Pennsylvania History

Online Resources

 * County and Town Histories, includes biographies
 * Pennsylvania Historical Records

Origin of Pennsylvania
The earliest European settlers in what became Pennsylvania were part of the New Sweden and New Netherland colonies.

Pennsylvania began as a British colony in 1681 when King Charles II appointed William Penn (1644-1718) proprieter. Pennsylvania was the second state admitted to the Union in 1787. Colony, and later state boundary lines, were in dispute for many years, and often lead to bloodshed (i.e. Cresap's War). The Mason-Dixon Line was the result of one of these disputes. Philadelphia served as the capitol of the United States from 1790 to 1800.

Brief History
The following important events affected Pennsylvania's political boundaries, record keeping, and family movements:

1633-1643: (-1647?) Dutch build a blockhouse (single log cabin fort) "at the Schuylkill" River (now Philadelphia). It was abandoned about 1643. See the New Sweden and the New Netherland Wiki article for details.

1641: Swedes and Finns spreading north from Fort Christina (present-day Wlimington, Delaware) first settle in Finland (Chamassungh), now Trainer, Pennsylvania  and Upland (Meckopenacka), now Chester, Pennsylvania. The New Sweden Colony continues to expand northward with new settlements as far as Philadelphia in the following years.

1642: The English build a blockhouse on Province Island (now Philadelphia airport) but are soon removed by the Dutch, probably with help from the Swedish.

1648-1651: The Dutch built Fort Beaversrede (now Philadelphia) inland from the Delaware River to be the first contact for Indian fur traders coming down the Schuylkill River. The Swedes respond by building a blockhouse between the Schuylkill and the Dutch fort in order to obscure the view of the fort from the river.

1651-1655: The New Netherland Colony builds Fort Casimir  (now New Castle, Delaware), settle Sandhook,   and abandon Fort Beversrede in 1651. In 1654 New Sweden captures Fort Casimir from the Dutch without a fight and rename it Fort Trinty (Trefaldighets). In 1655 New Netherland returns with a large army and all of New Sweden in presend-day Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey submits to Dutch rule.

1664: As part of the Second Anglo-Dutch War New Netherland including southeast Pennsylvania is surrendered to the English.

1673-1674: A new war breaks out and the Dutch send a large armada to retake New Netherland for a few months. But as the war ends the colony is ceeded to England for the last time.

1680s: William Penn founded the English colony of Pennsylvania after receiving a grant in 1681 from the king of England. His colony offered religious freedom, liberal government, and inexpensive land. Quakers established the city of Philadelphia.

1700-1754: Welsh, German, and Scotch-Irish groups arrived.

1754: The French and Indian War started in western Pennsylvania.

1768-1792: The disputed boundaries between Pennsylvania and the neighboring states of Connecticut, New York, Virginia, and Maryland were settled.

1776: The Revolutionary War began. The state constitution was adopted.The three "lower counties on the Delaware" officially broke away to become the State of Delaware.

1787: Pennsylvania became the second state to ratify the Constitution.

1790-1800: Philadelphia was the capital of the United States.

1811: Steamboats began traveling from Pittsburgh to New Orleans.

- - - -: the Tuscarora tribe moved from Pennsylvania to North Carolina

1834: The railroad-canal line extended from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh.

1879: Richard Henry Pratt founded the Carlisle Indian Schoool at Carlise, one of the most successful schools for Indians in the U.S. The school was abandon in 1918,

1898: Over 300,000 men were involved in the Spanish-American War which was fought mainly in Cuba and the Philippines.

1917–1918: More than 26 million men from the United States ages 18 through 45 registered with the Selective Service. World War I over 4.7 million American men and women served during the war.

1930's: The Great Depression closed many factories and mills. Many small farms were abandoned, and many families moved to cities.

1940–1945: Over 50.6 million men ages 18 to 65 registered with the Selective Service. Over 16.3 million American men and women served in the armed forces during World War II.

1950–1953: Over 5.7 million American men and women served in the Korean War.

1950's–1960's The building of interstate highways made it easier for people to move long distances.

1964–1972: Over 8.7 million American men and women served in the Vietnam War.

The FamilySearch Library has many local histories and handbooks to help you with your research. Sources for studying the history of Pennsylvania include:

Local Histories
Several online county histories of Pennsylvania are linked from CensusFinder.com.

A Bibliography of American County Histories

United States Local Histories in the Library of Congress Pennsylvania has the following excellent bibliographic resources for materials on history:

State Histories
Egle, William Henry. An Illustrated History of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: Civil, Political, and Military from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, Including Historical Descriptions of Each County in the State, Their Towns, and Industrial Resources. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: E. M. Gardner, 1880. (Not available, sent to cataloging)

Donehoo, George P. Pennsylvania; A History. 9 vol. contents: [1-4] History. [5-9] Biography. New York, NY: Lewis Historical Pub. Co., 1926-1931. ; vols. 4, 5, and 8 are on 3

Stevens, Sylvester Kirby. Pennsylvania: The Heritage of a Commonwealth. 4 vol. West Palm Beach, Florida: The American Historical Company, 1968.

Bining, Arthur C., et al. Writing on Pennsylvania History: A Bibliography. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1946. This and the following book often provide comments about the value of the source being described.

Wilkinson, Norman B. Bibliography of Pennsylvania History. 2d ed. Harrisburg, Pa.: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1957. and This book updates and expands the previous book.

Wall, Carol. Bibliography of Pennsylvania History: A Supplement. Harrisburg, Pa.: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1976. and This and the following book continue the effort of the previous works although they do not provide comments on the value of any listing.

Trussell, John B. B. Jr. Pennsylvania Historical Bibliography. Vols. 1-6. Harrisburg, Pa.: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1979-1989. This work updates the bibliographies cited above. The library has vol. 1 only.

A very helpful source in addition to the above bibliographies is Dennis B. Downey and Francis J. Bremer, A Guide to the History of Pennsylvania (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1993. Of special value is the description of research collections in Pennsylvania archives and manuscript repositories. However, it does not include genealogy societies.

Potentially helpful histories of Pennsylvania counties compiled in 1939-1942 is Historical Records Survey (Pennsylvania), Notes on County Histories and Points of Interest for American Guide Series The counties are filed mostly in alphabetical order, and while a general format seems to be followed, they vary in the kind of information given.

There are also Pennsylvania histories available online. Use a search engine and terms of "Pennsylvania History" to find applicable sites.

Draper Manuscript Collection

Look for ancestors from Pennsylvania 1740-1830 in the Draper Manuscript Collection. These manuscripts cover the history of the "trans-Allegheny West," a region including the west Carolinas and Virginia, all the Ohio River Valley, and part of the upper Mississippi Valley. There are 491 volumes of partially-indexed manuscripts, papers, and books.