Philadelphia vital records (Birth, marriage and death) are held at the Philadelphia City Archives and start in 1860. Compliance in filing the proper reports was low in the earlier years, but you should always check. You may occasionally find reference to a marriage/death (not births) in an earlier newspaper, like the (indexed) Public Ledger (available at the FLP and elsewhere), but they are spotty. Records for the 18th century, and early part of the 19th are difficult to dig up, but they are located, as everyone else has mentioned, in church records, and usually don't contain too much information, other than who the parties were, when and where conducted, and sometimes witnesses. I've occasionally found that a particular minister kept his own lists of marriages, (eg Rev David Denny in Chambersburg, Pa, 1801-1844), but it was a very lucky find. jo ----- Original Message ----- > > Message: 4 > Date: Fri, 4 Jun 2010 15:04:53 EDT > From: Sndtenterprises@aol.com > Subject: Re: [PAPhl] Early Philadelphia records question > To: paphilad@rootsweb.com > Message-ID: <52a6e.29e71262.393aa855@aol.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" > > Philadelphia City Archives has marriage licenses from 1885. > > Sndtenterprises > Genealogical and Historical Research > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 5 > Date: Fri, 4 Jun 2010 15:14:55 -0400 > From: Eugene Stackhouse <genestackhouse@msn.com> > Subject: Re: [PAPhl] Early Philadelphia records question > To: <paphilad@rootsweb.com> > Message-ID: <COL103-W455132FFC9AE07C8017332C6D20@phx.gbl> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > > I believe that Philadelphia records begin 1885 at the city archives. > > I could find no governmental records for my great-grandparents who were married in Philadelphia before the 1870s. > > Gene Stackhouse in Germantown Heights. > > >

I'm curious.... were the records destroyed some how? In many states I have been able to get the marriage license, from the county... even the original consent signed by the parent. Didn't Pennsylvania counties issue licenses to marry in the 1700s? Thank you, Stephanie in Oregon ----- Original Message ----- From: J SCHWARTZ To: paphilad@rootsweb.com Sent: Saturday, June 05, 2010 5:12 PM Subject: Re: [PAPhl] Early Philadelphia records question Philadelphia vital records (Birth, marriage and death) are held at the Philadelphia City Archives and start in 1860. Compliance in filing the proper reports was low in the earlier years, but you should always check. You may occasionally find reference to a marriage/death (not births) in an earlier newspaper, like the (indexed) Public Ledger (available at the FLP and elsewhere), but they are spotty. Records for the 18th century, and early part of the 19th are difficult to dig up, but they are located, as everyone else has mentioned, in church records, and usually don't contain too much information, other than who the parties were, when and where conducted, and sometimes witnesses. I've occasionally found that a particular minister kept his own lists of marriages, (eg Rev David Denny in Chambersburg, Pa, 1801-1844), but it was a very lucky find. jo ----- Original Message ----- > > Message: 4 > Date: Fri, 4 Jun 2010 15:04:53 EDT > From: Sndtenterprises@aol.com > Subject: Re: [PAPhl] Early Philadelphia records question > To: paphilad@rootsweb.com > Message-ID: <52a6e.29e71262.393aa855@aol.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" > > Philadelphia City Archives has marriage licenses from 1885. > > Sndtenterprises > Genealogical and Historical Research > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 5 > Date: Fri, 4 Jun 2010 15:14:55 -0400 > From: Eugene Stackhouse <genestackhouse@msn.com> > Subject: Re: [PAPhl] Early Philadelphia records question > To: <paphilad@rootsweb.com> > Message-ID: <COL103-W455132FFC9AE07C8017332C6D20@phx.gbl> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > > I believe that Philadelphia records begin 1885 at the city archives. > > I could find no governmental records for my great-grandparents who were married in Philadelphia before the 1870s. > > Gene Stackhouse in Germantown Heights. > > > ********* Visit the threaded archives of this list: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/PAPHILAD ********* ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to PAPHILAD-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.5.437 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2920 - Release Date: 06/05/10 18:25:00

Just curious Jo....what denomination? Mary Finley ----- Original Message ----- From: "J SCHWARTZ" <phillysleuth@verizon.net> To: <paphilad@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, June 05, 2010 8:12 PM Subject: Re: [PAPhl] Early Philadelphia records question > I've occasionally found that a particular minister kept his own lists of > marriages, (eg Rev David Denny in Chambersburg, Pa, 1801-1844), but it was > a very lucky find. > > jo

I wrote to a minister married to a former roommate about records, and he said they did indeed keep 2 sets of records - one was the minister's records of his work, that went with the minister, and one was the church's. This was the Reformed Church (formerly German Reformed) which became the Evangelical and Reforned Church I grew up in, and later became part of the United Church of Christ. Elizabeth C Mary Finley wrote: > Just curious Jo....what denomination? > Mary Finley > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "J SCHWARTZ"<phillysleuth@verizon.net> > To:<paphilad@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Saturday, June 05, 2010 8:12 PM > Subject: Re: [PAPhl] Early Philadelphia records question > > > >> I've occasionally found that a particular minister kept his own lists of >> marriages, (eg Rev David Denny in Chambersburg, Pa, 1801-1844), but it was >> a very lucky find. >> >> jo >> >