Interested in learning more about a person who lived in Santa Clara County? The following resources are available at the Research Library.

City Directories, 1870 – 1979
These directories list the names of individuals living in San José and selected parts of Santa Clara County along with their place of residence and occupation.

Photograph Catalog, 1857 – 1970s
There are portraits as well as group scenes. Reproductions of photographs are available for a fee.

Probate Records, 1850 – 1899 for Santa Clara County
Original documents of legal proceedings following the death of an individual that includes a description of the property of the deceased. The card file is organized by the name of the deceased. Some probates also include guardianships of minors.

Deeds, 1850 – 1952 (bulk dates 1850 – 1906) for Santa Clara County
Original documents for property ownership. The card file is arranged by both grantee and grantor. The card file also indexes other legal documents mostly related to property.

Marriage Licenses, 1849 – 1946 (bulk dates 1850 – 1914) for Santa Clara County
The index is arranged by last names of both bride and groom and includes some alternate spellings of names. This is not a complete file of all Santa Clara County marriage licenses.

Wills, 1849 – 1912 for Santa Clara County
An index contains an alphabetical listing by last name of wills. The index includes County Will Books A to C and E to P. Book D is missing, containing wills from August 1875 through November 1878.

Sole Trader Ledger for Santa Clara County
Records in chronological order of married women in business for themselves from 1854 to 1916. A name index is available.

Biographical Newspaper Clippings
Clippings mostly from the San José Mercury News and scattered clippings from earlier San José newspapers.

Great Registers, 1867 – 1904 for Santa Clara County
Books listing registered voters (only males) for the County. Only available for 1867, 1872, 1873, 1875, 1880, 1884, 1886, 1888, 1890, 1892, 1894, 1904. Information is given on occupation, age, country or state of birth, and naturalization date if applicable.

Coroner’s Inquests, 1850 – 1930 for Santa Clara County
Information is given about the cause of death. Indexed by name.

Cemetery Records

• An index of headstones from San José’s Oakhill Cemetery and Santa Clara Mission Cemetery. The index includes name, dates and cemetery location.
• Record Books from Oakhill Cemetery circa 1860 – 1910.

Obituaries Index 1879 to 1912
An index is available listing date of obituary and newspaper. Newspapers indexed include the (San José) Daily Morning Times, San José Evening News, San José Daily News, San José (Daily) Herald, and the San José Mercury. Not all of these newspapers are available for research on microfilm at the History San José Research Library.

Microfilm available for the following newspapers:

• Daily Morning Times, July 1879 – December 1881; July – December 1884.
• Morning Times, October 1906 – September 1909.
• San José Daily City Item, February 1884 – March 1885.
• San José Herald, September 1876 – December 1889; July 1890 – December 1896; July 1897 – December 1900.
• San José Mercury, November 1861 – December 1862; August 1869 – January 1870.
• San José Daily News, March 1885 – December 1886.
• San José Evening News, January 1887 – December 1896; July 1897 – December 1936; March 1937 – December 1947.

Books

• History of Santa Clara County, California, by Bowen Alley and Company, San Francisco: 1881.
  General history of Santa Clara County. Also histories of individual towns and some businesses as well. One third of the book consists of biographical sketches of prominent settlers and leading men.
• Pen Pictures From the Garden of the World, by Horace S. Foote, Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago: 1888.
  Twenty-five percent of the book is devoted to the history of Santa Clara County and the rest is biographical sketches of pioneers and leading citizens.
• History of Santa Clara County California with Biographical Sketches, by Eugene Sawyer, Historical Record Company. Los Angeles: 1922.
  Three hundred pages of local history followed by 1350 pages of biographical entries. An extremely valuable resource.
• History of the State of California and Biographical Record of Coast Counties, California, by J. M. Guinn, Chapman Publishing, Chicago: 1904.
  Ten percent general history of California and ninety percent biographical sketches of local persons.