Genealogy

San Joaquin Genealogical Society

The San Joaquin Genealogical Society has donated the majority of the material in the Genealogy Reference Collection and continues to do so each year. The Society also publishes books of San Joaquin County records.

Volunteer Family History Helpers meet the first and last Tuesday of every month at the Chavez Library.  Come by for help in researching your family history from 10:30am to 1pm. For more information visit: events calendar. 

You can submit an online request for Society researchers to look up obituaries and other materials for a fee. 

Databases & Resources

Ancestry Library Edition **
Available for in library use only
Genealogical records from around the world.

California Digital Newspaper Collection
Collection of digitized California newspapers including many early Stockton publications.

HeritageHub
Newpaper obituaries from all over the U.S.

California, San Joaquin County Public Library Obituary Index, 1850–1991
Images of index cards located at the San Joaquin County Public Library, Stockton, California.

Biography Reference Center
Brief biographies from reference collections and magazines.

Library Collection

The Stockton-San Joaquin County Public Library has a non-circulating genealogy collection on the upper level of the Cesar Chavez Central Library. The collection includes the following materials.

• 200 Family Histories from across the country
• 1500+ Genealogy books with records for nearly all 50 states, European countries, hereditary societies, and U.S. military and land records
• San Joaquin County vital records, cemetery records, and more in books published by the San Joaquin Genealogical Society and other local authors
• 125 periodicals from genealogical and historical societies

The Library also has genealogy books available in the regular collection for checkout.

Items not availabe in our collection may be found at Link+.