The Brayton Collection

The collection was established by Tina Hopkinson Brayton (1910-91), a charter member of the Genealogical Society of Santa Cruz County. From 1959 to 1981 she operated the Genealogy Clearing House. This unique repository contains information relating to thousands of American families. The records fill hundreds of three-ring binders, and several hundred file folders

The collection served three purposes: (1) Minimized duplicate efforts; (2) Promoted updating and error correction of family records and; (3) Assisted Mrs. Brayton in her own research. Her family ancestors were in KY, NC , TN, VA, and WV

These records were contributed by more than 1,800 correspondents.

Initially she accepted only records with connections to those states. Obviously migration meant many records were added which did not meet that strict criteria. There are records from throughout the U.S.

Upon the death of Mrs. Brayton the collection came into possession of the genealogy society. A database of surnames has been created which contains submitters, and other individuals mentioned in the records.

Due to privacy and copyright concerns, the society can not publish these records. They are available for research in our library . We can also perform individual searches as discussed under Need Help in Santa Cruz County?