Member Collections

Members of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania receive access to these collections as a benefit of membership. To become a member of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, visit our Membership page.

Collections include the eight-volume series of early Pennsylvania baptisms extracted from church records by John Humphrey; searchable indexes, abstracts, and transcriptions of records from churches, cemeteries, funeral homes, newspapers, and county archives; browsable images of records; and published collections of records from the Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine and its predecessor, Publications of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania.

Most of the collections below are searchable through the full-text GSP website search. All collections, including handwritten collections not searched through the full-text search, can be browsed individually. Browse individual collections to search for names that do not appear in the full-text search.

  • See Using the GSP Website for search and browsing tips
  • Most collections are full-text searchable PDFs that can be searched through the GSP search or as individual files.
  • Search the full text of all collections for names, locations, and other keywords in the search box at right.
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  • All files also can be browsed as individual collections.

Featured Pennsylvania Collections

Collections by County

GSP collections include searchable indexes and abstracts of records created by GSP volunteers and collections of indexes, transcriptions, and records donated by individuals over the years.

Many of the searchable indexes and abstracts are from the collection of Mrs. W.A. (Doris Fritz) Berryman, who donated her research materials to the Mahanoy Area Historical Society. Mrs. Berryman’s research focused on Berks, Columbia, Dauphin, Lehigh, Luzerne, and Northumberland counties, but also includes material from Jefferson, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lycoming, McKean, Mifflin, Montgomery, Montour, Northampton, Perry, Philadelphia, Schuylkill, Snyder, and Somerset counties. The Mahanoy Area Historical Society generously donated the Berryman Collection to GSP in 2017.

Allegheny County

Election Returns, Lists of Voters, 1776-1790

Berks County

Altalaha Evangelical Lutheran Church – 1757-1842 – Part 1 Rehersburg, Berks County PA
Altalaha Evangelical Lutheran Church – 1757-1842 – Part 2 Rehersburg, Berks County PA

Altalaha Evangelical Lutheran – Old Tombstone Cemetery Rehersburg, Berks County PA

Amityville Church Records – 1754 – Amityville, Berks County, PA

Berks County Births 1710-1780 (John T. Humphrey Collection)

Berks County Births 1781-1800 (John T. Humphrey Collection)

Bernville Cemeteries Three cemeteries: Bernville, Stump Burial Ground, Small Catholic Cemetery Bernville, Berks County , Pennsylvania

Blue Mountain Church Strausstown, Berks County, PA

Christ Church on Bieber Creek or Mertz Church – Part 1 Rockland Township, Berks County, PA
Christ Church on Bieber Creek or Mertz Church – Part 2 Rockland Township, Berks County, PA
Christ Church on Bieber Creek or Mertz Church – Part 3 Rockland Township, Berks County, PA
Christ Church on Bieber Creek or Mertz Church – Part 4 Rockland Township, Berks County, PA

Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church One mile west of Stouchsburg, Berks County, PA

Christ Lutheran Church – 1 Rockland Township, Berks County, PA. Also known as Mertz’s Church, Dryville
Christ Lutheran Church – 2 Rockland Township, Berks County, PA. Also known as Mertz’s Church, Dryville
Christ Lutheran Church – 3 Rockland Township, Berks County, PA. Also known as Mertz’s Church, Dryville

Christ Lutheran Church Stouchsburg, Berks County, PA (Tulpehocken, Berks County) Volume 2

Christ Lutheran Stouchsburg Baptismal Records – Part 1 Marions Township, Berks County, PA
Christ Lutheran Stouchsburg Baptismal Records – Part 2 Marions Township, Berks County, PA
Christ Lutheran Stouchsburg Baptismal Records – Part 3 Marions Township, Berks County, PA

Church Record of the Evangelical Lutheran Reformed Congregations Windsor Township (now Perry Township), Berks County

Dunkel’s Reformed Church – 1 Greenwich Township, Berks County, PA
Dunkel’s Reformed Church Baptism Index Greenwich Township, Berks County, PA
Dunkel’s Reformed Church – 3 Greenwich Township, Berks County, PA
Dunkel’s Reformed Church – Burial Index Greenwich Township, Berks County, PA

First Reformed Church – 1793-1820 Part 1 Reading, Berks County, PA
First Reformed Church – 1793-1820 Part 2 Reading, Berks County, PA
First Reformed Church – 1793-1820 Part 3 Reading, Berks County, PA

Frieden’s United Church of Christ Cemetery, old and new sections Lenhartsville, Berks County, PA
Fritz’s Burial Ground (Gresh’s Burial Ground) Douglas Township, Berks County, PA

Fritz Cemetery – Private – Little Oley  Douglas Township, Berks County, PA

Gouglersville Cemetery Berks County – Transcriptions

Host Reformed Church Record – 1748-1828 Tulpehocken Township, Berks County, PA

Kimmel Family Brunswick Township, Berks County, PA (now Schuylkill County, PA)

Le Van Family – Genealogical Record of the Le Van Family

Descendants of Daniel LeVan and Marie Beau (Huguenots), natives of Picardy, France, who settled in Amsterdam, Holland

Longswamp Reformed Church 1762-1810 Longswamp Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania

Moravian Church Record North Heidelberg Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania

  • Located in the eastern portion of North Heidelberg Township, Berks County, about five miles northeast of Robesonia. Originally this was a portion of Heidelberg township, Lancaster County

Moselem Church Records Richmond Township, Berks County, PA

  • Includes a few St. Peter’s Reformed Church records. See St. Peter’s.

Orphan’s Court Record Berks County, Pennsylvania  1752-1792 Pages 1-60

Orphan’s Court Record Berks County, Pennsylvania 1752-1792 Pages 61-120

Orphan’s Court Record Berks County, Pennsylvania 1752-1792 Pages 121-186

Orphan’s Court Records Berks County 1803

New Bethel Zion Church (Stone)

Plow (Forest) Church and Cemetery Record Part 1 Robeson Township, Berks County, PA
Plow (Forest) Church and Cemetery Record Part 2 Robeson Township, Berks County, PA

Reading, Berks County, First Patentees & List of Taxables 1759

Reading Reformed Church Burials & Marriages (& 1st Reformed Church of Reading, PA) index Reading, Berks County, PA

Reading Reformed Church Burials and Marriages (And First Reformed Church of Reading, PA) Nov 1863–Feb 1883 (Handwritten document – refer to the index above) Reading, Berks County, PA

Reber-Raber-Rabert Family Berks County, PA

Rev. Charles Augustus Pauli record books – baptisms 1860–1871

Rev. Charles Augustus Pauli records books – marriages 1860 – 1871

Rev. Charles Augustus Pauli record books – burials 1860 – 1871

St. Daniel’s Lutheran Cemetery (Eck Kirche, founded about 1750) Robesonia, Heidelberg Township, Berks County

St. Gabriel’s Episcopal Churchyard Douglasville, Amity Twp. Berks County, PA

St. Paul’s Church Windsor Township, Berks County, PA.

  • Also known as the Lebanon Church and Smoke Church

St. Peter’s German Reformed Church Richmond Township, Berks County, PA “Second book”

  • See Moselem Church Records for a few additional St. Peter’s records

Schwartzwald Church Register – Baptisms, Deaths, Marriages Exeter Township, Berks County, PA
Over 200 pages of hand transcribed records. Records that appear to be reversed pages are the backs of pages, not two-sided. “Ink copy of Rev. Boas Records”

ULRICH Private and GRETH Private Cemeteries City of Reading and Perry Township, Berks County, PA

Wills and Administrations – Abstracts of Wills and Administrations Berks County 1752-1778

Wills and Administrations – Additional earlier wills of Berks County area probated in Philadelphia-Part 2

Zion Lutheran and Reformed Church Perry Township, Berks County, PA located near the border of Perry and Windsor Townships

Bradford County

Bradford County Newspaper Abstracts up to 1862

Bucks County

Bucks County Births 1682-1800 (John T. Humphrey Collection)

Bucks County Church Records – Warren S. Ely Collection

Bucks County, Pennsylvania Coroners’ Records, 1710-1729

Carversville UCC Solebury Township, Bucks County Tombstone Inscriptions 1832–1979

Early Registry of Wills in Bucks County, Pennsylvania 1684-1693

Hambleton Family Collection

Memoranda from the Diary of John Dyer of Plumstead, Bucks Co., PA

Springfield Township, Bucks County PA 1760-1829

Springfield Reformed Church 1760 – 1829 Springfield Township, Bucks County PA

Carbon County

Carbon County Births – 1795-1825 (John T. Humphrey Collection)

Carbon County Newspaper Abstracts up to 1862

Centre County

Heckman’s Cemetery Gregg Township, Centre County, PA

  • Located near Penn Hall in Gregg Township, established in 1785

Wolf’s Chapel Cemetery Haines Township, Centre County, PA

  • Located 2 miles east of Aaronsburg at the site of “The Lower Fort”

Chester County

Abstracts of Feme Covert Declarations for Chester County, Pennsylvania, 1832-1848

Chester County Births 1795-1825 (John T. Humphrey Collection)

Dutton Collection of Deaths, Marriages, Etc.

  • The Dutton collection is a transcript, alphabetically arranged, of about 4000 records of deaths, marriages, and other events relating to numerous individuals and families, most from the counties of Chester and Delaware. This collection documents family events and migrations, including several to Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, and South Carolina.

East Coventry Mennonite Burial Grounds : 1752 – 1914 (Chester County)

Kennett Monthly Meeting Some Marriage Abstracts 1777–1779

Miscellaneous Marriages and Marriages by John Graves, Esquire

Oak Grove Cemetery Parkerford, Chester County, PA

  • Burials in the Old Graveyard

Peddlers and Indian Traders License Papers, 1722-1866

Some Early Arrivals : Settlers in Chester County, Pennsylvania

Clarion County

Trinity Evangelical Lutheran and Reformed Church 1814-1850 Alcola, Red Bank Township, Clarion County

Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church Shannondale, Red Bank Township, Clarion County PA

  • Births and Baptisms 1828-1872, Communicants 1834-1836

Columbia County

Aristes Cemetery Aristes, Conyngham Township, Columbia County, PA

Beaver Family History, Columbia County, Pennsylvania Branch

  • William Beaver, son of Samuel Beaver and Elizabeth Breinig, moved from PA to Indiana about 1852

Bloomsburg Courthouse Pennsylvania Columbia County – Marriages

  • Marriage Licenses, Volume 1

Briar Creek Church and Hidlay Church Briar Creek Township and Centre Township, Columbia County, PA

Brown, James – The Descendants of James Brown 1716-1922

Columbia County Marriage and Deaths 1839-1840 Berwick, Columbia County, PA

  • From the Independent Ledger and Lyceum Weekly Journal

Mifflinville Cemetery Record Mifflinville, Columbia County, PA

Miller and Pursel Families, Kline and Willet Columbia County, PA

Pioneer Families of our County, Columbia County

  • By Kenneth E. Yocum. Includes obits, marriages, legal info, etc. from Argus Weekly

Roaring Creek Monthly Meeting – Catawissa Monthly Meeting Berwick, Columbia County, PA

  • Births, Marriages, and Burials 1790-1901

St. John’s Lutheran 1873-1966 Mifflinville, Columbia County, PA

St. Gabriel’s Episcopal Church

  • One of the oldest churches in Columbia County, Pennsylvania

St Paul’s Lutheran Cemetery Numidia, Columbia County, PA

  • Persons born prior to 1870

St. Paul’s Union Lutheran and Reformed Church – Baptisms 1821-1874 Catawissa Township, now Numidia, Locust Township, Columbia County, PA

  • Roaring Creek Congregations

St. Peter’s Lutheran & Reformed Church and Harger’s Union Church Beaver Township, Columbia County, PA

Union Lutheran and Reformed Church Hemlock Township, Columbia County, PA

Union Lutheran and Reformed Church Northumberland and Columbia, Catawissa Township, Columbia County, PA

Shellamer, Reverend Isaac, Reformed Minister – Register of Marriages and Burials 1832-1872 Luzerne, Columbia, and Schuylkill Counties (translated)

Dauphin County

Dauphin County Newspaper Abstracts

Fetterhoff’s St. Peter’s Church 1788 – 1903 Armstrong Valley, Upper Paxton Township, Dauphin County, PA

Hoffman’s Reformed Church, Beginning in the Year 1791 Lykens Valley, Dauphin County, PA

Killinger Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church 1770-1855 Lykens Valley, Upper Paxton Township, Dauphin County, PA

Klinger’s Union Church, Lykens Township, Dauphin County, PA

Motter’s Cemetery Washington Township, Dauphin County Pennsylvania

  • Between Elizabethville and Loyalton

Robison Field Cemetery Washington Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania

  • Near Loyalton

Salem Reformed Church Baptisms and Marriages 1788 – 1842 Harrisburg, Dauphin County, PA

St. John’s Lutheran Church Mifflin Township Near Berrysburg, Mifflin Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania

  • Records beginning 1780

Stoner Graveyard Highspire, Dauphin County, PA

United Brethren Church Cemetery East of Enterline, Jefferson Township, Dauphin County PA (Powell’s Valley)

Zion Lutheran Church Marriages 1795-1809 Harrisburg, Dauphin County, PA

Zion’s (Stone) United Brethren Church Halifax Twp, Dauphin County, PA

Delaware County

Dutton Collection of Deaths, Marriages, Etc.

  • The Dutton collection is a transcript, alphabetically arranged, of about 4000 records of deaths, marriages, and other events relating to numerous individuals and families, most from the counties of Chester and Delaware. This collection documents family events and migrations, including several to Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, and South Carolina.

Graceland Cemetery (a.k.a. North Mt.Moriah) in Yeadon, Delaware County- index   

Graceland Cemetery (a.k.a. North Mt. Moriah) in Yeadon, Delaware County- tombstone inscriptions

  • Some of the burials were originally interred at old Machpelah Cemetery and later moved to Graceland Cemetery. The Machpelah Cemetery was disbanded in 1895. It was located on Washington Avenue from 10th to 11th streets in the city of Philadelphia.

Erie County

Erie Dispatch Queries about 18th and 19th century families : 1927 – 1929 – (Erie County)

These were compiled from 1927 – 1929 but represent many earlier dates in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Fayette County

Election Returns, Lists of Voters, 1776-1790

Greene County

1993 Obituaries of those born before 1906 published in the Observer-Reporter

Huntingdon County

Industrial Reformatory at Huntingdon Records – 1889

Lancaster County

Bethania Palladium Lancaster County June 1832 – Sep 1834 (marriage and death abstracts)

Bethania Palladium Lancaster County June 1832 – Sep 1834 index

Moravian Church Record North Heidelberg Township, Berks County

  • Located in the eastern portion of North Heidelberg Township, Berks County, about five miles northeast of Robesonia. Originally this was a portion of Heidelberg township, Lancaster County

Lebanon County

Lebanon Marriage and Death Newspaper Notices 1860-1882

Trinity Tulpehocken Reformed Church Marriages: 1769-1844 – Index (Lebanon County)

Trinity Tulpehocken Reformed Church Marriages: 1769-1844, pages 1-38 (Lebanon County)

Trinity Tulpehocken Reformed Church Marriages: 1769-1844, pages 39-77 (Lebanon County)

Luzerne County

19th Century Lists of Children Found Among Early Tax Assessments

Election Returns, Lists of Voters, 1776-1790

Luzerne County Newspaper Abstracts up to 1862

Shellamer, Reverend Isaac, Reformed Minister – Register of Marriages and Burials 1832-1872 Luzerne, Columbia, and Schuylkill Counties (translated)

Mifflin County

Election Returns, Lists of Voters, 1776-1790

Monroe County

Monroe County Births – 1741-1825 (John T. Humphrey Collection)

Monroe County Newspaper Abstracts up to 1862

Montgomery County

Abington Presbyterian Church, Montgomery County, PA
Tombstone inscriptions by location 1711-1932

Marriage Record of Mahlon Van Booskirk 1812-1839

  • Mahlon Van Booskirk was commissioned May 6, 1811 as Justice of the Peace for Moreland and Upper Dublin Township.  Records from 1812-1839

Northampton County

Burials, St. Peter’s Church, Seemsville, Pennsylvania

Hamilton Township Union Church Baptisms : 1768 – 1843 (Northampton County – now Monroe County)

Philadelphia County

All Saints’ Episcopal Church – baptisms, confirmations, marriages and deaths 1771–1875 – pages 1 – 37

All Saints’ Episcopal Church – baptisms, confirmations, marriages and deaths 1771–1875 – pages 38 – 77

Almshouse and Asylum Records

This includes records from several Philadelphia institutions.  They can be cross-referenced against census records and newspapers to find additional information.

  • Blockley Alms House Black Book (Punishments) : 1882-1900
  • Persons Living at Friends Insane Asylum – 1860 Federal Census Enumeration
  • Philadelphia Children’s Asylum Extracts – White Male Children : January 1848-February 1849
  • Philadelphia Children’s Asylum Index – White Male Children : January 1848 – February 1849
  • Blockley Alms House – Female Elopements (Escapes) : April 1861 – December 1862 
  • Philadelphia Board of Health – Interments : Blockley, Francisville, and Cherry Hill Burial Grounds : 1819-1836

Ancient Records of Philadelphia, 1703-1770

Baptisms from the Church Book of the German Reformed Church of Philadelphia

Blockley Baptist Church – Pastors Pocket Record Book

Bodies Removed from Old Methodist Episcopal Church Cemetery in Bustleton to William Penn Cemetery

Charles R. Barker Register of Burying Grounds in Philadelphia

Church of the Epiphany (Philadelphia) – Tombstone Inscriptions

Court and Prison Records

Selected and indexed by volunteers of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania

  • Genealogical Gleanings from the Eastern State Penitentiary Moral Instructor’s Book A, 1829-1840
  • Eastern State Penitentiary Book A: Name Index with links to original pages
  • Foreign Born Female Convicts: 1898-1905
  • Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Divorce Docket: June 1 1874 – March 1875
  • Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Lunacy Inquests: 1856-1874 Extracts
  • Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Lunacy Inquests: 1856-1874 Index
  • Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Miscellaneous Docket: 1856-1867
  • Philadelphia County Prison Death Records: 1819-1830
  • Philadelphia Quarter Sessions Court Desertion Docket: 1865-72
  • Prisoners For Trial First Quarter: 1836 Extracts
  • Prisoners For Trial First Quarter: 1836 Index

Earliest Burial Records of the Board of Health, 1807

Earliest Records of the Burials in Philadelphia from the Board of Health, 1803 

Early Minutes of the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting of Friends, 1682

Fluehr Funeral Home Records – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 

Harold B. Mulligan Funeral Home – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Helverson Funeral Home Records : 1828 – 1915 (Philadelphia County)

Inscriptions on Some Ancient Tombstones, formerly in the Burial Ground of the First Presbyterian Church on Bank Street.  Illustrated

Inscriptions on the Tombstones in the Free Quakers’ Graveyard

Kensington Methodist Episcopal, Philadelphia, PA

Landholders of Philadelphia County, 1734

Marriages by Rev. Eugene Augustus Hoffman of St. Mark’s Philadelphia, 1869-1880

Marriages Recorded at St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, 1789-1817

Mount Moriah Cemetery Database

The Mount Moriah Cemetery Database was compiled through much work by dedicated volunteers of The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania. The online version is currently under reconstruction but is available at the GSP office. To request a Mount Moriah look-up, free for members, email info@genpa.org

Old Saint Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church Philadelphia Index to Baptisms and Marriages

Philadelphia Inquirer & the Philadelphia Bulletin obituaries & death notices index.1901-1968 (partial)

     Contact GSP office for a copy of the transcribed obituary. Please cite name and page number.

Philadelphia Public Ledger Newspaper Indexes Collection

Fully searchable indexes to origins of immigrants, local affairs, marriages, and deaths from the Philadelphia Public Ledger, 1836 – 1878 (Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania)

These newspaper indexes and abstracts were compiled with much work by indexing volunteers from the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania who examined newspapers and extracted references to individual names and dates.  Indexes such as these have proven to uncover many references to people that are not picked up by OCR scanning of newspapers.

Philadelphia Typographical Society – Charter and By-Laws of the Philadelphia Typographical Society with Members’ Names

A 22 page document (Transcribed January 23, 1971 by Dale A. Dickey, great-great-grandson of Thomas Dickey, a member of the Society

Wills Proved at Philadelphia, 1682-1692

Wills Proved at Philadelphia, 1692-1697

Poulson’s Daily Advertiser, 1791 – 1839 Indexes and Abstracts

  • Handwritten index to five Philadelphia newspapers, including Poulson’s Daily Advertiser and four others: Dunlap’s American Daily Advertiser, Claypoole’s Daily American Advertiser, General (Aurora) Advertiser.  Possibly the most important aspect of this collection is the inclusion of five newspapers in the indexes and abstracts, despite the collection title noting only one newspaper. The Philadelphia newspaper titles and dates covered in this collection include:

1. Dunlap’s American Daily Advertiser – Marriages, 1791 – 1796 and Deaths, 1791 – 1796

2. Claypoole’s Daily American Advertiser – Marriages,  1796 – 1800 and Deaths, 1796 – 1799

3. General Advertiser – Marriages, 1791 – 1795 and Deaths, 1791 – 1795

4. General (Aurora) Advertiser – Marriages, 1796 – 1799 and Deaths, 1796 – 1799

5.  Poulson’s Daily Advertiser – Marriages 1800 only

6. Poulson’s American Daily Advertiser – Marriages, 1800 – 1830; Marriages, 1831 – 1839 (Information includes residence of bride & groom and father of bride); Deaths, 1811 – 1825 and Obituaries, 1826 – 1839

Rehoboth Methodist Episcopal Church – Formerly Frankford Methodist Episcopal Church (Philadelphia County)

St. James the Less Episcopal Church  – Philadelphia

St. Joachim Roman Catholic Cemetery, Church and Griscom Streets, Frankford (Philadelphia County

St Michael’s Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church Marriages: 1781-1784 (Philadelphia County)

St. Paul’s Churchyard, Philadelphia

St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania- Tombstone Inscriptions

Tombstone Inscriptions: St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Schuylkill County

Schuylkill County Births 1755-1825 (John T. Humphrey Collection)

Clauser (Frieden) Evangelical Lutheran Church (Schuylkill County)

Kimmel Family Brunswick Township, Berks County, PA (now Schuylkill County, PA)

Shellamer, Reverend Isaac, Reformed Minister – Register of Marriages and Burials 1832-1872 Luzerne, Columbia, and Schuylkill Counties (translated)

Snyder County

Botschaft Lutheran Church (Snyder County)

Susquehanna County

Susquehanna County Newspaper Abstracts up to 1862 

Union County

Thomas Smiley’s Records of White Deer Valley Baptist Church, Union County, 1808-1831 

Washington County

1993 Obituaries of those born before 1906 published in the Observer-Reporter

Collections – Pennsylvania

County Marriage Records – Selected

Divorces Granted by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania from December 1785 until 1801

Dutton Collection of Deaths, Marriages, Etc.

  • The Dutton collection is a transcript, alphabetically arranged, of about 4000 records of deaths, marriages, and other events relating to numerous individuals and families, most from the counties of Chester and Delaware. This collection documents family events and migrations, including several to Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, and South Carolina.

Marriage Certificates Beginning with 1681

Marriage Register of Pennsylvania, 1683-1696

Northeast Pennsylvania Newspaper Excerpts up to 1862 Index

Provincial Tax Lists of the Three Lower Counties

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