Los Gatos Funeral Home

The Los Gatos Funeral Home Records is a collection of records from mortuaries that operated in the city of Los Gatos, California between 1901 and 1989. The mortuaries included in these records are the Place Funeral Home, Charles S. Topping, Melvin’s Funeral Home, Chapel of the Hills and West Valley Funeral Home.

The records are comprised of undertakers’ notes, death certificates, burial permits, cremation certificates, obituaries and newspaper articles. They can also include correspondence concerning family members and funeral arrangements. Records were kept for each individual, but records vary in what is contained for that individual.

Each mortuary recorded their information differently. For example, Melvin’s records typically include only obituaries and clippings from local newspapers, while Place Funeral Home records frequently include death certificates, undertaker notes, permits and correspondence.

The original documents are housed in archival binders at the Los Gatos Library, 100 Villa Ave., Los Gatos, California. These documents are available to the general public to view and copy. Ask a librarian for help finding them. The binders are in numerical order by year range, and the records are in alphabetic order within each binder. If you are unable to visit the library, you can request that SCCHGS Research Team search the records for specific information. Please read more about our Research Services.

The index on this website is an alphabetical list of the names that are included in the Los Gatos Funeral Home Records. The index includes, if known, birthdate, birthplace, death date, death place and notes. The Charles Topping, Melvin and Chapel of the Hills records indexed, include a link to the original image that has been scanned and uploaded to Archives.org.  These digital images can include more than one image for the individual, so please check the image before and after the linked image.  The index has been created by volunteers for the Santa Clara County Historical and Genealogical Society.

Index last updated: 25 September 2025