Pennsylvania Vital Records: Difference between revisions

The following is a list of online resources useful for locating Pennsylvania Vital Records which consist of [[United States Birth Records|births]], adoptions, [[United States Marriage Records|marriages]], divorces, and [[United States Death Records|deaths]].  Most online resources for Pennsylvania Vital Records are indexes. After locating a person in an index always consult the original record to [[Contradictions and discrepancies|confirm the informatio...] in the index. Pennsylvania legislation allows access to statewide death records 50 years and older and statewide birth records 105 years and older. Indexes to the records are available at the [http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/public_records/20686 Pennsylvania Department of Health] website. Additional online records include those kept by the various counties or cities of Pennsylvania. These records generally cover births and deaths from 1893-1905, before the state began its vital records program in 1906. Births, deaths and marriages were also officially recorded by the counties between 1851-1855. County marriages are then recorded from 1885 to the present. Some exceptions include city births or deaths beginning in 1803--as in the case of Philadelphia--or the 1870's--as in the case of Reading and Pittsburgh. Also, some city, township, or borough vital records overlap the state records for several years as late as the 1940's.