In PA, marriage licenses were mandated to be kept from the year 1885 to the present. They are still held in the county courthouse where the people applied for the license. But, they could thake that license to any county in the state and be married. It would still be registered in the county where they applied for the license. The state had a great idea when it mandated marriage, birth, and death records be kept in 1852. But for some reason, people really fought this and in some areas not many were kept. The practice was stopped in 1854. The LDS has all these records on microfilm and the originals are in Harrisburg, although it seems they won't always admit that they're there. The state mandated birth and death records be kept and are held at the county level for the years 1893 through 1905. Starting in January of 1906, the state started keeping the birth and death records. www.vitalrecs.com except for Erie, Scranton, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh ( I think). I know there are four places where birth and death records are held at a local level.