Wayne County, Pennsylvania Genealogy

United States Pennsylvania  Wayne County

Historical Facts


The county is named after Revolutionary War General "Mad" Anthony Wayne (1745-1796).

Parent County
21 March 1798: Wayne County was created 1798 from Northampton County.

Boundary Changes
26 March 1814: Pike County set off.

Neighboring Counties
Lackawanna | Monroe | Pike | Susquehanna | New York counties: Broome | Delaware | Sullivan

Cemeteries
Hollisterville Cemetery, Salem BillionGraves

Land and Property
Land records in Wayne County began in 1798. These records are filed with the Recorder of Deeds in Honesdale, 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


 * 1796-1941 Deeds, 1796 to 1866; Indexes, 1795 to 1941
 * 1798–1941 Mortgages, 1798-1834; Index, 1798-1941

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 Wayne 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 a CD of the First Landowners of PA: Warrantees of Wayne &amp; Pike Counties, Map &amp; Index by Jason Torrey, 1814 ($). The CD contains first landowner names and tracts, the warrant register index for Northampton County (the source for both Pike and Wayne Counties), and the warrant registers for both counties.

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers

Taxation

 * 1798 - Pennsylvania, U.S. Direct Tax Lists, 1798 at Ancestry ($).

Birth

 * 1824–1930 – – free index. Not complete for all years.

Marriage

 * 1841–1976 – – free index. Not complete for all years.

Divorce
Divorce records are handled by the office of the Prothonotary. While no on-line indexes or records are available, records may be obtained by visiting or writing to the Prothonotary at:

Death

 * 1852-1854 – Pennsylvania Deaths Ancestry.com – $ Index with images.

Web Sites

 * USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.