Databases

Index to the Layng & Tinney Mortuary File Collection housed in the San Mateo County Genealogical Society Library. Contact SMCGS Research to obtain a copy of the contents of a file.

When there is no one to administer an estate it falls into the hands of the Public Administrator. These reports cover 1880 and then 1897 through 1960 with about a dozen missing years. They include names, dates, amount of the estate and costs. Various years include other information.

Notifications filed with the County that a lawsuit had been filed involving property within the county. This is an index to records filed in drawers 53-56A in the county record center. Records date from the 1850s through the early 1900s.

These certificates are located in Drawers 19-24 in the San Mateo County Record Repository. Types of Documents include: Sheriff's Certificate of Sale (names include sheriff and purchaser of land (p) and if found name of original land owner (o) a plaintiff is also often listed as in the case of a lawsuit the land is sold to satisfy it. In a tax delinquency the plantiff is the people); Sheriff's Certificate of Sale on Foreclosure Specific to mortgage holders; Sheriff's Certificate of Redemption; Copy of Writ of Attachment ( a court order to "attach" or seize an asset. It is issued by a court to a law enforcement officer or sheriff. The writ of attachment is issued in order to satisfy a judgment issued by the court.); Copy Writ of Execution (a court order granted to put in force a judgment of possession obtained by a plaintiff from a court.[1] When issuing a writ of execution, a court typically will order a sheriff or other similar official to take possession of property owned by a judgment debtor. Such property will often then be sold in a sheriff's sale and the proceeds remunerated to the plaintiff in partial or full satisfaction of the judgment.); Release of Attachment; Sale on Execution (a sale of property by the sheriff under authority of a court's writ of execution in order satisfy an unpaid obligation; Constable's Sale (sold at township rather than county level) ; Sale by City Treasurer (usually for non payment of improvement bonds, most were redeemed); and Conveyance of Real Estate for Delinquent Taxes

Index to volumes 1-4 San Mateo County Homesteads, covering the years 1860 through 1913. There are also references to homesteads filed in Deeds. Images of the Homestead volumes are available on FamilySearch.

These applications for the rights to previously unappropriated state water can include maps, protests of the appropriations and other treasures for those researching in the county. They date from the 1870s to the 1950s and include applications by both individuals and companies (farms, land developers and water).

Index to the Naturalization Records of San Mateo County. Includes Declaration of Intention to Become a Citizen, Petitions and Certificates. These records are available unindexed on FamilySearch.

Those non-citizens who served in the US Forces during WWI were able to become naturalized before they were discharged. This is an index to the 13 volumes of Petitions of those who were discharged from Camp Fremont (Menlo Park) in 1918 and 1919. No Declaration of Intention was required.

Index to the Register of Separate Property of Married and Sole Traders (1856-1913). Indexed by Barry Goyette. The register is labeled Volume 1, but no other volumes appear to exist, this register is not full. There are 100 documents. You will find a digital version of this volume on FamilySearch

An index to the Register of Chiropractors, Osteopaths, Pharmacists, Dentists and Dental Hygenists (1923-1952); Physicians, Surgeons & Optometrists (1876-1929); Register of Dentists (1903-1935) and the Register of Doctor's Certificates (1914-1951) working from the Index to Medical Licenses 1876-1931 and rechecking the original volume. Records are available from the Recorders Office.

An index of brands originally filed in other counties 1876 to 1921.

This index was created using Indexes 1 and 2 to Mechanic's Liens and cross checking the entries with the Mechanics Liens Volumes 1-7. A mechanic's lien is a security interest in the title to property for the benefit of those who have supplied labor or materials that improve the property. The lien exists for both real property and personal property. See notes on cover page.

These clippings were attached to the last sheet of the Day book showing cash paid out from 1897-1929

A list of Sources used for indexes to County Poor Farm records and for SMCGS Blog posts concerning the Poor Farm.

Monthly reports supporting these amounts (annual amounts were included on each found report) are located in the County Record Repository. See source list.

Every name index to the California Volumes of Richard Schellen's Collection of Historical Materials

Every name index to the San Francisco Volumes of Richard Schellen's Collection of Historical Materials

An index to Saloons mentioned in the San Francisco Volumes of Richard Schellen's Collection of Historical Materials

Every name index to the Other State Volumes of Richard Schellens Collection of Historical Materials. Copies of the material Schellens gathered on Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington can be found in the state binders in the SMCGS library.

Arranged numerically by case file number. The parties in cases in this series are private individuals, corporations, and municipal governments. The United States is not a party in any case. Cases involve ejectment (wrongful occupation of lands, squatters), patent fraud, import impoundment, promissory notes, water lots in San Francisco, unpaid taxes and unpaid moneys, lands in Oakland (Kellersburger map), San Mateo (Rancho de las Pulgas), Santa Clara (Guadalupe Mines), John C Fremont, Pacific Mail Steamship Company, trips across the Isthmus of Panama, Gustave Touchard, and more. These cases are very local and tell great stories of California in its early statehood. - Record Group 21, Records of District Court of the United States - U.S. Circuit Court for Districts of California