My name is Bob
Jenkins and I am the Orange County
Coordinator.
We have many genealogical
resources available here.
We would appreciate
any contributions you would like to make
to this site.
Orange
County, California
For thousands of years, the region was home to the Acjachemen (Juaneño) in the south and the Tongva (Gabrielino) in the north. Archaeological evidence places habitation back roughly 9,500 years, with villages along the coast, canyons, and river corridors. These communities lived in multiethnic settlements, fished the coastline, hunted inland, and gathered acorns, seeds, and native plants. Their villages—such as Lupukngna in today’s Huntington Beach and Putuidem in San Juan Capistrano—form the earliest layer of genealogical history.
Spanish exploration, missions, and early ranchos
Spanish presence began in 1769 when Gaspar de Portolá led the first overland expedition through the area. Mission San Juan Capistrano followed in 1776, drawing Indigenous people into the mission system where baptisms, marriages, and burials were recorded—key sources for early genealogical research. Under Spanish rule, large tracts of land were held by the Crown, but retired soldiers like Manuel Nieto and families such as the Yorbas and Peraltas began establishing the ranching economy that would define the region.
Mexican era and the rise of the ranchos
After Mexico gained independence in 1821, mission lands were secularized, and vast rancho land grants—often up to 44,000 acres—were issued to Mexican citizens. By the 1840s, nearly all of what is now Orange County was divided among ranchos such as Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana, Rancho San Joaquin, and Rancho Los Alamitos. Cattle ranching dominated the economy, and hide‑and‑tallow trade connected local families to global markets. These rancho families appear in Mexican land records, diseños (maps), and early civil registrations.
American settlement and county formation
Following the Mexican‑American War, California became part of the United States in 1848, and the area that would become Orange County was folded into Los Angeles County. The Gold Rush brought new settlers and markets, but droughts, floods, and legal battles over land titles pushed many original ranchero families into debt, leading to the sale of large tracts to American investors such as the Irvine, Stearns, and Bixby families. Towns like Anaheim (founded by German settlers) and Santa Ana grew during this period. Orange County officially separated from Los Angeles County in 1889.
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