Santa Clara County, CA
History and Genealogy

Last Updated 5/22/2012

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Santa Clara County was one of the original counties of California, formed in 1850 at the time of statehood. Part of the county's territory was given to Alameda County in 1853.
The county is named after Mission Santa Clara, which was established in 1777, and named for Saint Clare of Assisi, Italy. The name "Clare" or "Clara" means "clear" or "bright."
In 1882, Santa Clara County tried to levy taxes upon property of the Southern Pacific Railroad within county boundaries. The result was the U.S. Supreme Court case of Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, 118 U.S. 394 (1886), in which the Court established the doctrine of corporate personhood.

In the 1980's and 1990's, many hi-tech companies began operations in Santa Clara County, which became the headquarters for such companies as Apple Computer, Hewlett Packard, Quest, Intel, and many others. Today the county is the main area of the Silicon Valley, which includes several other counties both north and south of Santa Clara. Some tribes of the Ohlone Indians lived at Coyote Creek in Santa Clara.
(wikipedia.org)

 

County Seat: San Jose
Year Organized: 1850
Square Miles: 1,291

Incorporated cities:

Campbell
Cupertino
Gilroy
Los Altos
Los Altos Hills
Los Gatos
Milpitas
Monte Sereno
Morgan Hill
Mountain View
Palo Alto
San Jose
Santa Clara
Saratoga
Sunnyvale

Unincorporated places:
The following places were formerly unincorporated communities that were incorporated into San Jose:
Alum Rock
Cambrian Park
Willow Glen
East San Jose
Alviso

Census Designated Places:
Buena Vista
Burbank
East Foothills
Fruitdale
Lexington Hills
Loyola aka Loyola Corners
San Martin
Seven Trees
Stanford
Susnol-Midtown

Other unincorporated communities:
Bell Station aka Hollenbeck's Station
Chemeketa Park
Casa Loma aka Loma Chiquita
Redwood Estates aka Lexington Hills
Rucker
San Antoio aka Deforest in 1892-1924

Vital Records Resources

County Courthouse
70 W Hedding, 10th Floor
San Jose, CA 95110-0000
Phone: (408) 299-2323

 


National Archives - San Francisco
1000 Commodore Drive
San Bruno, CA 94066-2350

LDS Church Libraries:
1336 Cherry Ave., San Jose, CA
408-297-0101

875 Quince Ave.
Santa Clara, CA
408-248-3621

925 Cera Dr.
San Jose, CA
408-257-8883

Cemeteries

Official Website of Santa Clara County:
http://www.sccgov.org/portal/site/scc

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Neighboring counties

Alameda County, California
Merced County, California
San Benito County, California
San Mateo County, California
Santa Cruz County, California
Stanislaus County, California

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