Montgomery County Genealogy Resources
Vital Records: Civil Vital Records kept at county level until 1906 Birth 1852-1855, 1893-1906, 1893-1915 birth records are also held by the Register of Wills, post 1906 held by the Pennsylvania Department of Health Marriage 1852-1855, 1885-present (post 1989 has searchable online index) held through Montgomery County Records Department Death 1852-1855, 1893-1906, post 1906 held by PA Department of Health Pennsylvania State Archives Birth Records 1906-1909 and Death Records 1906-1964 are digitized and searchable free to Pennsylvania residents at: http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/research_topics/3162/ancestry_com_pennsylvania /1575348
Religious vital records come from various churches around the county. In some cases, these are consolidated into a single print/electronic index, in others they are state, region, town, or institutionally specific. This is where a researcher may find Colonial or 19th Century records in periods when civil records were not kept. Two useful books at Montgomery County Norristown Library might be: 1. Baptisms and Burials from the Records of Christ Church Philadelphia 1709-1760 (L.H.C. 929.3748 B222b) 2. Marriages and Deaths in Montgomery County Pennsylvania 1685-1800 (L.H.C. 929.3748 M519m)
Electronic Resources: PA Church Records on USGen Web: http://usgwarchives.net/pa/montgomery/church.htm Pennsylvania Church Records on Family Search: https://familysearch.org/search/catalog/results?count=20&placeId=345&query=%2Bplace%3A%22United %20States%2C%20Pennsylvania%22&subjectsOpen=608051-50 Montgomery County Records Dept.: http://www.montcopa.org/index.aspx?NID=418 Montgomery County Historical Society: http://www.hsmcpa.org/ PA Vital Records: http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_0_107567_0_0_43/http;/pubcontent.stat e.pa.us/publishedcontent/publish/cop_hhs/health/content/internet/birth___death_certificates/bhsr/birth_and _death_certificates_home_header/birth_and_death_certificates_home_header.htm
Cemetery Records: Find a Grave (searchable by the deceased person’s name): http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi Find a Grave also has a listing of Montgomery County Cemeteries, with each individual cemetery searchable by decedent’s name: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=csr&CScnty=2286 Access Genealogy has a listing of searchable cemetery records: http://www.accessgenealogy.com/cemetery/montgomery-county-pennsylvania-cemetery-records.htm Montgomery County Records Department has a browsable (NOT searchable) Register of Veteran’s Burials: http://www.montcopa.org/DocumentCenter/View/749
Court Records: Office of the Prothonotary has microfilmed copies of Court of Common Pleas cases: http://www.montcopa.org/index.aspx?nid=97 (Historical Society of Montgomery County has originals)
Deed Records: Montgomery County Historical Society has Deed Records 1784-1893 on microfilm: http://www.hsmcpa.org/library.html Recorder of Deeds holds all Montgomery County Deeds from 1850-present. There is a searchable index: https://rodviewer.montcopa.org/countyweb/login.do?countyname=Montgomery Book at Norristown Library: Early Pennsylvania Land Records 1685-1793 (L.H.C. 929.3748 E31e) There are also several PA land collections that can be found via Ancestry.com (this is an in-library resource only). In general these cover 1733-19th or 20th Century. http://search.ancestry.com/Places/US/Pennsylvania/Default.aspx?category=36
Probate Records: Register of Wills and Clerk of Orphan’s Court, which hold the original records: http://www.montcopa.org/index.aspx?nid=202 Family Search has a browsable (NOT searchable-there is no search screen) online collection of Wills and administrative original documents 1683-1994: https://familysearch.org/search/catalog/231938?availability=Family%20History%20Library US Gen Web has a searchable Will Abstracts and Administrations collection 1784-1821 (other individual probate records are also included in the collection): http://usgwarchives.net/pa/montgomery/wills.htm
Military Records: Family Search has an overview of Pennsylvania Military Service: https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Pennsylvania_Military_Records#.C2.A0Revolutionary_War_.28177 5-1783.29.C2.A0 Most military pension records (the most likely place to find personal and family information about a soldier) are available through the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA): http://www.archives.gov/research/military/ Subscription Websites such as HeritageQuest (www.heritagequestonline.com) and Fold3(www.fold3.com) have digitized copies of pension application materials for Revolutionary War. (Norristown Library does not subscribe to either of these sites.) Pennsylvania did issue some State-level pensions for Revolutionary War Service, and a searchable index is available: http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/revolutionary_war/3852/revolutionary_war_pensi on_records,_pt__1/387374
Naturalizations: County-level Naturalizations are held by the Office of the Prothonotary: http://www.montcopa.org/index.aspx?nid=97 Any pre-1906 (local, municipal, state, or federal) Naturalizations are held by the Pennsylvania State Archives: http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/naturalization_and_immigration/3851 Federal Naturalizations post 1906 are held at the NARA regional facility in Philadelphia: http://www.archives.gov/frc/philadelphia/
Newspapers: Listing of PA Newspapers: http://www.usnpl.com/panews.php Some local Newspapers at Norristown Library: The Mercury, Main Line News, The Colonial, North Penn Line, The Reporter, Souderton Independent, Times Chronicle, Times Herald (12/20/1951-7/6/1970; 11/2/1987-1/31/2011) Philadelphia Inquirer (1972-2012), New York Times (1851-present). Note: Current issues of most local newspaper are kept in paper form for four weeks only. Bolded items above are microfilmed for listed dates.
City Directories: Norristown Library has copies of city directories for Norristown and Bridgeport 1860-1861 and for Norristown, East Norriton, West Norriton, Bridgeport, and Plymouth Meeting 1902-1978 Historical Society of Montgomery County holds city directories for Norristown, Pottstown, and Bridgeport from 1860-1978 Ancestry.com also has searchable city directories (Note: this is a subscription web site, available for in house use)
Useful Links: Norristown Library Genealogical Resources: http://mnl.mclinc.org/library-resources-available PA State Archives Holdings for Montgomery County: http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/dam/rg/rg47m.htm Genealogical Society of Montgomery County Info on Montco Historical Records: https://genpa.org/sites/default/files/ResearchTip-MontCo.pdf Guide to library at Montgomery County Historical Society: http://nebula.wsimg.com/8d1447aad6b068ba72a30fcd60399804?AccessKeyId=48E321E655F9C34F24F0 &disposition=0&alloworigin=1 Historical Society of Pennsylvania Online Catalog (try a search on Montgomery County): http://discover.hsp.org/ PA State Archives Genealogy: http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/genealogy/3183
Montgomery County Genealogy Resources (Note: Many of these agencies allow you to order records online) Record Who Has It? Contact Website Information Birth and Death Montgomery 2010 Old Arch Road http://www.montcopa.org/index.aspx?NID=418 Records 1852- County Records Norristown, Pa 19401 1855, Births 1893- Department PH:610-278-3441 1915 Birth and Death PA Department of 110 N. 8th St. #108 Click Here Records post 1906 Vital Statistics Philadelphia, PA 19107 PH: 215-560-3054 Open Access PA Ancestry.com Pennsylvania State Please Click Here and read instructions carefully. Birth and Death Pennsylvania (Free Archives records to PA residents) PH: 717-783-3281 Cemetery Records Find a Grave.com N/A Click Here Marriage Records Montgomery 2010 Old Arch Road http://www.montcopa.org/index.aspx?NID=418 1852-1855, 1885- County Records Norristown, Pa 19401 present Department PH:610-278-3441 Court Records Prothonotary’s Office of the http://www.montcopa.org/index.aspx?nid=97 Office Prothonotary P.O. BOX 311 Norristown, PA 19404-0311 PH: 610-278-3360 Deed Records Historical Society 1654 DeKalb Street http://www.hsmcpa.org/ 1784-1893 of Montgomery Norristown, PA 19401 County PH: 610-272-0297 Probate Records Register of Wills Register of Wills http://www.montcopa.org/index.aspx?nid=202 P.O. Box 311 Norristown, PA 19404-0311 PH: 610-278-3400 Military Records PA State Archives NARA: Click here Or here or NARA The National Archives and Records Administration 8601 Adelphi Road College Park, MD 20740-6001 PH: 1-866-272-6272 Record Who Has It? Contact Website Information County Prothonotary’s Office of the http://www.montcopa.org/index.aspx?nid=97 Naturalization Office Prothonotary Records pre-1906 P.O. BOX 311 Norristown, PA 19404-0311 PH: 610-278-3360 Naturalization NARA 14700 Townsend Road http://www.archives.gov/frc/philadelphia/ Records post-1906 Philadelphia Philadelphia, PA Regional Facility 19154-1096 PH: 215-305-2044 Local Newspapers Montgomery 1001 Powell St. http://mnl.mclinc.org/library-resources-available/ County Norristown Norristown, PA 19401 Public Library PH: 610-278-5100 X201 City Directories Norristown Library Library: 610-278-5100 http://mnl.mclinc.org/library-resources-available/ or Historical x201 http://www.hsmcpa.org/ Society of Historical Society: Montgomery 610-272-0297 County Deed Records Recorder of Deeds One Montgomery http://www.montcopa.org/index.aspx?NID=353 1850-present Plaza 3rd Floor Swede and Airy Streets P.O. Box 311 Norristown, PA 19404-0311 PH: 610-278-3289 Naturalization PA State Archives Pennsylvania State Click Here Records pre-1906 Archives 350 North Street Harrisburg, PA 17120 PH: 717-783-3281
Questions? Please contact the Reference Department at (610) 278-5100 x201