Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania Genealogy

United States  Pennsylvania  Huntingdon County

Historical Facts
Named for Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon, who as one of benefactors of Rev. William Smith's in his exploration efforts. Rev. William Smith was responsible for laying out the town of Huntingdon in 1767.

Wikipedia

Note of Interest
Almost everyone that lives in Huntingdon County speaks English as their first language. The dominant form of speech in Huntingdon County is the Central Pennsylvania accent, although some areas of the county, such as Kishacoquillas Valley, where many Amish and Mennonite people live, German is commonly spoken.

Parent County
20 September 1787: Huntingdon County was created from Bedford County.

Boundary Changes

 * 26 March 1804: Cambria County was set off from one part of Huntingdon County along with other parts from Bedford and Somerset Counties.
 * 26 February 1846: Parts of Huntingdon and Bedford Counties were taken to create Blair County.

Neighboring Counties
Bedford | Blair | Centre | Franklin | Fulton | Juniata | Mifflin |

Church Records

 * "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.

Court Records
Some of the Continuence Dockets and the Quarter Session Books are stored in the basement of the Huntingdon County Court House. The Continuence Dockets have been microfilmed and are at the Huntingdon County Pennsylvania Courthouse.

Land and Property
Due to the lack of vital records for Pennsylvania, land records are an important tool in early Pennsylvania research. Land records will list the sellor and purchaser of the property and may hide clues to family connections. Land records for Greene County are available from the recorder's office for 1787 to the present.


 * Deeds, 1786-1866; Index to Deeds, 1786-1972; Misc. Index to Deeds, 1790- 1877

Newspapers
NewspaperARCHIVE.com has the Huntingdon County News online.

The Pennsylvania State Library has a book entitled Huntingdon County Newspapers, Vol I that contains notices from the Huntingdon Gazette 1806-1811. This book is not indexed. It's call number is 929.37484 NW1001 and is found in Form Room 101.

The Blair County Genealogical Society and the State Library of Pennsylvania has the Huntingdon Gazette on microfilm.

The Blair County Genealogical Society has a copy of the book Huntingdon County Newspaper: A Finding List which was compiled by M. M. Faust and Nancy S. Shedd for the Huntingdon County Historical Society.

Probate Records
The Huntingdon County Historical Society has a wonderful every name indexed compilation by Linnaria B Wheland of Huntingdon County Will Abstracts from 1787-1846.

The original inventories for Huntington county are housed at the Huntington Historical Society.

Courthouse
Huntingdon County Courthouse Register and Recorder Courthouse - 223 Penn St. Huntingdon, PA 16652 (814) 643-2740 (814) 643-8152 - fax

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers

Societies
Huntingdon County Historical Society

Taxation
Many of the tax lists have been microfilmed, but no one repository has them all. The Huntingdon County Historical Society, State Library of Pennsylvania and the Family History Library each have collections. One can purchase a microfilm roll from the Huntingdon County Historical Society and the State Library of Pennsylvania. The Family History Library will loan their films to their various centers for a small fee.


 * 1788 - Returns of Taxables for the Counties of Bedford (1773 to 1784), Huntingdon (1788), Westmoreland (1783, 1786), Fayette (1785, 1786), Allegheny (1791), Washington (1786) and Census of Bedford (1784) and Westmoreland (1783). (Pennsylvania Archives, Series 3, Vol. 22). Digital versions at Ancestry ($); Google Books - free.


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

Birth

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

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.