Pennsylvania Genealogy Resources

Pennsylvania is quite the opposite of some of the more recent western U.S. states for which I’ve created lists of free online resources for genealogists.

Pennsylvania is a smaller state geographically, at least compared to some of the huge western states, but it has a LOT of genealogically and historically related records available.

Having said that, I’ve not found Pennsylvania to be the easiest state to navigate when it comes to locating those documents. In fact, my husband’s Revolutionary War ancestor, Jacob Miller, of Northampton County and Dave’s 4X great grandmother, Elsie Larrison, apparently born to Larrison parents living somewhere in Pennsylvania in the 1760s, are two of the brick walls in Dave’s family tree.

Because there are so many local libraries, societies and record depositories in Pennsylvania, this list will be far from comprehensive. There are just too many counties! However, if a county website came up in my search while compiling this list, I’ve included it.

Also, if you’ve found a fabulous Pennsylvania resource that I haven’t listed, please leave a comment and let me know so I can add it.

I would strongly suggest that you begin with a visit to the FamilySearch wiki for an excellent overview of Pennsylvania records:

FamilySearch – Pennsylvania Online Genealogy Records

Here is a basic list to get you started with Pennsylvania genealogy records available online:

Allegheny County – Finding Family and Historical Records

Ancestral Findings – Tracing Your Pennsylvania Ancestors

Archives Records Information Access System (ARIAS) – Pennsylvania State Archives

Berks County Genealogical Society – Note links on the right side of the page to historical maps

Butler County Historical Society – Genealogy

Chester County, PA – Birth, Death & marriages Index

Chester County Pennsylvania Genealogy Project

Cyndi’s List – Pennsylvania

Free Library of Philadelphia – Genealogy

Genealogical Resources at the Philadelphia City Archives

Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania

Genealogy Trails – Pennsylvania

German Society of Pennsylvania

Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Indiana University of Pennsylvania – Special Collections and University Archives

Kutztown University – Rohrbach Library Digital Collections

Lackawanna Digital Archives

Lancaster County – Genealogy Research: Historical Indexes

Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society – Genealogy Resources

Linkpendium – Pennsylvania

Louis Shotridge Digital Archive – Tlingit history

Mansfield University – MU History Online

Montgomery County – Genealogy Information

New Horizons Genealogy – Pennsylvania

Online Pennsylvania Death Indexes, Records and Obituaries

PA Digital

PAGenWeb – records organized by county

Penn State University Libraries – Genealogy & Family History

Penn State University Libraries – Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive

Pennsylvania FREE Genealogy Databases

Pennsylvania Genealogy – RAOGK

Pennsylvania German Society

Pennsylvania Historic Newspapers – State Library of Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission

Pennsylvania State Archives

Pennsylvania Vital Records Indexes

Power Library – PA Photos and Documents

State Library of Pennsylvania

ThoughtCo. Pennsylvania Genealogy Online

Uniontown Public Library (Fayette County) – Genealogy & History

University of Pennsylvania – University Archives Digital Image Collection

Washington County Library – Citizens Genealogy and Local History – In spite of the notice about the librarian being gone for the month of September 2017, the links are all working.

Western Pennsylvania Genealogical Society

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