Latest Update: 28 December 2008

Instructions for Applying for Membership

I. Historian Membership

This category of membership is open only to historians, authors,
and scholars who render outstanding assistance in the study and dissemination of information on Alta California and is subject to approval 
by the Board of Directors.
Click here to go to the Application for Historian Membership

II. Corresponding Membership

This membership is limited to educational institutions, libraries, or historical societies that express interest in the history of Alta California or have rendered outstanding assistance in the study and dissemination of information on Alta California and is subject to approval by the Board of Directors.
Click here to go to the Application for Corresponding Membership

III. Regular Membership

A. General Instructions 

Applying for membership in Los Californianos begins by filling out an application form.
In addition, if applying as a descendant, you must complete at least one Preliminary Declaration of Ancestry.
Send completed forms to:
Beatriz Wing, Membership Secretary, Los Californianos
P.O. Box 600522
San Diego, CA 92160-0522

Each application MUST be accompanied by a check 
payable to Los Californianos including either
(1) Application fee ($15) & Regular Member annual dues ($20) 
for a Total of $35 or
(2) Application fee ($15) & Junior Member annual dues ($7) for a Total of $22
Please do not send any other documents, 
such as copies of records and birth certificates, at this time. 
It simply delays the orderly processing of your application.

When your application is accepted for Provisional Membership
you will be mailed the official Carta de Antepasados to complete
and told what documentation will be needed.
The ordinary time for completion of the Carta and documentation is one year.
The Chairman, the Genealogy Committee, and other members
will be happy to help you if they can.
The Chairman of the Genealogy Committee may grant an extension, if you are just short one or two items.

 Your acceptance to Regular Membership will depend on the proper completion of the Carta de Antepasados and its timely submission with the requested documentation.

B. Application Form Instructions

If you apply as a descendant, you MUST also submit with your application a
 Preliminary Declaration of Ancestry (see section III below).
(Note: a Regular Member is over 18; a Junior Member is under 18.)
If you apply as the spouse of a living Regular Member,
please give the member’s name
 and, if possible, give the member’s number.
If you apply as the spouse, widow, or widower of a past Regular Member, please give the member’s name
and, if possible, give the member’s number.
Click here to go to Application

C. Preliminary Declaration of Ancestry Form Instructions

Starting with one of your parents, as best as you can, give the names of each ancestor in each generation in the direct line back to a Hispanic person or persons, whom you believe arrived in Alta California prior to 2 February 1848. To the extent you are able, for each ancestor gives dates and places of birth/baptism (please indicate which) and marriage. Continue on back of page if you need more rows.

One ancestral line that goes back to before 2 February 1848 is sufficient to qualify you, but we suggest you submit all ancestral lines which might go far enough back. Simply use a separate form for each line of ancestry. Sometimes it may not be the line you think that actually goes clear back to 1848 to fulfill the qualification for membership!! For dates please use the genealogical format dd mon yyyy as used below. Example (with explanations in purple) below.

Your name: [Edna] Benita Hables Gray   Date: 15 July 2002 
[Use brackets around names not on birth certificate/baptism, nicknames, or names not used. I do not use "Edna." My mother went by "Mary" (see below) although it was not on her birth certificate. "Ma" (see below) is my grandmother's nickname, widely used in the community where she lived.]

Maiden name if applicable: Hables
[Comings and Strachan in the last column below and Willson, Sánchez, and Ortega in the first column are all maiden names.

 birth date: 07 Jul 1932 birthplace: Palo Alto, Santa Clara Co., Calif.
(dd mon yyyy)
[Alta Calif. is used until Feb 1848; counties are used after that.]

I only need to go back as far as María Verónica Vicenta Sánchez as she was born in Alta California before 1848. If I had been unsure of her birthplace, I could have also done a line for Sánchez (her father) because Sánchez came to California in 1824. If I had been (as I was for awhile) unsure of when Sánchez came to Alta California, I could have done the Ortega line (her mother's line), which is well-documented back to 1769.
Click here to go to Preliminary Declaration