Pennsylvania Archives

The Bradford County Historical Society has the complete set of 138 volumes of the Pennsylvania Archives. They are arranged by a first volume set known as the Colonial Records and then nine series of volumes that follow.

  • Colonial Records – 16 volumes covering 1683 to 1790 of various councils that governed the commonwealth. Indexed.
  • First Series – 12 volumes covering 1664 to 1790 and primarily the records of the Secretary of State. Indexed (part of the Colonial Records index).
  • Second Series – 9 volumes covering the period of the Revolutionary War to about 1800 of church records, militia rolls, and the land controversy with Connecticut. Volume XVIII is especially important to Bradford County researchers and those with ancestors involved in the Connecticut settlement and claim to Pennsylvania. The table of contents for this volume:

Minutes of the Susquehanna Company 1-123
An Examination of the Connecticut Claim 125-214
Connecticut Records Examined by Pennsylvania 215-276
The Dutch Records of New Netherland 277-322
Letters from the Pennsylvania Claimants 323-388
Letters from the Secretary of Land Office 389-430
Letters from the Commissioners 431-514
Book of the Fifteen Townships 515-572
Journal of the Commissioners, 1810 573-609
Miscellaneous Papers Relating to the Wyoming Controversy 611-780

Journal of the Commissioners contains the disputes in Ulster Township and vicinity of Bradford County. Many names and dates of settlement are given with accepted or rejected claims.

There is no complete index but some volumes have an individual index and table of contents.

  • Third Series – 30 volumes covering the period before the Revolution to the late 19th century of militia rolls, land warrants, and taxables. Indexed.
  • Fourth Series – 12 volumes pertaining to state governors. Indexed.
  • Fifth Series – 8 volumes containing military rosters before and during the Revolutionary War. Indexed (found in last volume of Sixth Series).
  • Sixth Series – 14 volumes containing some marriage and baptismal records, militia rolls of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, confiscated estates. Indexed (found in Seventh Series).
  • Seventh Series – 5 volumes of indexes to the Sixth Series.
  • Eighth Series – 8 volumes pertaining to pre revolutionary records of the House of Representatives. No index.
  • Ninth Series – 10 volumes pertaining to state governors and their records. No index.

<< Return to What is Available

©2024 Bradford County Historical Society. All Rights Reserved.
Website Design by inCommand Technologies, Inc.