Somerset County, Pennsylvania Genealogy

United States Pennsylvania Somerset County

Historical Facts

 * Parent Counties: Formed from Bedford County 17 April 1795.
 * County Seat: Somerset
 * Neighboring Counties: residents may also have records in Cambria (north) • Garrett County, Maryland and Allegany County, Maryland (south) •  Westmoreland (northwest)  • Fayette (west)  •  Bedford (east)

Named for the County of Somerset in England.

Boundary Changes
26 March 1804: Cambria County was set off.

Cemeteries
Cemetery records often reveal birth, marriage, death, relationship, military, and religious information.


 * Addison CemeteryFind A Grave
 * Altfather Burial GroundsFind A Grave
 * Alwine CemeteryFind A Grave
 * Amish Cemetery(New) Find A Grave
 * Amish Cemetery (old) Find A Grave
 * Amish Mennonite Cemetery#1 (formerly known as Oak Dale Cemetery) Find A Grave
 * Amos J. Yoder Old Burial GroundFind A Grave
 * Ankeny CemeteryFind A Grave
 * Ankeny Square Burial GroundFind A Grave
 * Augustine Burial GroundFind A Grave
 * Augustine Burial Ground (Fazenbakers Farm) Find A Grave
 * B. F. Bitner Farm CemeteryFind A Grave
 * Baer Burial GroundFind A Grave
 * Baker Burial Ground (Jefferson Township) Find A Grave
 * Baker CemeteryFind A Grave
 * Bakersville CemeteryFind A Grave
 * Baptist Church CemeteryFind A Grave
 * Barnes/Seese CemeteryFind A Grave
 * Barron CemeteryFind A Grave
 * Berlin Reformed CemeteryBillion Graves
 * Crossroads CemeteryBillion Graves
 * Custer CemeteryBillion Graves
 * Friedens Lutheran Church CemeteryBillion Graves
 * Garden of Memories CemeteryBillion Graves
 * Porter Cemetery, Hyndman BillionGraves
 * Zion Reformed Lutheran Church Cemetery BillionGraves

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.

Catholic

 * 1843-1943 - "100 years of the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese 1843–1943". Western Pennsylvania Genealogical Society Quarterly, 17:1. FamilySearch Library book 974.8 B2wg. Contains chronology, map, county-by-county information.

Episcopal
Services for the St. James Episcopal Church in Bedford began as early as 1755 but was not an organized parish until 1861.

Lutheran
The Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church was organized by 1785 although the exact date is unknown. The Lutheran and German Reformed congregations met at the same union church until 1848.

Methodist
In 1809, the Methodist Episcopal church was formed.

Presbyterian
The Presbyterians were in the county early although no exact date is known, although, the first known paster came in 1786. The First Presbyterian Church building in the county was erected in Bedford in 1800.

Reformed
The Reformed Church of Bedford was in the county early although no known date is known although it is believed it was before 1769. They met in a union church with the Lutherans until they separated in 1848.

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. Somerset 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.

County shares its judicial district with Adams County.

Prothonotary
Divorce

Land and Property
Land records in Somerset County began in 1795. These records are filed with the Register of Deeds office in Somerset, 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:

Online Land Records


 * 1985-present Images are available online using the Landex system. There is a fee to view the images.

Land Records on Microfilm


 * 1795–1949 Record of Deeds, 1795-1902; Index to Deeds, 1795-1949.
 * 1795–1964 Index to Mortgagor and Mortgagee, 1795-1964; Mortgage Records, v. 1-2 1846-1871.
 * 1803–1922 Sheriff's Deeds.

Additional Resources

Note that the "Maps" section below also 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 Somerset 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 downloadable images from the Somerset County Atlas of Surveys and Warrants Collected and Plotted as a WPA Project, 1939. This atlas located in the Office of Recorder of Deeds in Somerset includes maps showing the first landowners, warrants, surveys, and patents, but they are not indexed. While the physical maps may be in the public domain, the images we have taken of them 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.

Revolutionary War
Men living in what is now Somerset County (then Bedford County) served in the 8th Pennsylvania Regiment.

Courthouse

 * Somerset County Courthouse
 * 111 East Union Street
 * Somerset, PA 15501
 * Phone: (814) 445-1473


 * Copies of documents including birth, marriages, deaths, divorces, land, and probate records can be obtained by using: Pennsylvania Public Record. Click on the link for the record you wish to request.

Taxation

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

County-wide Database

 * 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.

Birth

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

Marriage

 * 1725-1976 - - 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:

Prothonotary's Office 111 East Union Street Suite 165 Somerset, PA 15501 Phone: 814–445-1428 Fax: 814–444-9270 E–mail: [mailto:prothonotary@co.somerset.pa.us prothonotary@co.somerset.pa.us]

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.