Bradford County, Pennsylvania Genealogy

Guide to Bradford County, Pennsylvania ancestry, genealogy and family history, birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

Description
It is named for William Bradford, who had been a chief justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and United States Attorney General. It is located in the Northeast section of the state.

County Courthouse
Bradford County Courthouse Recorder's Office 301 Main St. Towanda, PA 18848 Orphans' Court/Register/Recorder Phone: (570) 265-1702 Prothonotary/clerk of courts  Phone: (570) 265-1705 Fax: (570) 265-1788 Bradford County Website Prothonotary and Clerk Courts has divorce records from 1878, court records from 1813, and naturalization records 1832-1960 Register and Recorder Office has birth and death records 1895-1905, marriage records from 1885, probate and land records from 1812, and military records from 1940

Populated Places
For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit HomeTown Locator. The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:

History Timeline
The History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Sketches, by H. C. Bradsby, 1891 is available at the Tri-Counties Genealogy and History website.

Cemeteries
Additional Cemetery Resources
 * ca.1700-ca.1950 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * LDS Geneology Bradford County

Church Records
County-wide Database (Multi-denominational)


 * 1708 -1985 Pennsylvania, Church and Town Records, 1708-1985 at Historical Society of Pennsylvania – $, to members of the society; Also available at Ancestry $


 * Contains church records of:
 * Athens: First Presbyterian Church; Trinity Episcopal Church
 * Burlington: Broad Street United Methodist Church; Union Street Methodist Episcopal Church
 * Canton: First Presbyterian Church; First United Methodist Church
 * Evergreen: Evergreen Baptist Church
 * New Albany: New Albany Baptist Church
 * Sayre: First Presbyterian Church; St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church
 * Stevensville: St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, Francisville
 * Towanda: First United Methodist Church
 * Ulster: Presbyterian Church
 * Wilmot: St. John's Lutheran Church
 * Wyalusing: Trinity Episcopal Church


 * The Bradford County Historical Society genealogical library and research center has a collection of church records that can be used onsite. They are creating a list of those and it will be added to the site when it is complete.
 * The Tri-Counties Genealogy and History website has a number of Bradford, Chemung, and Tioga county church links connecting users to histories and records of those churches.

Baptists Baptists were among the earliest settlers in Bradford County. Several Baptist missionaries toured the region at the start of the 19th century, and a large group of Baptist migrants from Pittsford, Vermont, founded the Burlington (now Troy) Baptist Church in 1808. They were organized under the Chemung (County, New York) Baptist Association.

Catholic The Catholic church took hold in the early 1820s when there was a large influx into the area.

Lutheran The Lutheran congregations were established by Germans in the mid-1800s.

Methodist The Methodist Episcopal church, though not a large group, had an early presence in the county.

Presbyterian Many of the Presbyterians began as Congregationalist in the late 1700s. List of Churches and Church Parishes
 * FamilySearch Places

Land and Property Records
Land records in Bradford County began in 1812. These records are filed with the Recorder/Register/Clerk of the Orphan's Court office in Towanda, Pennsylvania.

Be aware that (particularly in the early 1800s) deeds were not always recorded. Sometimes the early tax assessments will make mention of these early land transfers--giving the name of the grantor and grantee.

Local Histories

 * History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania. 1878. By David Craft. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania : L.H. Everts & Co. Online at: FamilySearch Digital Library, Hathitrust, Internet Archive;.
 * History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with Biographical Selections. 1891. By Henry C. Bradsby. Chicago, Illinois : S. B. Nelson. Online at: FamilySearch Digital Library, Hathitrust, Internet Archive, Google Books, Ancestry ($);.
 * History and Geography of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, 1615-1924. 1926. By Clement F. Heverly. [Towanda, Pennsylvania] : Bradford County Historical Society. Online at: FamilySearch Digital Library, Ancestry ($);.
 * An Outline History of Tioga and Bradford Counties in Pennsylvania. 1885. By John L. Sexton. Elmira, New York : Gazette Co. Online at: FamilySearch Digital Library, Hathitrust, Internet Archive, Google Books. Title also known as History of Seven Counties.

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps
 * Maps of Pennsylvania (1673-1878)
 * Ancestor Tracks has posted downloadable images from the Map of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, From Actual Surveys by Lake Ames Davidson (Philadelphia: Wm. J. Barker, 1858). 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 public domain, the images we have taken of the maps belong to us and are not to be used comercially. We hereby give permission to use them strictly for personal use; please attribute to Ancestor Tracks.
 * 1858 Map of Bradford County, PA has been posted online at chanur.com
 * FamilySearch Places:Cities and Towns- How to Use FS Places

Migration
Early migration routes for European settlers to and from Bradford County, Pennsylvania included:


 * Catskill Turnpike, trail 1760s; turnpike 1804, from Catskill to Bath, New York with extensions to Buffalo, New York, or Erie, Pennsylvania.
 * Forbidden Path, 1767 from Athens, Pennsylvania to Salamanca, New York

Military Records

 * 1861-1865 - at FamilySearch — index

Naturalization and Citizenship

 * 1901 -1930 Naturalization Petitions of the U.S. Circuit and District Courts for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, 1906-1930; and 1901-1906 on Fold3.com - ($), indexed, National Archives publication M1622, Middle District court was created in 1901, for earlier dates try the Eastern and Western District court records
 * 1901 -1930 Middle District, US Circuit and District Courts: Naturalization petitions, 1906-1930 located in U.S. Naturalization Records - Original Documents, 1795-1972 (World Archives Project) database on Ancestry $

Newspapers
Newspapers of Bradford 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.


 * The earliest newspaper coverage for Bradford County predates the organization of the County. These early newspapers are available online through the Wyoming County Historical Society. Newspapers postdating the organization of the county are available through the Bradford County Historical Society.The Society has indexed the vital record information from these newspapers. This index is available at the Bradford County Historical Society's research center.

Online Newspaper Abstracts


 * PA-Roots Newspaper Articles for Bradford County.

Obituaries
Online Obituary Abstracts


 * PA-Roots Obituaries for Bradford County.
 * 1947 -2010  at FamilySearch
 * Bradford County Marriages–extracted from newspapers.

Obituary Excerpts and Abstracts


 * Fray, Robert G., Bradford County, Pa., Area Deaths (Allentown, Pennsylvania:R.G. Fray Publishing, c2000) Includes deaths as reported in the Evening Times, orginally published at Syre, Bradford, Pennsylvania. Includes index.

Probate Records
Online Probate Indexes and Records
 * 1683 -1993 Pennsylvania Wills and Probate Records 1683-1993 at Ancestry $
 * 1683 -1994 at FamilySearch - images only; click on the camera icon to view images
 * 1812 -1882 Registers Docket -images only; click on the camera icon to view images
 * 1812 -1882 Bradford County Probate Records - images only; click on the camera icon to view images
 * Probate records are located at the Bradford County Courthouse and at the Bradford County Historical Society.

Social Security Records

 * 1935-2014 at FamilySearch - How to use this collection; index. Also at Ancestry, findmypast, Fold3, GenealogyBank, MyHeritage, and Steve Morse. Click here for more information.
 * 1936-2007 U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 at Ancestry ($) — index, click here for more information.

Tax Records
The original early tax records are housed at the Bradford County Historical Society in Towanda, Pennsylvania. As of May 2011, these records have not been microfilmed. Because these records are in such a fragile condition, the Historical Society has been attempting to make photocopies of the records. The records that have been photocopied have also been indexed--but because of the scope of this endeavor, the indexes may contain errors.

These tax records are contained in individual books for each individual township for each year. There are some years which are missing. The names are listed roughly in alphabetical order.

Early tax records for Bradford County are particularly valuable because they contain the "Poor Children" records. If the head of household was considered "poor", the tax collector would list the head of household and all children in the household between the ages of 5 and 12. The government was then required to pay for the schooling of these children. Typically ages were also listed with the children's names. In many cases, these are the only existing records containing the names of these children.

Birth

 * 1893 -1901 Bradford County Births

Marriage

 * 1626-2016 Pennsylvania, United States Marriages at FindMyPast$
 * 1677 -1950  at FamilySearch
 * 1700 -1821 Pennsylvania Marriage Records Ancestry $
 * 1725 -1976  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 $
 * 1852 -1854 Pennsylvania Marriages Ancestry $
 * 1885 -1950  Extracted marriage records – This database is incomplete for all counties. May also contain marriage records earlier than 1885.

Death

 * 1720-1999  at FamilySearch — index, some images
 * 1840-1869 Bradford County Deaths–Extracted from newspapers.
 * 1850-1880  at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1893-1901 Bradford County Deaths

Divorce
Divorce records are available through the office of the Prothonotary.

Archives
National Archives at Philadelphia 14700 Townsend Road Philadelphia, PA 19154-1096 Phone: (215) 305-2044 Fax (215) 305-2052, Website

Family History Centers

 * Towanda Pennaylvania Family History Center

Libraries

 * Bradford County Library 16093 Route 6 Troy, PA 16947 Phone: (570) 297-2436 The Bradford County Library is the headquarters for a nine member Bradford County Library System. Website

Museums

 * LeRoy Heritage Museum 257 Mill Street LeRoy, PA Phone: (570) 364-5003 Mailing Address: 8051 Southside Road, Canton, PA 17724 The Museum's research library includes materials about historic residents of LeRoy Townhip, former Barclay Township (Barclay Mountain) and Granville Township. Website
 * The Home Textile Tool Museum PO Box 153 Rome, PA 18837 Phone: (570) 247-7175 Learn how your ancestors made their clothing. Website

Societies
The BCHS maintains a research center/library.The library's holdings include early probate records, early tax records (including poor children records), an index to vital information in early Bradford County newspapers, an index to cemeteries, local history books, family name files, and many other valuable genealogical records. The library does not participate in inter-library loan. Research requests are $50.00 per surname.
 * Bradford County Historical Society 109 Pine Street Towanda, PA 18848 Phone: (570) 265-2240 Website

Websites

 * Linkpendium - Bradford County
 * Tri-Counties Genealogy and History Site - Bradford andTioga County (PA) and Cemung (NY) For family and local history information
 * Sullivan-Rutland Genealogy Project This database focuses on the ancestors and descendants of the early nineteenth century pioneers who migrated to Tioga and Bradford County, Pennsylvania, primarily from Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont. It also includes Chemung County. New York.
 * USGenWeb project.
 * Bradford County Historical Society
 * Bradford County PA Genealogy
 * – The FamilySearch catalog contains descriptions and access information for all genealogical materials (including books, online materials, microfilm, microfiche, and publications) in their collection.  Use Historical Records to search for specific individuals in genealogical records.