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Sandbox PA
Online Probate Indexes


 * 1843–1880's – Elk County Wills at PAGenWeb. Index of the first 100 wills recorded in Elk County, Will Book A. Lists name of deceased, residence, date written, date proved, executors, and witnesses. [Project did not continue on to add all wills recorded in Book A.]


 * More Elk County Wills at PAGenWeb links to the North Central Pennsylvania page hosted by Rootsweb with an index and twenty-six transcriptions from Elk County Will Books A and B.

Archives Schuylkill County Courthouse 401 N 2nd Street Pottsville PA 17801-2528 570-628-1145 archives@co.schuylkill.pa.us Hours: 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. daily excluding holidays

The Schuylkill County Archives is a central depository for all county government records. These include records from the Clerk of the Courts, Prothonotary, Recorder of Deeds, and Register of Wills. Most records are open to the public. The oldest records predate the creation of the county in 1811. Early records have been microfilmed with the originals in storage at the archives. Records of interest to genealogists and family historians include:


 * Birth and death records
 * Marriage dockets 1885–May 1969
 * Naturalization indexes and records 1828–1988
 * Wills books 1811–1986
 * Estate files 1811–1959
 * County land records
 * Deed books
 * Mortgage books

Built as an annex to the courthouse, the archives covers two floors with access from the public entrance to the courthouse. Services are free with a nominal cost for copies. Online Marriage License Search

The Moravian Archives 41 West Locust Street Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18018 610-866-3255 info@moravianchurcharchives.org

Hours: Monday - Friday 8:00 am to 4:30 pm

The Moravian Archives is the official repository for the records of the Moravioan Church in America – Northern Province. This covers the Moravian churches in the United States (except for North Carolina, Florida, Georgia and Virginia) and Canada. The Archives in Bethlehem also holds records from the Moravain churh in Alaska, Labrador, Nicaragua and the Eastern West Indies.

The Archives is located in a modern 9,200 square foot building with two climate-controlled vaults. It contains approximately 8,000 linear feet of material.

Check the website to learn more:


 * List of Holdings
 * Currently Available Inventories
 * Archives Library
 * Bibliographies
 * List of Congregation Records
 * Bethlehem Digital History Project

The collection includes finding aids of the Moravian collections, church registers, the Memoir Index, records of the mission to the American Indians from 1740 to 1820 (indexed in the Fliegel Index), historical newspapers on microfilm, and a photo collection.

Services include monthly lectures, tours, a German Script course, research by mail, reproduction orders, translation, and publications including a monthly electronic newletter.

United StatesPennsylvaniaMonroe County

The Historical and Genealogical Society of Somerset County Pennsylvania maintains a library at the Somerset Historical Center. The collection includes records of birth, marriage, death, maps, military, newspapers, obituaries, tax, estate, family files, county histories, church records, and an online WPA Cemetery Index. A genealogical research service is offered with fees beginning at $20 for members and $25 for nonmembers. Somerset Historical Center 10649 Somerset Pike Somerset PA 15501 Genealogical Society Librarian: Susan Seese 814-445-6077 e-mail: c-sseese@pa.gov facebook

Synder County Historical Society 30 East Market St P.O. Box 276 Middleburg PA 17842 570-837-6191 e-mail: schs@snydercounty.org Library collection includes family genealogies, local histories, church records, pastoral records, funeral records, microfilm of historical newspapers and U.S. census records. Hours are posted on the website. Visitors will be charged a $2.00 user fee, with no charge for members of the society. The fee for research requests by mail, phone or e-mail is $20.00 plus copy costs.

Historical Society of Perry County PA P.O. Box 81 Newport PA 17074-0081 717-567-9011 e-mail: hsofpc@gmail.com facebook

Montour County Genealogical Society, MCGS 205 Ferry Street Danville PA 17821 570-275-6177 Genealogy Room: Thomas Beaver Free Library, 2nd Floor Hours: Saturdays 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.; Mondays 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Fee: $2.00 an hour for non-members, no charge for members  The collection includes records for Columbia, Montour and Northumberland Counties. Research requests may be submitted in writing using a printable form which includes the fee schedule.

Montour County Historical Society, MCHS PO Box 8 1 Mill Street Danville PA 17821 Located in the Montgomery House Museum, corner of Bloom and Mill Streets. Hours: Sundays 2:00–4:00 Sundays, Memorial day thru September Or by appointment 275-7875 or 275-0383 A small library contains local and county histories, industrial record books, business and law ledgers, military references, photographs, tax records, and maps.

Finding Church Records at Other Repositories

Additional church records can sometimes be found using search phrases such as  Church Records  in online catalogs like:


 * Historical Society of Pennsylvania
 * WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).

Mennonite
The Mennonite Heritage Center 565 Yoder Road Harleysville PA 19438-1020 215-256-3020 [mailto:library@mhep.org library@mhep.org] Hours: Tuesday thru Friday, 10am–5pm, Saturday, 10am–2pm The Cemetery Database at the Mennonite Heritage Center includes 86,000 burial records from 125 local cemeteries. Records cover cemeteries in the counties of Berks, Bucks, Butler, Chester, Lehigh, Montgomery, Northampton, and Westmoreland. The database provides transcriptions from Mennonite, Brethren, Lutheran, Reformed, Union, Baptist, Methodist, Episcopal, community, and private cemeteries. Search the list of cemeteries and the alphabetical surname lists in Adobe PDF format. Visit the Mennonite Heritage Center to search the cemetery database by various criteria. The transcriptions are available for further research at the MHC library.


 * 1730–1779 – Pennsylvania, Lutheran Baptisms and Marriages at Ancestry.com – ($); records of southeastern counties kept by Rev. John Casper Stoever.


 * Membership and burial record of Jerusalem Lutheran and Reformed congregations and cemeteries at Ancestry.com – ($).


 * Churches of Coopersburg Lutheran Charge, St John's, St. Paul's, the Blue, Upper Saucona, New Jerusalem or Apples, Leithsville – at Ancestry.com – ($).


 * 1784–1882 – Trexlertown Union Church, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 1784-1882 at Ancestry.com – ($); no known as St. Paul's; denomination not specified.


 * 1782–1856 – Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 1782-1856: Christ Lutheran Congregation at Ancestry.com – ($).


 * 1757–1885 – Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 1757-1885: Upper Milford Reformed Congregation at Ancestry.com – $


 * 1765–1858 Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 1765-1858: Jordan Reformed Congregation at Ancestry.com – $


 * Lehigh County, Pennsylvania: Hilffrich Pastoral Records at Ancestry.com – $


 * 1769–1864 Lebanon County, Pennsylvania Marriages, 1769-1864: Trinity Tulpehocken Reformed Congregation at Ancestry.com – $


 * A History of the Neshannock Presbyterian Church, New Wilmington, Pennsylvania: together with some account of the settlement at Ancestry.com – $

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.

Finding Church Records at Other Repositories

Additional church records can sometimes be found using search phrases such as  Church Records in online catalogs like:


 * Historical Society of Pennsylvania
 * WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).

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. It includes 35,000 marriage records from volume VIII of the second series of the Pennsylvania Archives.

Sandbox CA
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Birth Indexes


 * FamilySearch Historical Records
 * FamilySearch Historical Records

(CABI) (1905-1995) is available for free at:


 * California Births at Family Tree Legends
 * California Birth Menu at Vitalsearch

For additional information (including the mailing address) on ordering birth, marriage and death certificates from the state of California visit: A comprehensive resource for locating vital records.

A wiki article describing an online collection is found at:

California, Birth Index (FamilySearchHistorical Records)

Marriage Indexes


 * FamilySearch Historical Records
 * FamilySearch Historical Records
 * FamilySearch Historical Records
 * California Marriages 1949-1986, Vitalsearch

A wiki article describing this collection is found at:

California County Marriages (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Death Records
Early to 1905

The Family History Library has been acquiring microfilmed copies of the original records from many counties. For example, the Family History Library has microfilms of death records (1877-1905, indexed 1873-1920). You can also write to each County Recorder for information.

1905 - Present

 Death Indexes  (CADI) (1940-1997) is available for free at:


 * California Death Indexes
 * California Death Index
 * California Death Index Family Tree Legends
 * Rootsweb Death Search
 * Pre 1905 California Death Index Project

The death index includes: Deceased's full name, date of birth and country or state of birth, death date and death place in California, Social Security Number, and mother's maiden name.

Wiki articles describing online collections are found at:


 * California, Death Index, 1905-1939 (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * California Death Index, 1940-1997 (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * California, San Joaquin, County Public Library Obituary Index File (FamilySearch Historical Records)