Tag: Pennsylvania State Archives

TBT: Using Online Land Office Records at the PA Archives

Kris Hocker on 16 Aug 2018

Way back in 2012 I wrote a post entitled How to Use the Online Land Records at the PA State Archives. This post explained the process of land rights passing from William Penn to colonists through the Land Office in colonial Pennsylvania. If you’re researching a Pennsylvania immigrant—or even a first generation colonist—these records can be invaluable.

How to Use the Online Land Records at the PA State Archives

After this post I used Jacob Huber of Lancaster County’s records to illustrate the resources created during this process:

Jacob Hoober 1733 Warrant

Jacob Hoober’s 1733 Survey

Jacob Hoober’s 1736 Land Patent

For additional resources to find your ancestors land, check out the Warrantee Township maps:

Pennsylvania Warrant Township Maps

and also the Genealogical Map of the Counties:

Pennsylvania Genealogical County Map

 

Hope you’ve enjoyed this Throwback Thursday post.

When Was It Founded? PA County, Township & Municipality Incorporation Dates

Kris Hocker on 28 May 2018

If you’re looking for information on the founding of Pennsylvania counties, townships and municipalities, then this is the page you need! It’s incredibly useful to figure out which township you need to research to find earlier records for your ancestor.

For instance, Halifax Township in Dauphin County was founded in 1804 from parts of Upper Paxton and Middle Paxton townships. If you’re looking for a Halifax Township resident in 1800, you’ll need to refer to Upper Paxton and/or Middle Paxton township records for that year.

I’d found these years ago and printed some out. So, glad I found the source! It’s a great tool for the Pennsylvania researcher.

Once you’ve landed on the main page, click on the county for which you’d like information. A PDF will open. It was created by the Pennsylvania Department of Internal Affairs in 1965.

Once again the Pennsylvania State Archives is the resource to know.