California, City of San Francisco, N. Gray and Company funeral records, 1850-1921

Notes

To view digital images of these California, San Francisco Area Funeral Home Records, click here. Not available on microfilm.

Digital images of originals housed at the San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco History & Archive Center, San Francisco, California.

N. Gray and Company (originally known as N. Gray Undertakers) was founded in San Francisco in 1850 by Nathanial Gray. Originally located on Geary and Divisadero Streets, it was destroyed by the 1906 San Francisco fire, and rebuilt at 1123 Sutter Street, with other branches at other locations. In 1980, N. Gray and Co. (San Francisco) merged with Halsted and Co. Undertakers, to become the Halsted-N. Gray Mortuary. In 1985, it merged with Carew & English Undertakers, and is now known as Halsted N. Gray - Carew & English. Another branch of N. Gray & Co. was established in Burlingame, San Mateo County on the San Francisco Peninsula. In 1945, it merged with the Crosby Mortuary of Burlingame, to become Crosby-N. Gray and Co. The Geo. H. Clark Co. began in Sacramento, California, and had another branch in San Francisco. Geo. H. Clark became Clark & Booth Co. [AL. P. Booth] in 1899, then merged with the N. Gray & Co. in 1905.

Register of deaths in San Francisco was kept chronologically, listing the death date, name of the deceased, his birthplace, sex, cause of death, entity creating the death certificate, place of death, burial site, permit number, and remarks which may include the deceased person's relationship to another persons or institution, his ethnic origin, account information, or inquest information.

Burial books are lists kept chronologically, containing the burial date, the name of deceased, age at death, birthplace, cause of death, burial site, and the undertaker.

Day books are daily account books organized alphabetically by the account's name (most often the person making funeral arrangements), then grouped by year. Day books contain the peson making arrangements, place of residence the name of the deceased, age, birth place, death date, cause of death, burial place, doctor or coroner's name, and financial data.

Funeral record books and case books are written on pre-printed forms, and are arranged chronologically. Most give the name of the deceased, his age, birth place, death date, burial date, cause of death, burial site, doctor's or coroner's name, the person(s) making funeral / financial arrangements, place of residence, relationship to the deceased, place and time of funeral, clergy's name, and itemized funeral arrangements. Some funeral record forms also include the physician's certificate of death, the deceased person's occupation, religion, marital status, race, birth place, an obituary, his parents' names, and their birth places.

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