Centre County, Pennsylvania Genealogy

United States Pennsylvania  Centre County

County Courthouse
Centre County Government Centre County Register of Wills Willowbank County Office Building 414 Holmes Street Suite #2 Bellefonte PA 16823

History
Named for being in the middle of the state. There is a story that the legislature could not determine whether to put the State College in Pittsburgh or Philadelphia, so they drew an X through the state and put the school where the X crossed.

Parent County
13 February 1800: Centre County was created from Lycoming, Mifflin, and Northumberland Counties.

==== Boundary Changes ====


 * 27 January 1750: Centre County was originally part of Cumberland County when the county was created.
 * 9 March 1771: When Bedford County was carved out of Cumberland County, the western 2/3 of what is today's Centre County was part of Bedford County and the eastern 1/3 remained part of Cumberland County. A very small portion of the eastern-most point was in Berks County.
 * 21 March 1772: When Northumberland County was created, the western 1/3 of today's Centre County remained in Bedford County, while the eastern 2/3 of today's Centre County was included in Northumberland County.
 * 19 September 1789: When Mifflin County was formed, much of today's Centre County became part of Mifflin County; the eastern-most point (about 20% of the county) remained in Northumberland County.
 * 13 April 1795: When Lycoming County was created, a small portion of today's eastern Centre County. was absorbed into Lycoming County, the rest of eastern Centre County remained in Northumberland County, a small southeastern portion of future Centre County was part of Huntingdon County,  and the bulk of the county remained in Mifflin County.
 * 21 January 1839: Clinton County set off.

Populated Places

 * Boroughs: Bellefonte, Millheim, Philipsburg, State College


 * Townships: Benner, Boggs, College, Ferguson, Gregg, Haines, Harris, Halfmoon, Patton, Potter

Neighboring Counties
Blair | Clearfield | Clinton | Huntingdon | Mifflin | Union

Resources
The county's probate and court records begin with the founding of the county, the land records in 1801. Except for a brief period of time when birth, marriage and death records were kept in the 1850's (approximately 1852-1855), there were no civil vital records kept by the county until marriages began again in 1885 and births and deaths in 1893. The keeping of birth and death records was discontinued after 1905 when the state of Pennsylvania began keeping those records.

Biographies
Centre County Biographies

Cemeteries
The Centre County Genealogical Society has taken on the monumental task of identifying all burial places in Centre County. Their ongoing efforts can be found at:

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~pacentre/graves.htm

Church
This organization has begun the difficult task of finding and making available church records of Centre County. They are beginning with four topics to try to understand the religious inclinations of Centre countians:


 * 1877 History of Religious Affiliation
 * 1906 Census of Religious Adherence
 * 1990 Census of Religious Adherence
 * Current Listing of Religious Organizations

This is their website:

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~pacentre/cchurch.htm

Local Histories
The Centre County Historical Society has an online address: http://www.centrecountyhistory.org/

Maps

 * Ancestor Tracks has posted free downloadable images from the 1861 Topographical Map of Centre Co. Pennsylvania from Actual Surveys under the Direction of H. F. Walling, published by S.D. Tilden. 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 commercially.  We hereby give permission to use them strictly for personal use; please attribute to Ancestor Tracks.

Military

 * Centre County Civil War Soldiers

Newspapers
The Centre Daily Times began in 1898 as the Weekly Times and later as the State College Times. In 1934 it became a daily and The Centre County Daily. It has a search engine to find articles which have appeared in past years. This is their website: http://www.centredaily.com/about/

They also have a special section to search for obituaries. It can be accessed on any of their websites.

Vital Records

 * Centre County Vital Statistics

Societies and Libraries

 * Centre County Genealogical Society http://www.centrecountygenealogy.org/
 * Family History Center at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints


 * 842 W Whitehall Rd., State College (814) 237-1958
 * Hours: Tues &amp; Wed 9 am - 2 pm, 6:30 - 9 pm


 * The Pennsylvania Room and Historical Museum

(State and Local History &amp; Central Pa. Genealogy)

203 North Allegheny St. Bellefonte, PA 16823                 (814) 355-1516, ext. 214

[mailto:paroom@centrecountylibrary.org paroom@centrecountylibrary.org]

Monday - Friday: 10:00 a.m. - 5 p.m.                 Saturday: 10:00 a.m. - 4 p.m.


 * The Pennsylvania State University - Pennsylvania's State University

http://www.psu.edu/

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers
 * State College Pennsylvania Family History Center

Web Sites

 * Centre County Historical Society
 * Cyndi's List
 * Linkpendium - Centre County
 * USGenWeb project