Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Genealogy

United States Pennsylvania Luzerne County

Historical Facts

 * Parent Counties: Formed from Northumberland County 25 September 1786.
 * County Seat: Wilkes-Barre
 * Neighboring Counties: residents may also have records in Wyoming (north) • Monroe (east) • Columbia (west)  • Schuykill (south)  •  Lackawanna (northeast)  •  Carbon (southeast)  •  Sullivan (northwest)

Named for Anne-Cesar, Chevalier de la Luzerne, a most popular minister from the French court during the American Revolutionary War.

Luzerne County is the only county in the United States where a plurality of residents state their ancestry as Polish per Census 2000 report.

Boundary Changes

 * 21 Feb 1810: Ontario and Susquehanna Counties were set off.
 * 4 April 1842: Wyoming County set off.

Cemeteries
Cemetery records often reveal birth, marriage, death, relationship, military, and religious information.

County-wide Database – Multi-denominational



 * 1708-1985 - Pennsylvania, Church and Town Records, 1708-1985 at Historical Society of Pennsylvania – $, free to members of the society; Also available at Ancestry.com–$; 7,542,774 entries. This database is incomplete for all counties.

Lutheran

 * 1813-1876 - Wapwallopen Union Reformed &amp; Lutheran Church (Old River Church) Baptismal Records 1813 to 1876 Luzerne County, Pennsylvania at The USGenWeb Project - free.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
LDS Ward and Branch Records


 * Nanticoke
 * Plymouth

Orphan's Court (see Vital Records)

 * 1787–1866 Orphans Court Dockets (Index 1787–1874)

Land and Property
Land records in Luzerne County began in 1786. These records are filed with the Recorder of Deeds office in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania.

Land and property records can place an ancestor in a particular location, provide economic information, and reveal family relationships. Land records include: deeds, abstracts, indexes, mortgages, leases, grants, sheriff sales, land patents, and maps. Property records include liens as well as livestock brands and estray records.

The following are examples of available resources:

Online Land Records


 * 1968–present Images are available online using the Landex system. There is a fee to view the images.

Land Records on Microfilm


 * 1780–1907 Deeds, 1787-1901; Indexes to Deeds, 1780-1907 The earlier indexes for what would become Luzerne County are for the most part in Northumberland County.
 * 1788–1924 Mortgage Indexes.

Additional Resources

Note that the "Maps" section below also includes maps related to land ownership.

See Pennsylvania Land and Property for more information about using land records, especially about original land warrants, surveys, and patents filed at the state land office.

Additional resources can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Luzerne County Pennsylvania Land in online catalogs such as:


 * Historical Society of Pennsylvania
 * WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog.)
 * (For instructions see FHL Catalog Place-name Search.)

Maps
Click the image to view an enlarged version

Probate Records
Online Probate Records

Original probate records for some Pennsylvania counties are available free online as digital images at FamilySearch.org. The dates vary significantly for each county and not all counties are listed. Some counties may only have probate indexes. This Pennsylvania collection of images may be browsed through the links listed below:

Complete Collection:


 * 1683-1994 – at FamilySearch.org

Luzerne County Only:


 * 1787–1916 – Luzerne County Probate Records

Courthouse
Luzerne County Courthouse 200 N. River St. Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers

Taxation

 * 1798 - Pennsylvania, U.S. Direct Tax Lists, 1798 at Ancestry ($).

Birth

 * 1852-1854 – Pennsylvania Births Ancestry.com – ($) Index with images.

Marriage

 * 1709-1940

Death

 * 1852-1854 – Pennsylvania Deaths Ancestry.com – ($) Index with images.

Web Sites

 * USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.