Armstrong County, Pennsylvania Genealogy

Guide to Armstrong County, Pennsylvania ancestry, genealogy and family history, birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

Description
It is named for John Armstrong, who represented Pennsylvania in the Continental Congress and served as a major general during the Revolutionary War. It is located in the Central-west section of the state.

County Courthouse
Armstrong County Courthouse450 Market St. Kittanning, PA 16201 Phone: (724) 543-2500 Orphan's Court, (724) 548-3220 Prothonotary and Clerk of Courts, (724) 548-3252 Armstrong County Courthouse

Populated Places
For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit HomeTown Locator. The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:

Cemeteries
Additional Cemetery Resources
 * ca.1700-ca.1950 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * Pennsylvania Genealogy LDS Genealogy
 * Names in Stone
 * Ancestry($)

Church Records
County-wide Database Multi-denominational


 * 1708 - 1985 Pennsylvania, Church and Town Records, 1708-1985 at Historical Society of Pennsylvania – $, to members of the society; Also available at Ancestry $


 * Contains church records of:
 * Apollo: Apollo United Methodist Church
 * Chicora: St. Paul's United Church of Christ
 * Elderton: Elderton United Presbyterian Church
 * Gilpin: Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church
 * Kiskiminetas: Boiling Springs Presbyterian Church
 * Kittanning: St. Paul's Episcopal Church
 * Leechburg: Greystone United Presbyterian Church
 * Manorville: Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church
 * Redbank: St. Mary's Episcopal Church

Catholic
 * Armstrong County Church Records is sponsored by the Armstrong County Genealogical Project. There are records of a few churches represented in this website, and the information varies greatly from a history of the church to lists of members or baptisms.
 * "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.

Lutheran
 * 1838 - 1883 Bapismal records for Forks-Zion Lutheran Church with additional information on individuals listed.
 * 1840 - 1889 Church Book of the Reformed and Lutheran Churches: Plum Creek Township, Armstrong Co., PA at USGenWeb. The books from which these records were taken were in the old Church at Gastown, Pennsylvania. The records are not consistent from minister to minister.

Presbyterian In 1802 two Presbyterian churches were organizes about eight miles apart on the west side of the Allegheny River in Buffalo Township. From those two churches sprang all the Presbyterian churches in the county.

Calvin United Presbyterian Church, Apollo


 * 1863 - 1880 Calvin United Presbyterian Church, Apollo, Baptism Index 1863-1880 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch. Batch

First Presbyterian Church, Apollo


 * 1848 - 1885 First Presbyterian Church, Apollo, Baptism Index 1848-1885 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch. Batch
 * 1858 - 1904 First Presbyterian Church, Apollo, Marriage Index 1858-1904 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch. Batch

First Presbyterian Church, Kittanning


 * 1830 - 1875 First Presbyterian Church, Kittanning, Baptism Index 1830-1875 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch. Batch
 * 1842 - 1880 First Presbyterian Church, Kittanning, Marriage Index 1842-1880 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch. Batch

Presbyterian Church, Brady's Bend

List of Churches and Church Parishes
 * 1851 - 1859 Presbyterian Church, Brady's Bend, Baptism Index 1851-1859 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch. Batch
 * 1856 - 1866 Presbyterian Church, Brady's Bend, Baptism Index 1856-1866 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch. Batch
 * FamilySearch Places

Land and Property Records
Land records in Armstrong County began in 1805. These records are filed with the Register and Recorder office in Kittanning, Pennsylvania.

Online Land Records
 * 1805–present Armstrong County offers online access to indexes and images. Fees apply.
 * 1805 – 1941 Deeds, 1805-1891; Index, 1805-1941. - images only; click on the camera icon to view images

Maps
 * 1793 – 1906 Land Surveys.

Local Histories

 * History of Armstrong County Pennsylvania, published in 1883 by Robert Walter Smith, has been transcribed and posted online at the Armstrong County Genealogy Project.The description on the site says, "This history is considered to be the best Armstrong County resource for researchers. It contains very detailed information about each of the townships to include the descriptions of the property and who owned it."
 * The two volumes of History of Armstrong County, Pa, Her People, Past and Present have been transcribed and posted online as part of the Armstrong County Genealogy Project. Volume 1 contains the historical record of the county and volume 2 contains hundreds of biographical articles of Armstrong County people.

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps
 * Maps of Pennsylvania (1673-1878)
 * Ancestor Tracks has posted Map of Armstrong Co., Pennsylvania which was published in 1861 and is referred to in histories of the county as "Pomeroy's Map." 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 to commercially. We hereby give permission to use them strictly for personal use; please attribute to Ancestor Tracks.
 * FamilySearch Places:Cities and Towns- How to Use FS Places

Military Records
Revolutionary War Men living in what is now Armstrong County (then Westmoreland County) served in the 8th Pennsylvania Regiment.

Civil War
 * 1861-1865 - at FamilySearch — index

Naturalization and Citizenship
Naturalization Records available for Armstrong County, Pennsylvania include the following:

Online Naturalization Indexes and Records
 * 1807 - 1906 Naturalization Docket - images only; click on the camera icon to view images
 * 1820 - 1906 Index to Declarations and Petitions in the Western District of Pennsylvania, US Circuit and District Courts located in US Naturalization Records Indexes, 1794-1995 database on Ancestry $
 * 1820 - 1930 Naturalization Petitions of the U.S. District Court, 1820-1930, and Circuit Court, 1820-1911, for the Western District of Pennsylvania on Fold3.com - ($), indexed, National Archives publication M1537, incomplete for all counties
 * 1820 - 1930 Naturalization Petitions of the U.S. District Court, 1820-1930, and Circuit Court, 1820-1911, for the Western District of Pennsylvania located in Selected US Naturalization Records - Original Documents, 1790-1974 database on Ancestry $

Newspapers
Newspapers of Armstrong County


 * Pennsylvania Newspapers
 * Chronicling America US Newspaper Directory

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

Newspaper Excerpts and Abstracts
 * PA-Roots Newspaper Articles for Armstrong County.
 * USGenWeb Armstrong County Newspaper Extracts
 * 1947 - 2010  at FamilySearch


 * Shirley, Carmella Corcetti (collected and arranged), Marriages and anniversaries: taken from the Leader Times newspapers, 1922-1962-1997-1998-1999-200 the Vandergrift News, 1997-1998-1999-2001 (Chicora, Pennsylvania:Mechling Bookbindery, c2002)

Obituaries
Online Obituary Abstracts


 * PAGenWeb Armstrong County Obituaries
 * PA-Roots Obituaries for Armstrong County.
 * Armstrong County Obituaries at Armstrong County, Pennsylvania USGenWeb Archives

Obituary Excerpts and Abstracts


 * Shirley, Carmella Corcetti, Obituary Abstracts from Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Newspapers (Butler, Pennsylvania, Mechling Bookbindery, c1997,c2002)

Probate Records
Online Probate Indexes and Records
 * 1683 - 1994 at FamilySearch
 * 1683 - 1993 Pennsylvania Wills and Probate Records 1683-1993 at Ancestry $ - images only; click on the camera icon to view images
 * 1683 - 1994 at FamilySearch - images only; click on the camera icon to view images
 * 1805 - 1918 Will Books -Index included: 1797-1961 - images only; click on the camera icon to view images
 * 1805 - 1881 Probate Records -index included: 1805-1935 - images only; click on the camera icon to view images
 * Armstrong County Wills and Estate Records at Armstrong County, Pennsylvania USGenWeb Archives - Includes Will Book Index, Books 1- 3 and many abstracts of wills and estate records.

Birth

 * 1726 - 1930  index. Not complete for all years. This collection is an index for the years 1726 to 1930. It is not necessarily intended to index any specific set of records. This index is not complete for any particular place or region. This collection may include information previously published in the International Genealogical Index or Vital Records Index collections.
 * 1852 - 1854 Pennsylvania Births Ancestry $
 * 1897 - 1971 Armstrong County Birth Index, Volumes 5-23, 1897-1971 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch

Marriage

 * 1626-2016 Pennsylvania, United States Marriages at FindMyPast $
 * 1677 - 1950 Pennsylvania Civil Marriages, 1677-1950 at FamilySearch
 * 1700 - 1821 Pennsylvania Marriage Records Ancestry $
 * Pre-1810 Pennsylvania Marriages Ancestry $
 * 1725 - 1976  index. Not complete for all years. This index is not necessarily intended to index any specific set of records. This index is not complete for any particular place or region. This collection may include information previously published in the International Genealogical Index or Vital Records Index collections.
 * 1852 - 1854 Pennsylvania Marriages Ancestry $
 * 1885 - 1950  Extracted marriage records – This database is incomplete for all counties. May also contain marriage records earlier than 1885.
 * Armstrong Marriages - PAGenWeb.

Death

 * 1720-1999  at FamilySearch — index, some images
 * 1850-1880  at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1852-1854 Pennsylvania Deaths Ancestry $

Divorce
Divorce records are available through the office of the Prothonotary.

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

Family History Centers

 * Indiana Pennsylvania Family History Center

Libraries

 * The Armstrong County Library system do not appear to have a central library. There are currently four libraries in the system:Apollo, Ford City, Kittanning and Worthington Libraries.

Societies

 * Armstrong County Historical Museum and Genealogical Society 300 N Mckean St Kittaning, PA 16201-1373 Phone: (724) 548-5707 The Society has collected historical and genealogical records including family and church histories. It offers a look-up service; check site for rates. Website

Websites

 * Armstrong County Genealogy Project
 * Armstrong County PAGenWeb
 * Armstrong County USGenWeb Archives
 * Linkpendium - Armstrong County
 * Armstrong County Old Photos
 * Armstrong County PA Genealogy
 * – The FamilySearch catalog contains descriptions and access information for all genealogical materials (including books, online materials, microfilm, microfiche, and publications) in their collection.  Use Historical Records to search for specific individuals in genealogical records.