Welcome to Philadelphia County

part of the PAGenWeb Project

In 1681, William Penn received a charter from King Charles II of England to start a colony on the Delaware River. In 1682, Penn laid out the first map of Philadelphia County. The map was made up of a grid that consisted of the area from the Delaware to the Schuylkill Rivers to Vine and South Streets (formerly Cedar Street). In 1701, Philadelphia County was chartered as the City of Philadelphia and was re-chartered in 1789. In 1751, part of Philadelphia County became part of Berks County and in 1784 part of Montgomery County. In 1854, all municipal offices within the county consolidated within the City of Philadelphia.

 

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In the links located above, under Resources, you'll find information to aid in your search including lookup aid, query and message boards and Philadelphia History. The Archives section includes a wealth of information, comprised, but not limited to Court Records, Immigration, Land Records, Military Records and Newspaper Articles. Contributions include articles and documents, a cemetery index, family websites, family group sheets, an obituary index and more. These are all the result of volunteer-lead efforts. If you find a broken link or have a contribution, please use our Contact page and let us know.

Thanks, in advance, for helping keep free genealogy on the Internet!