Pennsylvania County Church and Cemetery Records

See Also Research In State Church & Cemetery Records - Church records rank among the most promising of genealogical records available. Indeed, for periods before the advent of civil registration of vital statistics (a very late development in many American states), church records rank as the best available sources for information on specific vital events: birth, marriage, and death. They are also among the most under-used major records in American genealogy. Part of the reason lies in the number of denominations-there are hundreds of them. Identifying and locating the records of these various churches makes even professional genealogists hesitate......

The Historical Records Survey produced an inventory of the church archives in Pennsylvania, but it was never published. Arranged by county, the inventory is located in the state archives. A good number of church records have been published individually and in periodicals such as The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine. Many copies exist in manuscript at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania State Library (DAR collection), and in other libraries. A good portion of the published material concerns German churches and Quaker meetings.

Some major religious bodies have libraries in the commonwealth with collections that include not only Pennsylvania church records, but those for other states as well. These include the following:

The collection at the Friends Historical Library Swarthmore College Swarthmore, PA 19081
The library has original and microfilmed Quaker records, mostly for Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and some for Virginia, including those for fourteen Pennsylvania meetings copied by Hinshaw but never published. While the basic meeting records are located at Swarthmore, other material can be found at Haverford College Library Quaker Collection Haverford, PA 19041-1392
The Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society 2215 Millstream Road Lancaster, PA 16702-1499
has a handout entitled Genealogical Resources at the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society. A research fee is charged for mail inquiries. The society also publishes a quarterly, Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage.
The Evangelical and Reformed Historical Society of the United Church of Christ 555 West James Street Lancaster, PA 17603
loans microfilm of church records, covering German churches in Adams, Berks, Bucks, Chester, Columbia, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Monroe, Montgomery, Northampton, Northumberland, Perry, Philadelphia, Schuylkill, and York counties, as well as a few for Maryland and Virginia. Many German church records, particularly for the German Reformed and Evangelical church, have been published in books and periodicals.
The Presbyterian Historical Society 425 Lombard Street Philadelphia, PA 19147
has records of over 20,000 churches and has published the Journal of Presbyterian History since 1901.
The Historical Society of Pennsylvania Philadelphia Jewish Archives Center at the Balch Institute 18 South 7th Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19106.
has a microfilm collection of Jewish synagogue and cemetery records; other related material. Other important archives are kept by: The Moravians 66 West Church Street Bethlehem, PA 18018
The Schwenkfelders Pennsburg, PA 18073
The Lutherans Abdel Ross Wentz Library Gettysburg, PA 17325
Luthean Theological Seminary 7301 Germantown Avenue Philadelphia, PA 19119
Pennsylvania, Lutheran Baptisms and Marriages: This database is a collection of Lutheran Church baptism and marriage records from southeastern Pennsylvania between 1730 and 1779.

Search Pennsylvania Historical Records - Databases include Court, Land, Wills & Financial Records; Birth, Marriage & Death Records; Voter Lists & Census Records; Immigration & Emigration Records; Obituary Records; Military Records; Family Tree Records; Pictures; Stories, Memories & Histories; Directories & Member Lists and much more....

Cemeteries - Large collections of cemetery records are located at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, and at many local libraries and historical societies. The Pennsylvania State Library maintains the state's DAR cemetery collection. Several funeral director records for Philadelphia are in the Collections of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania.

The Pennsylvania State Department of Military Affairs has records of veterans' graves and burials. The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania is currently in the process of microfilming cemetery records throughout the commonwealth.

Cemetery records and gravestone inscriptions are a rich source of information for family historians. Cemetery and other sources of information associated with death include:

FOR DEFINITIONS OF ALL CEMETERY TERMS SEE THE GENEALOGY ENCYCLOPEDIA
Biographical works Burial permits Church burial registers Cemetery records (often several different kinds are kept) Cemetery indexes (often compiled by genealogical societies) Cemetery sextons’ records Cemetery deed and plot registers Death certificates Death indexes Family bibles Family burial plots	Funeral director’s records Grave opening orders Gravestone (monument) inscriptions Military records Monuments and memorials Necrologies Newspaper death notices Obituaries Probate records Published death records Religious records Transcriptions of cemetery inscriptions