Perry County, Pennsylvania Genealogy

Guide to Perry County, Pennsylvania ancestry, family history and genealogy in courthouse sources including birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, wills, deeds and land records, Civil War records, Revolutionary War records, family histories, cemeteries, churches, tax records, newspapers, and obituaries.

Perry County Pennsylvania Historical Facts


Parent Counties: Formed from Cumberland County 22 March 1820.

County Seat: New Bloomfield

Neighboring Counties: Perry County residents may also have records in


 * Snyder
 * Cumberland
 * Juniata
 * Northumberland
 * Dauphin
 * Franklin


 * Named for Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, hero of Battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812. One of reasons the county was created because residents did not want to travel over the mountains to get to Carlisle which was the seat of Cumberland County.

Description
The county was named for Oliver Hazard Perry. It's county seat is New Bloomfield and was founded March 22, 1820. It is located in the Central area of the state.

Boundary Changes
For animated maps illustrating Pennsylvania county boundary changes, "Rotating Formation Pennsylvania County Boundary Maps" (1673-1878) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Records Loss
There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

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

FamilySearch Catalog:

"Registration of graves and cemeteries in the eastern area of the county of Juniata: consisting of the townships of Delaware, Fayette, Fermanagh, Greenwood, Monroe, Susquehanna and Walker and the borough of Thompsontown with some cemeteries of Snyder and Perry counties...". It is on one microfilm and has only pieces of Perry, but it could be useful.

30 Perry County, Pennsylvania cemetery records : complete tombstone inscriptions is a 348 page book that includes an index.

"no. 3 (Aug 1978) - Bloomfield burials in 1890" is an article written by Isaac Simmers.

"no. 2 (April 1977) - Burial grounds" is another article but contains information on the Van Camp burial ground; Burial ground report; Limestone Presbyterian Churchyard; German tombstones in Zion (Toboyne) Chuchyard at Blain.

"no. 4 (1979) - Perry Valley burial grounds" another article but is an from the "Newport News" on May 27, 1897 listing names of persons buried in the area without tombstones or whose tombstones have been destroyed.

Ancestry's Red Book:

"Large collections of cemetery records are located at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, and at many local libraries and historical societies. The Pennsylvania State Library maintains the state’s Daughters of the American Revolution cemetery collection (see page 7). Records for several Philadelphia funeral directors are in the Collections of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania (housed at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania). The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania microfilmed cemetery records throughout the commonwealth and is currently indexing cemetery records in their collections. Various compilations of cemetery inscriptions have been published, such as those for the western counties by Closson Press and Mechling Books."

On Cyndi's List there are some websites dealing with cemeteries.

Pennsylvania Cemeteries is useful as it gives the locations of the cemeteries in Pennsylvania that one can then go and search if needed.

Find a Grave has the name of the cemetery, how many interred and some photos. You can search the site by names and will reveal multiple states.

Church Records
Calvinism and Presbyterianism were the first in Perry County because Scotch-Irish settled the area first. In the early 1800s, as the Scotch-Irish moved out, more Germans moved in creating more Lutheran and German Reformed churches.



Ancestry's Red Book is the digitized version that has links to multiple societies and churches for more information on what is contained or how to contact them to get 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.


 * Contains the church records of:
 * Duncannon: Asbury United Methodist Church; Otterbein United Methodist Church
 * Marysville: Bethany United Methodist Church
 * Newport: Newport United Methodist Parish Charge


 * Perry County Archives Church Records courtesy USGenWeb Archives

Lutheran
St. Michael's Lutheran Church was in Pfoutz Valley and was organized between 1770 and 1773. The Lebanon Lutheran Church was also an early church in the area in 1790 sharing a church with the Loysville Reformed Church. Mt. Zion Lutheran Church organized in about 1809, met in the old Union Church with St. Peter's Reformed Church.


 * 1774-1870 St. Michael Evangelical Lutheran Church, Pfouts Valley, Baptism Index 1774-1870 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch - free. Batch.
 * 1875-1884 St. Michael Evangelical Lutheran Church, Pfouts Valley, Baptism Index 1875-1884 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch - free. Batch.


 * 1846-1847 Marriages performed by John William Heim, Perry County, Pennsylvania - original at the Wentz Library of the Lutheran Theological Seminary, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania;
 * 1901-1947 Church records[Newport Evangelical Charge] – Newport Charge included the following churches: Calvary at Newport, Ebenezer at Milford now Wila, Mt. Zion at Elliottsburg, Stony Point in Southwest Madison Township, St. Mary's in Liverpool and Messiah or Hunter's Valley in Spring Township;
 * Classified index to Churches between the mountains: a history of the Lutheran congregations in Perry County, Pennsylvania by Rev. D. H. Focht – A book that is more about history, but it may lead to where one needs to look;

Methodist

 * 1893-1930 Church records, 1893-1930 [Newport Methodist] which covers Newport, Millerstown, and Donnally Mills. In 1906 Newport was its own charge.

Presbyterian
The Centre Presbyterian Church was one of the first churches in the area being organized in 1766. Dick's Gap Church and Blain Presbyterian Church or the Upper Church of Blain were both organized in 1767.


 * 1778-1793 Center Presbyterian Church, Shermans Valley, Marriage Index 1778-1793 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch - free. Batch.


 * Pastor's register of baptisms, communicants, burials - Transcribed from a register in possession of Mrs. F. A. Blair, Blairs Mills, Pa;

Reformed
Loysville Reformed Church shared their church with the Lebanon Lutheran Church. St. Peter's Reformed Church was organized in about 1809 and met with Mt. Zion Lutheran Church in the Old Union Church.

United Brethren

 * 1856-1917 Church records [Perry Circuit of the United Brethren in Christ] covers Classes attached to Perry Circuit are listed in the catalog entry;

Court of Common Pleas
The Courts of Common Pleas are the trial courts of Pennsylvania. Major civil and criminal cases are heard in these courts. Judges also decide cases involving adoption, divorce, child custody, abuse, juvenile delinquency, estates, guardianships, charitable organizations and many other matters. The Common Pleas courts are organized into 60 judicial districts. Perry County shares its judicial district with Juniata County. Judges of the Common Pleas courts are elected to 10-year terms. A president judge and a court administrator serve in each judicial district.

Land and Property
Land records in Perry County began in 1820. These records are filed with the Register and Recorder office in New Bloomfield, 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


 * 1820-present Images are available online using the Landex system. There is a fee to view the images.

Land Records on Microfilm


 * 1820-1950 Deed Book, 1820-1866; Indexes, 1820-1950

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 Perry County Pennsylvania Land in online catalogs such as:


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

Maps

 * Maps of Pennsylvania (1673-1878)
 * Ancestor Tracks has posted free downloadable images from the 1877 Atlas of Perry, Juniata &amp; Mifflin Counties under the Direction of Beach Nichols, published by Pomeroy, Whitman &amp; Co. This wall map located in the Library of Congress shows major landowners and geographic sites at the date of publishing. While the physical maps are in the public domain, the images we have taken of the maps belong to us and are not to be used commercially. We hereby give permission to use them strictly for personal use; please attribute to Ancestor Tracks.

War of 1812

 * War of 1812 rolls, Perry (then Cumberland) County courtesy USGenWeb.com

Civil War

 * Civil War Regimental Rolls courtesy USGenWeb.com

Naturalization and Citizenship
Naturalization records available for Perry County, Pennsylvania include the following:

Online Naturalization Indexes and Records


 * 1901-1930 Naturalization Petitions of the U.S. Circuit and District Courts for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, 1906-1930; and 1901-1906 on Fold3.com - ($), indexed, National Archives publication M1622, Middle District court was created in 1901, for earlier dates try the Eastern and Western District court records
 * 1901-1930 Middle District, US Circuit and District Courts: Naturalization petitions, 1906-1930 located in U.S. Naturalization Records - Original Documents, 1795-1972 (World Archives Project) database on Ancestry.com - ($), indexed, National Archives publication M1622, Middle District court was created in 1901, for earlier dates try the Eastern and Western District court records

Newspapers
Newspapers of Perry County


 * Pennsylvania Newspapers
 * Chronicling America US Newspaper Directory
 * PAGenWeb Perry County Newspapers Newspapers published in Perry County, Pennsylvania through the years.

Online Newspapers

To learn if there are newspapers online for a specific town or city in Pennsylvania, see news.google.com/newspapers and search for the town or the name of a newspaper.

Online Newspaper Abstracts


 * PA-Roots Newspaper Articles for Perry County, Pennsylvania.
 * Perry County Archives Newspaper Articles courtesy USGenWeb Archives including:
 * 1862-1922 Newspaper articles pertaining to Blain Borough
 * 1894 and 1918 Misc news from The News

Obituaries
Obituaries are generally found in local newspapers where the person died. However, sometimes an obituary is found in the location from which he or she originated. To find an obituary, see the information under the Newspaper heading

Online Obituary Abstracts


 * PA-Roots Obituaries for Perry County, Pennsylvania.
 * Perry County Archives Obituaries courtesy USGenWeb Archives

Obituary Excerpts and Abstracts


 * Historically Informative Obituaries'
 * Contributed by Deborah S. White, a descendant of the deceased, A Perry County Obituary, Perry County Democrat

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:


 * 1683-1993 Pennsylvania Wills and Probate Records 1683-1993 at Ancestry.com — index and images $


 * 1683-1994  at FamilySearch.org

Perry County Only:


 * 1820-1911 Perry County Probate Records

Online Probate Abstracts


 * 1820-1835 Index to Will Book A

Original Probate Records on Microfilm


 * 1820-1911 Wills
 * 1820-1869 Orphans court dockets

Repositories

 * List of Pennsylvania Archives, Libraries, Publications, Historical &amp; Genealogical Societies

Archives

 * National Archives at Philadelphia 14700 Townsend Road Philadelphia, PA 19154-1096 Phone: 215-305-2044 Fax: 215-305-2052
 * National Archives at Philadelphia 14700 Townsend Road Philadelphia, PA 19154-1096 Phone: 215-305-2044 Fax: 215-305-2052

Courthouse

 * Perry County Courthouse P.O. Box 37 2 East Main Street New Bloomfield, PA 17068 Phone: 717-582-2131
 * Copies of documents including birth, marriages, deaths, divorces, land, and probate records can be obtained by using: Pennsylvania Public Records. Click on the link for the record you wish to request.


 * Prothonotary and Clerk of Courts P.O. Box 325 New Bloomfield, PA 17068 Phone: 717-582-2131


 * Orphans' Court Phone: 717-582-2131

Libraries

 * The Perry Historians Library aka The Harry W. Lenig Library P.O. Box 73 763 Dix Hill Rd. Newport, PA 17074-0073 Visit website for hours and phone numbers
 * The Library collection includes:
 * Surname File
 * Church Records
 * Newspapers
 * Cemetery Records
 * Mortuary Records
 * Court Records
 * Census schedules


 * The Perry County Public Libraries system has 4 libraries. Main Library - Bloomfield Public Library 23 E. McClure Street New Bloomfield, PA 17068. Phone: 717-582-7426

Societies

 * Historical Society of Perry County PA P.O. Box 81 Newport, PA 17074-0081 Phone: 717-567-9011 Email: [mailto:hsofpc@gmail.com hsofpc@gmail.com] Facebook

Taxation

 * 1767 Early Assessments of Toboyne and Tyrone Townships at PAGenWeb - free.


 * 1785-1883 Perry County, Pennsylvania Tax Records at PAGenWeb - free.

Vital Records
See also How to order Pennsylvania Vital Records

Birth

 * 1852-1854 Perry County Birth Index 1852-1854 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch - free. Batch.
 * 1852-1854 Pennsylvania Births Ancestry.com – $ Index with images.

Marriage

 * 1677-1950  at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1700-1821 Pennsylvania Marriage Records Ancestry.com – ($) This database is incomplete for all counties.
 * 1725-1976  - free index. Not complete for all years. This index is an electronic database of information. The entries are primarily from the International Genealogical Index (IGI) along with some entries derived from compiled and original records such as: Family Records, Church Records, Civil Registration. It may also include indexes generated by the internet indexing project sponsored by the LDS Church.
 * Pre-1810 Pennsylvania Marriages Ancestry.com – ($) This database is incomplete for all counties. Includes 35,000 marriage records from vol. VIII of of the second series of the Pennsylvania Archives.
 * 1852-1854 Pennsylvania Marriages Ancestry.com – ($) Index with images.
 * 1885 - Perry County Marriage Index 1885 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch - free. Batch.
 * 1885-1950  Extracted marriage records – free. Most of the records consist of marriage licenses, certificates, applications, docket books, and affidavits. This database is incomplete for all counties. May also contain marriage records earlier than 1885.
 * 1885-1887 and 1890-1991 Some Perry County, PA Marriages, courtesy USGenWeb Archives

Divorce
Divorce records are available through the office of the Prothonotary. The office of the Prothonotary is located in the courthouse building.

Death

 * 1852-1919 Perry County Death Index 1852-1919 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch - free.
 * 1852-1854 Pennsylvania Deaths Ancestry.com – $ Index with images.
 * 1852-1855 Some Perry County, PA Death Records, courtesy USGenWeb Archives'''

Perry County Pennsylvania Genealogy Websites

 * Perry County, PA History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
 * USGenWeb
 * Perry County PA Genealogy
 * Perry County PA Genealogy

Populated Places
Perry county has two types of municipalities, boroughs and twonships. It has 9 boroughs: Blain, Duncannon, Landisburg, Liverpool, Marysville, Millerstown, Bloomfield, New Buffalo, and Newport, and 21 townships: Buffalo Township, Carroll Township, Centre Township, Greenwood Township, Howe Township, Jackson Township, Juniata Township, Liverpool Township, Miller Township, Northeast Madison Township, Oliver Township, Penn Township, Rye Township, Saville Township, Southwest Madison Township, Spring Township, Toboyne Township, Tuscarora Township, Tyrone Township, Watts Township, and Wheatfield Township. Bloomfield, though sometimes named New Bloomfield, is the county seat.