Butler County, Pennsylvania Genealogy

United States Pennsylvania Butler County

Historical Facts

 * Parent Counties: Formed from Allegheny County 12 March 1800.
 * County Seat: Butler
 * Neighboring Counties: residents may also have records in Venango (north) • Armstrong (east) • Lawrence (west) • Allegheny (south)  •  Westmoreland (southeast)  •  Beaver (southwest)  •  Mercer (northwest)  •  Clarion (northeast)

==== Boundary Changes ====


 * Before 1788: Butler County was part of Northumberland County.
 * 1788: Allegheny County (including future Butler County) was created from Northumberland County.

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

The Mennonite Heritage Center 565 Yoder Road Harleysville PA 19438-1020 215-256-3020 [mailto:library@mhep.org library@mhep.org] Hours: Tuesday thru Friday, 10am–5pm, Saturday, 10am–2pm The Cemetery Database at the Mennonite Heritage Center includes 86,000 burial records from 125 local cemeteries. Records cover cemeteries in the counties of Berks, Bucks, Butler, Chester, Lehigh, Montgomery, Northampton, and Westmoreland. The database provides transcriptions from Mennonite, Brethren, Lutheran, Reformed, Union, Baptist, Methodist, Episcopal, community, and private cemeteries. Search the list of cemeteries and the alphabetical surname lists in Adobe PDF format. Visit the Mennonite Heritage Center to search the cemetery database by various criteria. The transcriptions are available for further research at the MHC library.

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.
 * The Butler County Historical Society has various church records available for use in their research library. Call ahead to be sure the genealogist is available.

Catholic

 * "100 years of the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese 1843–1943". Western Pennsylvania Genealogical Society Quarterly, 17:1. FamilySearch Library book 974.8 B2wg. Contains chronolgy, map, county-by-county information.

Presbyterian

 * Middletown Presbyterian Church at USGenWeb, There are records of Baptisms 1848-1870, 1894-1905; Membership records 1838, 1848-1900; and selected session minutes 1838-1903.

History

 * Over 950 fully-searchable books and published works covering much of western Pennsylvania have been posted online at Historic Pittsburgh, nosted by the University of Pittsburgh's Digital Library.

Land and Property
Land records in Butler County began in 1800. These records are filed with the Recorder of Deeds office in Butler, 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


 * 1973–present Butler County offers online access to land records. Check the website for current information on availability and fees.

Land Records on Microfilm


 * 1800–1925 Deeds, 1804-1902; Index to Deeds, 1800-1925.
 * 1800–1928 Mortgages, 1804-1898; Index, 1800-1928.

Additional Resources

Note that the "Maps" section below 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 Butler 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

 * Ancestor Tracks has posted the 1858 Map of Butler Co., Pennsylvania from surveys by Jas. Dunlap, Hugh McKee, David Scott, E. Maurhoff &amp; J.W. Kirker. This map shows the tracts of landowners at that time, as well as towns, villages and roads.  This source is a perfect companion while consulting the 1850 and 1860 census records.  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 for personal use; please attribute to Ancestor Tracks.

Newspapers
An obituary Indexis available on-line through the Butler Area Public Library. I covers the years 1818 through 2010.

Copies of the Butler Times are available at Google News.

Courthouse
Butler County Courthouse 124 W. Diamond St. Butler, PA 16001 Hours:Mon - Fri 8:30am - 4:30pm Phone:(724) 285-4731 (724) 284-5473 (TDD)

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers
 * Cranberry Township Pennsylvania Family History Center

Societies

 * Cranberry Genealogy Club
 * Butler County Genealogical Society
 * Butler County Historical Society
 * Zelienople Historical Society
 * Evans City Area Historical Society

County-wide Database

 * 1700-1821 - Pennsylvania Marriage Records Ancestry.com – ($) This database is incomplete for all counties.
 * Pre-1810 – Pennsylvania Marriages Ancestry.com – ($) This database is incomplete for all counties. Includes 35,000 marriage records from vol. VIII of of the second series of the Pennsylvania Archives.

Births
Birth and death records are available at the county level for 1893 to 1905 only. For records after 1905 contact the:

Vital Records, State Department of Health P.O. Box 1528 101 South Mercer Street New Castle, PA 16101 Phone: (724) 656-3100 Fax: (724) 652-8951


 * 1853 Butler County Births
 * 1893-1905 Butler County Births

Marriages

 * 1725-1976 - - free index. Not complete for all years.
 * 1801-1922 Butler County Marriages

Marriage records at the county level began in 1885 and are kept to the present. For marriages prior to 1885 a search of church records must be conducted. To request a copy of a marriage record from the county contact:

Butler County Register of Wills &amp; Clerk of Orphans' Court P. O. Box 1208 Butler, PA 16003

Divorce
Divorce records are available through the office of the Prothonotary. Since there is no on-line index, you can search the index at the Prothonotary's office. The office of the Prothonotary is on the: Office of the Prothonary First Floor, County Courthouse 300 South Main Street P.O. Box 1208 Butler, PA 16003-1208 Phone: (724) 284-5214

Deaths

 * 1852-1854 Butler County Deaths. Courtesy of USGENWeb
 * 1893-1905 Butler County Deaths. Courtesy of USGENWeb

Web Sites

 * Linkpendium - Butler County
 * USGenWeb project