Carbon County, Pennsylvania Genealogy

United States Pennsylvania Carbon County

Historical Facts

 * Parent Counties: Formed from Monroe and Northampton Counties 18 March 1843.
 * County Seat: Jim Thorpe
 * Neighboring Counties: residents may also have records in Luzerne (north) • Monroe (east) • Schyulkill (southwest) • Northampton (southeast)

Named for extensive deposits of coal in the region.

==== Boundary Changes ====


 * Before 1836: Today's Carbon County was included in Northampton County.
 * 1 April 1836: When Monroe County was created from Northampton County, future Carbon County was split between Monroe County and Northampton County.

Cemeteries
Cemetery records often reveal birth, 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.

Land and Property
Land records in Carbon County began in 1843. These records are filed with the Recorder of Deeds office in Jim Thorpe, 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


 * 1843–1934 Deeds 1843-1902, 1922-1923; Index 1843-1934.

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 Carbon 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 posted free and downloadable images from the Map of the Counties of Munroe and Carbon, Pennsylvania from Surveys under the Direction of H. F. Walling (New York, 1860). This wall map located in the library of Congress shows major landowners and geographic sites at the date of publishing. While the physical maps are in the puiblic 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
 * 1875 County Atlas of Carbon, Pennsylvania by F. W. Beers has been posted on Rootsweb.com site.

Courthouse
County Courthouse 4 Broadway Jim Thorpe, PA 18229 Hours: 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers

Birth

 * 1726-1930 - - free index. Not complete for all years.
 * 1852-1854 – Pennsylvania Births Ancestry.com – ($) Index with images.

Marriage

 * 1885–present Original records located at the Carbon County Archives.

Carbon County Archives 44 Susquehanna St. P.O. Box 129 Courthouse Jim Thorpe, PA 18229


 * 1700-1821 - Pennsylvania Marriage Records Ancestry.com –$ This database is incomplete for all counties.
 * 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.

Divorce
Divorce records are available through the office of the Prothonary. The office of the Prothonotary is located in the main courthouse building. Contact the office at: Office of the Prothonotary P.O. Box 130 Jim Thorpe, PA

Death

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