Montgomery 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 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//birth___death_certificates/bhsr/birth_and _death_certificates_home_header/birth_and_death_certificates_home_header.htm

Cemetery Records:  (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 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  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 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 : http://www.usnpl.com/panews.php  Some local Newspapers at Norristown Library: The Mercury, Main Line News, The Colonial, North , The Reporter, Souderton Independent, Times Chronicle, Times Herald (12/20/1951-7/6/1970; 11/2/1987-1/31/2011) Philadelphia Inquirer (1972-2012), Times (1851-present). Note: Current issues of most local 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 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 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 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