Search Historical Index

Historical Index Overview:

Index books are divided into two time frames, 1931-1958 and 1959-1975. Each time frame has two names sets: Grantors A-Z and Grantees A-Z. The grantor and grantee sections are further subdivided into Individuals and Corporations. Corporations include school districts, churches, government and municipal entities, etc. In addition to these two subcategories, there is a "Special Names" category. This category consists of names which were extremely common, such as "City of Santa Barbara", "Smith", "Jones", etc.

The A-Z book is separated into Alpha Groups which are the first 2-3 letters of the last name or first 2-3 letters of the corporation/entity name. Within each Alpha Group the index images are shown in recording date order, not alphabetical order.

Each Alpha Group or Special name shown in the results will link to a separate set of index pages. Special Names pages are not cross-referenced to an Alpha Group; you may need to review several sets of index page images.

Search Example:
Grant Deed for John Doe from 1950.

• In the Name Field enter the last name only "Doe"
• The search will return "Alpha Group" matches for "Doe,Dof,Dog,Doh,Doi,Doj,Dok,Dol" or it may appear in the "Special Names" column as "Doe".
• Select link(s) for the 1931-1958 time frame to view the scanned images.
• Page through each set of images to find the page(s) for 1950. The Year is shown at the top of the page under the "Date Filed" column.
• The documents are listed in recording date order, review the names on the left side of the page.
• When the correct document is found, note the book and page number(s) on the far right of the page. The book and page number is required to view the document image (in our lobbies) or purchase a copy.

OCR Tool Tip:

OCR Search Disclaimer:
The OCR search is provided as an additional search tool to our customers. We make no warranty or guarantee regarding the accuracy of the content. The results displayed in this search are raw unverified data and are not meant to replace the scanned images of the Index Books.

OCR Search Tips:
The recommended individual name search criteria is the last name or Last name [space] first Name. Detailed search criteria may limit results because the only the first full name on a document is recorded in the index.

Only entering "Doe John" in the OCR search field will return results. If "Doe Jane" is entered in the name search, no results will be returned, or it will be for an unrelated record.

Corporation names are more flexible and the search will automatically wildcard the search criteria.
Example: "Santa Barbara" will display results for: "City of Santa Barbara", "Santa Barbara School District", "Santa Barbara County" etc.