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State Courthouse Records
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Pennsylvania Government records cover a broad range of genealogy subject areas that can help you as part of your research, such as land ownership, courts, taxes, and naturalization’s. Given that Pennsylvania court records cover such a wide selection of topics, they could aid you in many different ways. As an example, they could aid you in finding ancestors’ residences, identify occupations, locate financial information, determine citizenship status, or shed light on relationships between individuals. The whole thing relies upon on the type of court records that the ancestors” names show up in. For Definitions of all court terms see the Genealogy Encyclopedia.

Pennsylvania Courthouse records change extensively from county to county in both level of quality and volume. You will find different kinds of court records that are most likely to possess information related for your genealogical research below.

State Court Records
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Pennsylvania Court Records

Since 1707 the clerk of the court of common pleas has acted as prothonotary. There are several records that can be found there, including: Divorces, Naturalizations, Peddlers’ Licenses, Registration of Attorneys, Oaths of County Officers, Equity, Sheriff’s Sales, Juror Lists, Some Tax Records, Some Civil Court Records.

The clerk of the courts holds other records of court proceedings. Although, several journals have published abstracts of some of those records. One of those journals and periodicals is the Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine.

There are other courts in the state, but most of them may not have information of genealogical interest. Those courts include the supreme court, which has existed since 1722, and the superior court, which has existed since 1895. Both of them act mainly as appellate courts. The National Archives Mid-Atlantic Region holds federal court records.

The Prothonotary / Clerk of Courts is the keeper/clerk of the civil records/division for the court and is responsible for filing, storing, and distributing official civil documents. See Also Guide to U.S. Court Records Research

[1st series] in 12 volumes

  • County Government and Archives in Pennsylvania (1947) by Sylvester K. Stevens and Donald H. Kent, while a bit dated, explains the responsibilities of the various county offices, with a good description of the county courts.
  • Cumberland County, Pennsylvania Quarter Sessions Dockets, 1750–1789 (2000) by Diane E. Greene
  • Pennsylvania Court Record Books (amazon.com)

    • State Land Records
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    Pennsylvania Land Records

    In 1682, the Land Records Office was opened in Pennsylvania. It was charged with keeping all records pertaining to land that was granted by the Commonwealth, or by William Penn, as well as keeping track of state boundaries and records regarding land owned by Pennsylvania itself. The warrantee maps, warrants, patents, and survey records that still exist today are held by the Pennsylvania State Archives. Researchers can obtain copies of them for a small fee.

    The Philadelphia City Archives has copies of early Pennsylvania grant records, as well as an index to those records. References to the “Lower Counties” are referring to counties that now make up Delaware.

    Virginia and Pennsylvania got into a conflict about the southwest corner of the state. The University of West Virginia at Morgantown and the Virginia State Archives at Richmond should therefore be consulted for records relating to that part of Pennsylvania, in addition to resources within Pennsylvania.

    From 1753 to 1782 Connecticut claimed the area that included Wyoming Valley and Upper Delaware Valley and many settlers from Connecticut moved into those regions. The Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, which is located in Wilkes-Barre, and the Connecticut State Library have several resources and records relating to those settlements.

    The Continental Army’s Pennsylvania Line of soldiers who served in the Revolutionary War were offered land in western Pennsylvania. Those lands were known as “Donation Lands.” That same area also included “Donation Lands,” which were auctioned as part of the process for redeeming Revolutionary War Depreciation Certificates at the time. Any claims made to those lands are listed in the Pennsylvania Archives series 3, volumes 3 and 7, along with maps.

    The recorder of deeds holds mortgage and deed records, which is where the search for land records should begin. The recorder of deeds office also holds buyer and seller indexes, also known as grantee and grantor indexes. However, some of them have been organized according to the Russell system, which can be somewhat difficult to use. Mortgages and deeds are often recorded in separate indexes. The recorder of deeds office may also hold chattel mortgage records. The Historical Society of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania State Archives each hold microfilmed indexes for most county deeds that were recorded in 1850 and earlier.

    Many courthouses have deeds that were never recorded. Some deeds have also been collected by historical societies, archives, and libraries. Many deeds were not recorded at the time of execution, but at a much later point in time. For example, around the time when titles were being searched for petroleum rights at the beginning of the 1900s lots of deeds were found that were from more than 100 years earlier and hadn’t been recorded until that period in the 1900s. Names in deeds were often anglicized, but a lot of clerks recorded original German signatures into deed books, which can be valuable to researchers.

    Any property-related documents are recorded by and organized by the recorder of deeds. Those documents may include: Deeds, Mortgages, Releases, Easements (Rights-of-Way), Subdivisions, Restrictions, Notaries, Public and Elected County Officers.

    Researchers may also find other useful documents, such as foreign birth certificates, military service discharges, and cattle brands. All of those documents are publicly available except for the military service discharge records.

    The Recorder of Deeds is responsible for recording documents related to property. Documents recorded in the office consist of, but are not limited to, deeds, mortgages, releases, easements (rights-of-way), subdivisions, restrictions, notaries, public and elected county officers. Other documents, such as Military Service Discharges, foreign birth certificates, as well as obscure documents like cattle brands, are also recorded here. All document, except Military Service Discharges, are public record and are readily available. See Also Guide to U.S. Land Records Research

    Further Reading

    State Probate Records