This site is "FREE" until 10 Nov 2000. Another excellent site from Ancestry. Description: Vital records in California have been kept by the state registrar of vital statistics since 1 July 1905. This database is an index to the death records in California from 1940 through 1997. It provides such valuable information as first, last, and middle names of the decendents; birth dates; mothers' maiden names; fathers' last names; gender listings; birth places; death places; residences at time of death; death dates; Social Security Numbers (when available); and the ages of the individuals at the time they died. Source Information: Ancestry.com. "California Death Index, 1940-97." [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Original electronic data: State of California. "California Death Index, 1940-1997." Sacramento, CA: State of California Department of Health Services, Center for Health Statistics, 19--. To search this database, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/inddbs/5180.htm