Clarion County, Pennsylvania Genealogy

Guide to Clarion County, Pennsylvania ancestry, genealogy and family history, birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

Description
The county is located in the west central area of the state.

County Courthouse
Clarion County Courthouse 421 Main Street Clarion, PA 16214 Phone: 814-226-1119 Fax: 814-227-2501 Register and Recorder's Office Phone: 814-226-4000 Ext. 2500 Prothonotary Phone:  814-226-1119 Register of Wills/Orphans' Court Phone: 814-226-4000, ext 2500  Fax: 814-226-1117 Clarion County Website

Recorder's office holds birth and death records 1893-1906, marriage records from 1885, probate and land records from 1840 Prothonotary Clerk has divorce records from 1880 and court records from 1874

Populated Places
For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit HomeTown Locator. The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:

Cemeteries
Additional Cemetery Resources
 * ca.1700-ca.1950 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * Charles Reeves has created a map of Clarion County cemeteries that corresponds to, and enhances, the transcription project underway by the Clarion County Historical Society. The map is available at Mr. Reeves' Web site.
 * LDS Genealogy Clarion County
 * Highland Township - a website with transcriptions of the existing cemeteries and transcriptions of the 1850, 1860 and 1870 census records and other resource aids for the township.
 * Mill Creek Township - a website with transcriptions of the existing cemeteries and other resource aids for the township.

Church Records


County-wide Database - Multi-denominational
 * 1708-1985 - Pennsylvania, Church and Town Records, 1708-1985 at Historical Society of Pennsylvania – $, to members of the society; Also available at Ancestry $


 * Contains church records of the First United Methodist Church (New Bethlehem, Pa.).

Many church histories, record transcriptions, photos, and related resources are online at the Clarion County Genealogy &amp; History Web site.

Catholic
 * "100 years of the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese 1843 -1943". Western Pennsylvania Genealogical Society Quarterly, 17:1. FamilySearch Library book 974.8 B2wg. Contains chronolgy, map, county-by-county information.

Presbyterian Foxburg Presbyterian Church

List of Churches and Church Parishes
 * 1878-1879 Foxburg Presbyterian Church Baptism Index 1878-1879 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch. Batch
 * 1879-1880 Foxburg Presbyterian Church Marriage Index 1879-1880 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch. Batch
 * FamilySearch Places

Land and Property Records
Land records in Clarion County began in 1839. These records are filed with the Register and Recorder's office in Clarion, Pennsylvania.

Land Records Online


 * 1806-1946 Deed books, 1806-1888; Indexes to Deeds, 1806-1946 - images only; click on the camera icon to view images; Early records for the area that would later become Clarion County are for the applicable parent counties.

Local Histories

 * History of Clarion Co., Pennsylvania, 1887 : with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of some of its Prominent Men and Pioneers. 1887. Edited by A.J. Davis. Syracuse, New York : D. Mason & Co. Online at: FamilySearch Digital Library, Hathitrust, Internet Archive;.

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps
 * Maps of Pennsylvania (1673-1878)
 * Ancestor Tracks has posted free, downloadable images from Caldwell's Illustrated Historical Combination Atlas of Clarion County, 1877. This atlas located in the Library of Congress shows major landowners and geographic sites at the date of publishing. While the physical maps are in the public domain, the images we have taken of the maps belong to us and are not to be used commercially. We hereby give permission to use them strictly for personal use; please attribute to Ancestor Tracks.
 * Charles Reeves has also prepared the most-complete version available today of Caldwell's 1877 Illustrated Historical Combination Atlas of Clarion County, using pages from an original atlas and supplementing those with images from the Library of Congress. These high-resolution images are available on CD from Mr. Reeves' Web site.
 * FamilySearch Places:Cities and Towns- How to Use FS Places

Military Records

 * 1861-1865 - at FamilySearch — index

Naturalization and Citizenship
Online Naturalization Indexes and Records


 * 1820-1906 Index to Declarations and Petitions in the Western District of Pennsylvania, US Circuit and District Courts located in US Naturalization Records Indexes, 1794-1995 database on Ancestry $
 * 1820-1930 Naturalization Petitions of the U.S. District Court, 1820-1930, and Circuit Court, 1820-1911, for the Western District of Pennsylvania on Fold3.com - ($), indexed, National Archives publication M1537, incomplete for all counties
 * 1820-1930 Naturalization Petitions of the U.S. District Court, 1820-1930, and Circuit Court, 1820-1911, for the Western District of Pennsylvania located in Selected US Naturalization Records - Original Documents, 1790-1974 database on Ancestry $
 * 1849-1906 Declarations of Intention - images only; click on the camera icon to view images
 * 1841-1906 Naturalization Docket - images only; click on the camera icon to view images

Newspapers
Newspapers of Clarion County


 * Pennsylvania Newspapers
 * Chronicling America US Newspaper Directory

Online Newspapers

To learn if there are newspapers online for a specific town or city in Pennsylvania, see news.google.com/newspapers and search for the town or the name of a newspaper.

Online Newspaper Abstracts


 * PA-Roots Newspaper Articles for Clarion County.
 * 1947-2010 at FamilySearch

Obituaries
Online Obituary Abstracts


 * Starr, Charles Howard, Recent Deaths, Clarion County, Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania:s.n., 2003?) Digitized version available through FamilySearch catalog entry. Contents include 1946-1949 deaths and obituaries for 1923 from the Clarion Republic, New Bethleham Leader Vindicator and The Clarion Democrat
 * PA-Roots Obituaries for Clarion County.
 * Clarion County Archives Obits at Clarion County, Pennsvylvania USGenWeb Archives

Obituary Excerpts and Abstracts
 * Leader Vindicator (New Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) and Josephine Y. Baggs, Obituaries, ca. 1988 (SLC, Utah, 1991) Obituaries collected by Josephine Y. Baggs in 1989 of people who lived in Armstrong or Jefferson Counties. Arranged alphabetically.
 * Reed, Sally Jordan, Clarion Democrat, Clarion Jacksonian, Clarion Republican, Republican Gazette, Obituaries from the Clarion Democrat (Shippenville, Pennsylvania:S.J. Reed, c2000-2002) ;

Probate Records
Online Probate Indexes and Records
 * 1683-1993 Pennsylvania Wills and Probate Records 1683-1993 at Ancestry $
 * 1683-1994 at FamilySearch
 * 1841-1917 Will Dockets - images only; click on the camera icon to view images; Index included 1840-1981

Social Security Records

 * 1935-2014 at FamilySearch - How to use this collection; index. Also at Ancestry, findmypast, Fold3, GenealogyBank, MyHeritage, and Steve Morse. Click here for more information.
 * 1936-2007 U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 at Ancestry ($) — index, click here for more information.

Birth

 * 1852-1854 Pennsylvania Births Ancestry $
 * 1886-1887 Clarion County Birth Index 1886-1887 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch. Batch

Marriage

 * 1626-2016 Pennsylvania, United States Marriages at FindMyPast
 * 1677 -1950 at FamilySearch
 * 1700-1821 Pennsylvania Marriage Records Ancestry $
 * 1725-1976 index. Not complete for all years. This index is not necessarily intended to index any specific set of records. This index is not complete for any particular place or region. This collection may include information previously published in the International Genealogical Index or Vital Records Index collections.
 * Pre-1810 Pennsylvania Marriages Ancestry $
 * 1852-1854 Pennsylvania Marriages Ancestry $
 * 1885-1950 Extracted marriage records – This database is incomplete for all counties. May also contain marriage records earlier than 1885.

Death

 * 1720-1999 at FamilySearch — index, some images
 * 1850-1880 at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1852-1854 Pennsylvania Deaths Ancestry $
 * 1885-1906 Clarion County Death Index 1885-1906 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch

Divorce
Divorce records are available through the office of the Prothonotary.

Archives
 National Archives at Philadelphia 14700 Townsend Road Philadelphia, PA 19154-1096 Phone: 215-305-2044 Fax: 215-305-2052 Website.

Family History Centers

 * Knox Pennsylvania Family History Center

Libraries

 * Eccles-Lesher Memorial Library 673 Main Street PO Box 359 Rimersburg, PA 16248 (814) 473-3800 website
 * This is a small hometown library located in the rural community of Rimersburg. "A Wealth of Information at Your Fingertips" is their motto. Their library web site includes a burial database with a wealth of cemetery and burial records for Clarion county. Rich info source... often gives parents names, spouse name, sometimes even marriage information.

Societies
Clarion County Historical Society 17 S 5th Avenue Clarion, PA 16214 Phone: 814-226-4450 Email: [mailto:clarionhistory@comcast.net clarionhistory@comcast.net] Website

Websites

 * Clarion County Genealogy &amp; History Web Site (since 1996; USGenWeb)
 * Clarion County PA Genealogy
 * Clarion County Old Photos - over 1000 old photos of people and places in Clarion County.
 * Linkpendium - Clarion County
 * – The FamilySearch catalog contains descriptions and access information for all genealogical materials (including books, online materials, microfilm, microfiche, and publications) in their collection.  Use Historical Records to search for specific individuals in genealogical records.