EARLY CALIFORNIA GENEALOGY AND HISTORY NEWSLETTER
VOLUME 1, NUMBER 1 - OCTOBER 2011
Donanciano Abila and Family – San Juan Capistrano
EDITOR’S NOTE Early California genealogy used to be quite challenging, with records scattered and not accessible, with numerous “reliable” sources filled with inaccuracies. Today, with many excellent resources available online, it’s a bit improved and will continue to improve as more original documents are scanned and made available. Mission records of baptisms, marriages, and burials are especially helpful in determining exact dates, habitations, and other details. Early Spanish censuses of the presidios and pueblos list professions, family members, and can assist researchers with when a particular individual arrived in California. This newsletter is designed to help genealogists, researchers, historians and the general public interested in early California history before statehood and in tracking the founding families descendants. William S Dean, Editor
RESOURCES HUNTINGTON LIBRARY’S Early California Population Project SF GENEALOGY’S Census of Alta California January 1, 1775 SF GENEALOGY’S Census of San Jose Pueblo, 1777 SF GENEALOGY’S Census of California 1790 SF GENEALOGY’S Census of San Francisco 1842 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA Digital Library Archives-Photographs SANTA BARBARA MISSION Archive-Library CALIFORNIA STATE MILITARY MUSEUM California Military History Spanish and Mexican California BANCROFT LIBRARY, UC Berkeley Online Archive of California BRAUN RESEARCH LIBRARY Native American Archives of the Southwest Museum SOCIETY OF CALIFORNIA ARCHIVISTS Archivists and Researchers CONFERENCE OF CALIFORNIA HISTORICAL SOCIETIES Historians, Archives, and researchers CALIFORNIA MISSION STUDIES ASSOCIATION Archives and Links
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USING THE 1852 CALIFORNIA STATE CENSUS FOR RESEARCH Although the first Federal Census for California was taken in 1850, the results were considered sketchy due to the confusion of the Gold Rush with inhabitants very mobile from gold “strike” to strike and the difficulty of census takers even finding prospectors in remote areas. It was therefore determined to conduct a statewide census (California’s only state census) in 1852. While this census is post-statehood (California became the 31st state on September 9, 1850), nevertheless it is valuable for pre-statehood researchers because it provides accurate information about residents in California who were living here before 1850. Native Americans and Spanish/Mexican era residents are listed, along with their family members, professions, last cited residence, literacy level, and other significant data. Surprisingly, the Native American, Spanish/Mexican era, and early immigrants from the United States and other nations were longer-lived than the averages one comes to expect from historical actuarial charts of the period, and many residents of advanced age are represented. The California State Census of 1852 is available in several research libraries as well as online through genealogical sites, such as ancestry.com. As a comparative, the 1850 U.S. Federal Census tallied California’s population at 92,597. The 1852 California state census count came in at 260,949 adding some 150,000 more residents. Early California researchers and genealogists should not discount the use of latter Federal Census records since, as noted above, many Spanish/Mexican era residents lived into their eighties and nineties, often recorded as living with their children’s or grandchildren’s families.
RECORDS AND REMINISCENCES – EARLY HISTORICAL SOCIETIES It was the practice of many early historical societies to publish quarterly reports extracted from, or containing in their entirety, presentations at their meetings by “old timers” about the history of the area and its people. One such example is The Quarterly, Volumes 1-2 By Historical Society of Southern California, Los Angeles County Pioneers of Southern California. Such published records, now in the public domain, can be accessed through archival resources like google.books search engines. Google.scholar is another valuable resource, providing online access to articles, extracts, thesis papers, journal articles, and other significant historical resources.
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