Clarion County, Pennsylvania Genealogy

Guide to Clarion 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.

Clarion County Pennsylvania Historical Facts


Parent Counties: Formed from Venango and Armstrong Counties 11 March 1839.

County Seat: Clarion

Neighboring Counties: Clarion County residents may also have records in


 * Forest
 * Venango
 * Butler
 * Armstrong
 * Jefferson

Description
It's county seat is Clarion. It was organized March 11, 1839. It is located in the West central section of the state.

Boundary Changes

 * Before 1795: The area of future Clarion County was part of Northumberland County.
 * 13 April 1795: When Lycoming County was created from Northumberland County, future Clarion County went with Lycoming County.
 * 12 March 1800: When Venango and Armstrong Counties were formed from Lycoming County, about 1/3 of Clarion County went with Venango County and 2/3 went with Armstrong County.

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
Charles Reeves has created a map of Clarion County cemeteries that corresponds to, and enhances, the transcription project underway by the Clarion County Historical Society. The map is available at Mr. Reeves' Web site.

A listing of identified cemeteries and several tombstone transcriptions are available at the Clarion County Genealogy &amp; History Web site.

The Eccles-Lesher Memorial Library is a small hometown library located in the rural community of Rimersburg. "A Wealth of Information at Your Fingertips" is their motto.

Their library web site includes a burial database with a wealth of cemetery and burial records for Clarion county.

Search features include the singular options (no wildcard required) for:


 * 1) First Name
 * 2) Last Name
 * 3) Birthplace
 * 4) Year of Death
 * 5) Place of Death (hint, due to the listing of specific names of hospitals, enter "hospital")
 * 6) Cause of Death
 * 7) Name of Cemetery
 * 8) Name of Undertaker
 * 9) Name of Survivor(s) (hint, use last name of survivors)

Rich info source... often gives parents names, spouse name, sometimes even marriage information. Link to instructions is on site.

Cemetery records often reveal birth, marriage, death, relationship, military, and religious 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 church records of the First United Methodist Church (New Bethlehem, Pa.).

Many church histories, record transcriptions, photos, and related resources are online at the Clarion County Genealogy &amp; History Web site.

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
Foxburg Presbyterian Church


 * 1878-1879 - Foxburg Presbyterian Church Baptism Index 1878-1879 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch - free. Batch.
 * 1879-1880 - Foxburg Presbyterian Church Marriage Index 1879-1880 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch - free. Batch.

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. Clarion County has its own judicial district. 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 Clarion County began in 1839. These records are filed with the Register and Recorder's office in Clarion, 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:

Land Records on Microfilm


 * 1806–1946 Deed books, 1806-1888; Indexes to Deeds, 1806-1946 . Early records for the area that would later become Clarion County are for the applicable parent counties.

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 Clarion 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
Click the image to view an enlarged version


 * Maps of Pennsylvania (1673-1878)
 * Ancestor Tracks has posted free, downloadable images from Caldwell's Illustrated Historical Combination Atlas of Clarion County, 1877. This atlas 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.
 * Charles Reeves has created a number of customized maps of Clarion County for the Clarion County Genealogy &amp; History Web site. Copies are available at Mr. Reeves' Web site.
 * Charles Reeves has also prepared the most-complete version available today of Caldwell's 1877 Illustrated Historical Combination Atlas of Clarion County, using pages from an original atlas and supplementing those with images from the Library of Congress. These high-resolution images are available on CD from Mr. Reeves' Web site.

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

Online Naturalization Indexes and Records


 * 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.com - ($), National Archives publication M1208
 * 1820-1930 – Naturalization Petitions of the U.S. District Court, 1820-1930, and Circuit Court, 1820-1911, for the Western District of Pennsylvania on Fold3.com - ($), 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.com - ($), indexed, National Archives publication M1537

Original Naturalization Records on Microfilm


 * 1849-1906 Declarations of Intention
 * 1841-1906 Naturalization Docket

Newspapers
Newspapers of Clarion 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


 * PA-Roots Newspaper Articles for Clarion County.

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 Clarion County.
 * Clarion County Archives Obits at Clarion County, Pennsvylvania USGenWeb Archives

Obituary Excerpts and Abstracts


 * Starr, Charles Howard, Recent Deaths, Clarion County, Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania:s.n., 2003?) Digitized version available through FamilySearch catalog entry. Contents include 1946-1949 deaths and obituaries for 1923 from the Clarion Republic, New Bethleham Leader Vindicator and The Clarion Democrat.
 * Leader Vindicator (New Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) and Josephine Y. Baggs, Obituaries, ca. 1988 (SLC, Utah, 1991) Obituaries collected by Josephine Y. Baggs in 1989 of people who lived in Armstrong or Jefferson Counties. Arranged alphabetically.
 * Reed, Sally Jordan, Clarion Democrat, Clarion Jacksonian, Clarion Republican, Republican Gazette, Obituaries from the Clarion Democrat (Shippenville, Pennsylvania:S.J. Reed, c2000-2002) ;

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:


 * 1683-1994- at FamilySearch.org

Online Probate Indexes


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


 * 1683 - 1994 at FamilySearch — images

Original Probate Records on Microfilm


 * 1841-1917 Will Dockets - Index included 1840-1981

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

 * Clarion County Courthouse 421 Main Street Clarion, PA 16214 Phone: 814-226-4000


 * Register and Recorder's Office holds birth and death records (1893-1906), marriage licenses (1885-present), register of wills (1840-present), and deeds (1839-present).


 * Prothonotary 421 Main Street,Suite 25 Clarion, PA 16214 Phone: 814-226-4000
 * Register of Wills/Orphans' Court 421 Main Street, Suite 24 Clarion, PA 16214 Phone: 814-226-400, ext 2500

Societies
Email: [mailto:clarionhistory@comcast.net clarionhistory@comcast.net]
 * Clarion County Historical Society 17 S 5th Avenue Clarion, PA 16214 Phone: 814-226-4450

Vital Records
See also How to order Pennsylvania Vital Records

Birth

 * 1852-1854 – Pennsylvania Births Ancestry.com – ($) Index with images.
 * 1886-1887 - Clarion County Birth Index 1886-1887 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch - free. Batch.

Marriage

 * 1677–1950 at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1700-1821 - Pennsylvania Marriage Records Ancestry.com – ($) This database is incomplete for all counties.
 * 1725-1976 - - free index. Not complete for all years. This index is not necessarily intended to index any specific set of records. This index is not complete for any particular place or region. This collection may include information previously published in the International Genealogical Index or Vital Records Index collections.
 * Pre-1810 – Pennsylvania Marriages Ancestry.com – ($) 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.
 * 1873 - Clarion County Marriage Index 1873 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch - free. Batch.
 * 1885-1950 - Extracted marriage records – free. This database is incomplete for all counties. May also contain marriage records earlier than 1885..

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

Death

 * 1852-1854 – Pennsylvania Deaths Ancestry.com – ($) Index with images.
 * 1885-1906 - Clarion County Death Index 1885-1906 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch - free.

Genealogy Societies and Libraries

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

Clarion County Pennsylvania Genealogy Websites

 * Clarion County, PA History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
 * Clarion County Genealogy &amp; History Web Site (since 1996; USGenWeb)
 * Clarion County PA Genealogy
 * Clarion County Old Photos - over 1000 old photos of people and places in Clarion County.
 * Linkpendium - Clarion County

Populated Places

 * Highland Township - a website with transcriptions of the existing cemeteries and transcriptions of the 1850, 1860 and 1870 census records and other resource aids for the township.
 * Mill Creek Township - a website with transcriptions of the existing cemeteries and other resource aids for the township.
 * Piney Township -- a website with photos, history, obituaries, and other resource aids for the township.