There was a State Census done for Pa., however, a fire destroyed all the records. There is a Widow's Pension that shows the name of the widow and the husbands name, but I am not sure where to look for those. I hope you don't mind if I reply to this posting even though I didn't send you the information below. I have found my relatives from the Polk's Pittsburgh City Directory which is on Ancestry. That gives you the name and address of the person and his occupation. Very helpful. If you don't have Ancestry your Library might. There is a 1880 Census record and Ancestry has that year indexed. Makes it easier to find a name.You also might hire a researcher to go to the City County Building in Downtown Pittsburgh for birth, marriage, and death research, if you don't know the dates. A relative of mine found alot of info for me, deeds and land transfers. Good luck, Sue ----- Original Message ----- From: <Friend5875@aol.com> To: <PACLARIO-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, October 03, 2004 8:52 PM Subject: Re: [CLARION] Birth records before 1890? > Thank you for the reply. > This is a difficult time frame without the 1890 census. > Were there any State Census done in PA between 1880 and 1900? > Are there other records that might help me locate the Gates family around > 1890? > ................................... > > In a message dated 10/3/2004 5:36:41 PM Pacific Standard Time, > sweeze@zoominternet.net writes: > Birth and Death records were not recorded in the State of PA until 1893 and > are held at the county level through 1905. Starting in 1906, the state has > the records. You can contact them at www.vitalrec.com Marriages are at > the county level from 1885 to the present. > > There is a short time period, 1852-1854 when the state mandated birth, > death, and marriage records be kept, but not everyone abided by it. The > records that exist are in Harrisburg and have been microfilmed by the > LDS. There are a total of 6 films in the series, numbered > 1016403-1016408. The counties are on the microfilm alphabetically. I > know that Butler County is on 1016404 and I think that Lawrence and Mercer > were on 1016406. > > > ==== PACLARIO Mailing List ==== > List suggestions or problems?? > Contact the listowner at <PACLARIO-admin@rootsweb.com> > >