"What are the "Great Registers"?
"Of what value are they in genealogical research?"
Simply, they were compiled lists of registered voters that included such information as birth dates, naturalization dates, address and occupation. According to Jim Faulkinbury:
"The earliest Great Registers were produced in 1866 as a result of the enactment of Chapter CCLXV, Laws of the 16th Session of the California State Legislature; 1865-66. ... This legislation, approved 19 March 1866, and known as the Registration Act provided 'for the registration of the citizens of the State, and for the enrollment in the several election districts of all the legal voters thereof, and for the prevention and punishment of frauds affecting the elective franchise.'"Please note that women were given the right to vote in 1911 in California, and first appear in the 1912 registers.
J.Carlyle Parker has written a good article, California's Great Registers, that gives a description and general information on the Great Registers of California.
Lawrence E. (Larry) Kuttner (submitted ~2000)
offers this tip:
Since there were so many people living in SF, you need to check the *Index* films first. The information you'll need for each person you're interested in is: the *district number* in which they were living for each year you want to know about. Once you know which *district* your person lived in, you can look at the *actual* Great Register film(s) for the districts and years you are interested in. Otherwise, you'd have to check for the person you're looking for in every district in SF for each available year. (Merely going through the *actual* Great Register films might work for a sparsely populated county, but it would be too time-consuming for San Francisco.) Once you're ready for the *actual* registers, you'll find they are sorted first by district, and then alphabetically by the first letter of the surname. (As long as you have the film, you may also want to check the other district numbers for the same surname, if it's not too common...)"
Ken Tessendorff (submitted ~2000) tells us:
"According to "Great Registers of California" by Dorothy Lazelle Williams, the California State Library in Sacramento has various years from 1866 thru 1944. [The years] 1900-1944 are on 73 rolls of film."
Ken offers this tip, as well: "If you order any by inter-library loan, always ask your local librarian if there is a maximum number of rolls that can be ordered at one time. The charge at your local library (if there is one) is usually the same for one roll or many rolls. The last time I ordered this film at my local library, the maximum was 12 rolls per shipment."
Pamela Storm (submitted ~2000) was provided this list by the great staff at the San Francisco Main Library's History Center. Note: These films are not available for interlibrary loan.
Reel # 6a 1866, 1867, 1869, and 1871 (supplement)
Reel # 6 1900, part 1
Reel # 7 1900, part 2
Reel # 8 1902, Districts 28-45
Reel # 9 1904, Volume 1
Reel #10 1904, Volumes 2-3, Districts 35-45
Reel #11 1907
Reel #12 1908
Reel #13 1910
Reel #14 1912, part 1
Reel #15 1912, part 2
Reel #16 1913, part 1
Reel #17 1913, part 2
Reel #18 1914, part 1
Reel #19 1914, part 2
Reel #20 April 1916
Reel #21 July 1916, Volumes 1-2
Reel #22 July 1916, Volume 3
Reel #23 Oct 1916, part 1, Districts 21-29
Reel #24 Oct 1916, part 2, Districts 30-33
Reel #25 1917, Districts 21-33
Reel #26 1918 Volumes 1-2, Districts 21-29
Reel #27 1918 Volume 3, Districts 30-33
Reel #28 1919
Reel #29 1920, Volumes 1-2
Reel #30 1920, Volumes 3-4
Reel #31 1920, supplement
Reel #32 1921
Reel #33 1922, part 1
Reel #34 1922, part 2
Reel #35 1923
Reel #36 April 1924, part 1
Reel #37 April 1924, part 2
Reel #38 October 1924, Volumes 1-2
Reel #39 1925, Districts 21-54
Reel #40 1927
Reel #41 July 1928
Reel #43 November 1928
Ron Filion (submitted Dec 2002) notes that the Library History Center has the following in book form:
1905 - Index to Districts 28 - 45
1907 - Index to Districts 28 - 45
1911 - Index to Districts 28 - 38
1922 - Index to Districts 21 - 33
1890 - California Index (created by the California State Genealogical
1890 - San Francisco Index (created by the California Genelogical Society)
Maggee Smith (submitted ~2000) has transcribed these LDS Film Numbers for us:
She found that in the LDS Catalog, the Great Register Index films are found under the heading:
"CA-San Francisco Voting Registers, County Clerk, Great Registers Indexes 1866, 1880-1904, (microfilm of original records in the State Library, Sacramento, CA)".
Maggee Smith (submitted ~2000) has transcribed these LDS Film Numbers for us. She found that in the LDS Catalog, the Great Register films are found under the heading:
"CA-San Francisco Voting Registers, County Clerk, Great Registers 1866-1898 Indexes 1866, 1880-1904, 184 microfilm reels (microfilm of original records in the State Library, Sacramento, CA)".You can order these films through your local FHC.
Maggee Smith (submitted ~2000) notes the LDS catalog also lists "San Francisco County Index of Naturalized Voters 1850-1898, 6 microfilm reels (microfilm of records located in the SF Archives-cards contain name of voter and date when voter was naturalized. Also includes number of voterís precinct & ward)"
The "Index to Naturalized Voters" should not be confused with the "Index to Great Registers". They are two separate indexes. The "Index of Naturalized Voters" consists of only those registered voters who had been naturalized, while the "Index to the Great Registers" would list any registered voter.
Index of Naturalized Voters for San Francisco County:
The "1890 San Francisco Great Register of Voters" was transcribed and published by the California Genealogical Society (CGS). The information includes:
A portion of this information is also included in the "1890 California Great Register of Voters," also published by this company.
Name, age, birthplace, address, county, registration date, whether or not naturalized, where naturalized, occupation, remarks, and page numbers.
Note: San Francisco and California Great Register of Voters are
available in book form (available at various libraries and from CGS)
and on CD (by HeritageQuest
do a search for "Great Register" on their home page).
"The Foreign-Born Voters of California in 1872: Including Naturalization Dates, Places, and Courts of Record" was published by Jim W. Faulkinbury in 1994. It includes naturalization data appearing in Great Registers for each California county.
Mr. Faukinbury has an
index available on the internet and will make copies of the information
for a fee. Note that the index does not include the individual's county.