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About Pennsylvania Land Records The Land Records Office, formerly the Bureau of Land Records (see below), came into operation in 1682, keeping records about state boundaries, land granted by William Penn and the Commonwealth, and land still owned by Pennsylvania. Of greatest value are the warrants, surveys, and patents, including warrantee maps. Some of the earliest records of Pennsylvania grants are indexed in Warrants and Surveys of the Province of Pennsylvania including the Three Lower Counties 1759, compiled by Allen Weinberg and Thomas E. Slattery (1965; reprint; Knightstown, Ind.: The Bookmark, 1975). The "Lower Counties" were those which are now the state of Delaware. Warrantees of land for several counties for 1682–1898 are listed in Pennsylvania Archives, 3rd series, vols. 2, 3, and 24–26. This series is indexed in vols. 27–30. See also William H. Egle, Early Pennsylvania Land Records: Minutes of the Board of Property of the Province of Pennsylvania, 1687–1732 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1976), reprinted from the Pennsylvania Archives, 2nd series, vol. 19. The southwest corner of Pennsylvania was contested with Virginia, and many records for this area are to be found at the Virginia State Archives (Richmond) and at the University of West Virginia (Morgantown). For further research refer to: "Virginia Claims to Land in Pennsylvania." In Pennsylvania Archives, 3rd series, vol. 3, pages 483–574. Crumrine, Boyd. Virginia Court Records in Southwestern Pennsylvania... 1775–1780. 1902–05. Reprint with index. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1974. Bell, Dr. Raymond Martin. In the National Genealogical Society Quarterly 14 (1957) and The Virginia Genealogist 7 (1963) and 11 (1967). Settlers from Connecticut came to the Upper Delaware and Wyoming valleys claimed by that colony from about 1753 to 1782. The records of the Delaware Company have not survived, but see The Susquehanna Company Papers by Julian P. Boyd and Robert J. Taylor, 11 vols. (Wilkes Barre. Pa.: Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, and Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1930–71); William Henry Egle, Documents Relating to the Connecticut Settlement in the Wyoming Valley (of Pennsylvania) (1890; reprint; Bowie, Md.: Heritage Books, 1990); and Donna Bingham Munger, "Following Connecticut Ancestors to Pennsylvania: Susquehanna Company Settlers," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 139 (1985): 112–25. Other material is at the Connecticut State Library and the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society in Wilkes-Barre. Tax-free land in the western part of the state, called the "Donation Lands," was offered to Revolutionary War soldiers of the Pennsylvania Line of the Continental Army. Also in this section of Pennsylvania were "Depreciation Lands," sold at reduced prices to Revolutionary War veterans or available to them instead of payment if they redeemed their depreciation certificates. The claims to these lands were published with maps in vols. 3 and 7 of Pennsylvania Archives, 3rd series. A helpful discussion of both of these land groups by John E. Winner appeared in Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine 8 (1925): 1–11. See also "The Depreciation and Donation Lands," compiled by Nell Y. Herchenroether, in Western Pennsylvania Genealogical Quarterly 7 (1981): 127–33 Most research in Pennsylvania land records will begin in the deeds and mortgages found with the recorder of deeds (who in smaller counties is also the register of wills). Here will also be found the seller and buyer (grantor and grantee) indexes, most often arranged by the somewhat cumbersome Russell system. In Pennsylvania, deeds and mortgages are more often than not indexed separately. Chattel mortgages are also found with the recorder of deeds. Most county deeds recorded to about 1850 and corresponding indexes are available on microfilm at the Pennsylvania State Archives and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Some unrecorded deeds may be found in courthouses, and many have found their way from private hands into archives, historical societies, and libraries. In earlier times many clerks were careful to copy German signatures into the deed books. This practice is of particular value because in the text of the deed the name was usually anglicized. Research on Pennsylvania land is incomplete without consulting Donna Bingham Munger, Pennsylvania Land Records: A History and Guide for Research (Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources, 1991). Pennsylvania BLM Office: Eastern States Office Pennsylvania State Historical Society: Historical Society of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania County Courthouses: Adams County Allegheny County Armstrong County Beaver County Bedford County Berks County Blair County Bradford County Bucks County Butler County Cambria County Cameron County Carbon County Centre County Chester County Clarion County Clearfield County Clinton County Columbia County Crawford County Cumberland County Dauphin County Delaware County Elk County Erie County Fayette County Forest County Franklin County Fulton County Greene County Huntingdon County Indiana County Jefferson County Juniata County Lackawanna County Lancaster County Lawrence County Lebanon County Lehigh County Luzerne County Lycoming County McKean County Mercer County Mifflin County Monroe County Montgomery County Montour County Northampton County Northumberland County Perry County Philadelphia Pike County Potter County Schuylkill County Snyder County Somerset County Sullivan County Susquehanna County Tioga County Union County Venango County Warren County Washington County Wayne County Westmoreland County Wyoming County York County Pennsylvania Public Records Search
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