and sources, but gives helpful instructions on how to use them and lists the various locations where they can be found.

This is a miscellaneous and informal collection of research tips, helpful hints, and "secrets" shared by other researchers who have worked with specific Santa Clara County area records. By sharing their experiences and knowledge here, they've enabled all of us to pick up some useful "tricks" to finding and working with these records.

Bear in mind that these people do not all profess to be "experts"! These generous volunteers are merely sharing their observations, which may be different than your own experience.

If you have different information than what is given on this page, by all means, please share with us! If you have any hints or tips to share regarding San Mateo County records that you feel might help others, please let us know so that they can be included here.

This could help us all avoid needless time, expense, and frustration when searching for our Santa Clara County ancestors!

"Thank you!" to all the volunteers who have submitted information for this page!

Ron Filion (submitted October 2005) notes that:

According to a Mercury News article, "San Jose's archives now have two homes" (Mon, Oct. 31, 2005), the library has the San Jose City city archives up to 1998, and the city has apparently opted to maintain them from that date. Though, the library is still the official archives for the county. To sum it up, according to the article:

"So when future historians come to check San Jose's official record, apparently they'll have to hit History San Jose for everything up to 1998 and the city clerk for everything thereafter. That's far different from Santa Clara County, where County Recorder Brenda Davis has been working with History San Jose to create an official county archive."

Perrin (submitted June 2007) notes that:

"Santa Clara County put all their very old and fragile records on microfilm a few years back. Before that, you could access the actual books and that was leading to their deterioration.  I usually only access the computer database and that has scanned copies of the actual certificates so all the information is there.

"The pre-1905 or so books were scanned and I was told (haven't had to use them since I got to look at the books) they were easier to use since now there was an index of what was on the microfilm.  I didn't find that the very old records were as informational as the post 1905 certs.  Some of the 'death certs and birth certs' were one line entries in a ledger. Name of deceased person, cause of death, next of kin, and doctors signature. Birth certs SOMETIMES had the mothers maiden name but usually had only childs name, fathers name, date of birth, town of birth and doctor/midwife attending.

"The marriage certs on the other hand were wonderful and most of these ARE on the computer at the recorders office.  There are usually two...the actual pretty marriage certificate (suitable for framing) and the very wonderful, lots of information, marriage information paper...  That usually had the brides and grooms names, their parents names (sometimes the mother of the brides maiden name...), where all were born, dates of birth etc.

"The old books are not on site anymore at the recorders office.  I was told that they are now in a climate controlled building (I certainly hope that's correct) and were being archivally stored.  I don't know that now you could even wait at the counter and have someone go to the basement for
those documents since they're not on site any longer."