Pennsylvania Probate Records

Probates have been recorded on a county basis since the origin of the Commonwealth in 1682. Complete records are available in most counties. Probate actions taken in a locality before the present county was formed are found in records of the parent county.

Wills have been filed with the "register of wills" in each county, where they are recorded in indexed books.

The records of the orphan's court include minute books, proceedings, dockets, appeals, bonds, inventories, distributions of estates, marriages (since 1885), births and deaths (1893-1905), and adoptions (since 1925). Published abstracts of wills and administrations with comprehensive indexes are available for most of the oldest or largest counties.

The docket index, estate index, or general index is the first place to search for evidence of probate proceedings. These indexes list all the records created for a particular probate. The Family History Library has obtained microfilm copies of many of these indexes, often up to the 1960s.

The various documents (bonds, letters, inventories, etc.) are usually transcribed into Orphans' Court Record Books or Administrator's Account Books. The Family History Library has microfilmed the wills and orphans' court records for most counties, usually up to the early 1900s. For example, the library has:

Philadelphia County (Pennsylvania). ''Register of Wills. Wills, 1682-1916; Indexes to Wills, 1682-1924''. (On 327 FHL films beginning with 1311039.)

Pennsylvania. Orphans' Court (Philadelphia County). Orphans' Court Records, 1719-1880: Orphans' Court Index, 1719-1938. (On 417 FHL films beginning with 21843.)

The library has few probate records from Lackawanna, Lehigh, Lycoming, Monroe, Pike, Schuylkill, and Union counties. Some probate records are listed in the Locality Search of the Family History Library Catalog under PENNSYLVANIA - GUARDIAN AND WARD.

A few land, probate, and will records are available on line from Ancestry.com.