Pennsylvania Vital Records: Difference between revisions

[[United States Vital Records|Vital Records]] consist of [[United States Birth Records|births]], adoptions, [[United States Marriage Records|marriages]], divorces, and [[United States Death Records|deaths]] recorded on registers, certificates, and documents. [[Locating United States Vital Records|United States Vital Records]] has additional research guidance on researching and using vital records. A copy or an extract of most original records can be purchased from the [http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/genealogy_requests/14125 Pennsylvania Vital Records State Department of Health] or the County Clerk's office of the county where the event occurred. The Department of Health has birth and death certificates registered in Pennsylvania from 1906 to the present. Fore records prior to that date, contact the appropriate county. Marriage and divirce records are usually obtained from the courthouse in the county where the marriage license was issued or divorce decree was granted.  

=== Other records include:  ===

*Funeral records issued by a funeral home include financial records (cost of casket, dressings, etc.), funeral cards given out at the time of the funeral, etc. These records usually give the name of the deceased, when and where buried, if shipped out to another funeral home, purchaser of cemetery plot, etc. The Family History Library has many records of funeral homes.

The Registrar of Vital Statistics at the county seat. Write for information.  

=== Adoption Records  ===

In Pennsylvania, divorce proceedings were usually kept by the court of common pleas. For example, see:  

== Death Records  ==

=== Birth Records  ===

Delayed birth records are at:  

=== Marriage Records  ===

Individual counties or cities have recorded marriages. Some cities began keeping records in the early 1800s. Counties which kept birth and death records for the years 1852-1854 usually kept marriage records for the same time period. Most counties began keeping marriage records in October 1885. You can obtain copies from the clerk of the orphans' court in the appropriate county.  

The Family History Library has copies of many marriage records, usually from 1885 to 1920, although some are earlier. For Philadelphia City and County, the library has:  

Justice of the Peace records may contain marriages before 1885. The library has these records from the counties of Beaver, Chester, Dauphin, Greene, Lancaster, Lebanon, Montgomery, and Somerset. For example see:  

Published records include the following:  

Marriage licenses for 1742 to 1790 (mostly for 1744 to 1776) are in:  

=== Additional marriage records are in:  ===

*''List of Marriage Licenses Issued in the Secretary's Office From August 1755 through April 1759''. <ref>Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine 21 (1960): 312-27. </ref>See the [[Pennsylvania Periodicals|"Periodicals]]" page.

== Death Records  ==

<br>The Family History Library has over 1,000 microfilms, some of which are:  

<br>

=== '''Published records include:'''  ===

Newspaper accounts of deaths are valuable sources for further research. The library has numerous newspaper accounts of vital records. Many obituary records have been abstracted in published books such as:  

== Archives, Libraries and Societies  ==

=== Inventory of Vital Records  ===

== References  ==