Potter County, Pennsylvania Genealogy

United States Pennsylvania  Potter County  

Historical Facts
Named for General James Potter, from Pennsylvania in the Continental Army during the American Revolution.

Parent County
26 March 1804: Potter County was created from Lycoming County.

Boundary Changes
29 March 1860: Cameron County set off.

Neighboring Counties
Cameron | Clinton | Lycoming | McKean | Tioga | New York counties: Allegany | Steuben

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 Potter County began in 1804. These records are filed with the Register of Wills/Recorder of Deeds office in Coudersport, 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


 * 2003–present Images are available online using the Landex system. There is a fee to view the images.

Land Records on Microfilm


 * 1806-1973 Deeds, 1806-1866; Indexes to Deeds, 1806-1972
 * 1796–1931 General Index to Mortgages.

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 Potter 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.)

Migration
Early migration routes for European settlers to and from 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

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/Clerk of Courts 1 East Second Street, Room 23, Coudersport PA 16915 Phone (814) 274-9740 E–mail: [mailto:kschroeder@pottercountypa.net kschroeder@pottercountypa.net]

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.