Web site:  Pennsylvania Vital Records

Event: Birth

Dates: From January 1906

Cost of copy: $4.00

Comments: Access to birth records in Pennsylvania is restricted to immediate family members and legal representatives (spouse, parent, siblings, children, grandparents, grandchildren). Other family members (cousins, etc.) can obtain a copy of a birth certificate only if the individual is deceased and a copy of the death certificate is submitted with the request. With your request, include as much as you can of the following: the name on the birth record being requested, date of birth, place of birth (city or county), father's full name, (last, first, middle), mothers full name, including her maiden name, your relationship to the person whose certificate is being requested, your purpose for needing the copy, your daytime telephone number with area code, your handwritten signature and complete return mailing address. 
Application for birth record

* For earlier records, write to Register of Wills, Orphans Court, in county seat of county where event occurred. 

* Persons born in Pittsburgh from 1870 to 1905 or in Allegheny City, now part of Pittsburgh, from 1882 to 1905 should write to Office of the Register of Wills for Allegheny County. 

* For events occurring in City of Philadelphia from 1860 to 1915, contact the City of Philadelphia Archives (be sure to ask for a non-certified, genealogy copy).

Comments: Access to death records in Pennsylvania is restricted to family members and legal representatives. With your request, include as much as you can of the following: the name on the death record being requested, date of death, place of death (city or county), your relationship to the person whose certificate is being requested, your purpose for needing the copy, your daytime telephone number with area code, your handwritten signature and complete return mailing address. 
Application for death record

* For earlier records, write to Register of Wills, Orphans Court, in county seat of county where event occurred. 

* Persons who died in Pittsburgh from 1870 to 1905 or in Allegheny City, now part of Pittsburgh, from 1882 to 1905 should write to Office of the Register of Wills for Allegheny County. 

* For events occurring in City of Philadelphia from 1860 to 1915, contact the City of Philadelphia Archives (be sure to ask for a non-certified, genealogy copy).

Dates: Varies

Comments: Send your request to the Marriage License Clerk for the County Court House in the county where the marriage license was issued.

Dates: Varies

Comments: Send your request to the Prothonotary for the County Court House where the divorce decree was granted.

Pennsylvania Adoption Search & Support Resources