Evolution of Pennsylvania Counties! - Genealogy - http://maxpages.com/simmerssurname/Pennsylvania

Important tool for tracing Pennsylvania Ancestors!
In Pennsylvania, in 1682, there were apparently, 3 counties.
They were, Bucks County, Chester County, & Philadelphia County!

In 1729, there were 4, Bucks CO., Chester CO., Lancaster CO., &
Philadelphia CO.! Lancaster CO. coming from Chester CO.!

In 1752, there were 8 Counties in Pennsylvania! They were:
Bucks, Northampton, Chester, Lancaster, York, Berks, Cumberland,
& Philadelphia!

By 1790, the number of Counties had grown to 21! They were:
Bucks, Northampton, Chester, Lancaster, York, Berks, Cumberland,
& Philadelphia, Luzerne, Mifflin, Montgomery, Northumberland,
Washington, Westmoreland, Allegheny, Bedford, Dauphin, Delaware,
Fayette, Franklin, and Huntindon! Today, there are about 67
Counties in Pennsylvania.

It was possible for a family to have started with an Ancestor who
settled in Chester County, for example, and without ever moving
very far away from the original settling place, have subsequent
generations living in Lancaster County, York County, Berks County,
Cumberland County, Westmoreland County, Allegheny County, Bedford
County, Dauphin County, Lebanon County, Huntingdon County, Cambria
County, and more, clear up to the present day! So, if one knows
which counties can trace their origins back, to which of the 3
Original Counties, the task of following the growth of a particular
family line to Its origins, may become far more simple! To this end,
I have prepared 3 lists, one for each of the original
Pennsylvania Counties, and the year that it became a County!

BUCKS County 1682
(PA Area 1)

1752 Northampton
1772 Northumberland (partial)
1786 Luzerne
1789 Mifflin (partial)
1795 Lycoming
1798 Wayne

1800 Armstrong (partial)
1800 Centre (partial)
1800 Venango (partial)
1800 Warren (partial)
1803 Indiana (partial)
1804 Jefferson
1804 Clearfield (partial)
1804 McKean
1804 Potter
1804 Tioga
1810 Bradford
1810 Susquehanna
1811 Schuylkill (partial)
1812 Lehigh
1813 Columbia (partial)
1813 Union (partial)
1814 Pike
1831 Juniata (partial)
1836 Monroe
1839 Clinton (partial)
1839 Clarion (partial)
1842 Wyoming
1843 Elk (partial)
1843 Carbon
1847 Sullivan
1848 Forest (partial)

1850 Montour
1860 Cameron ( partial)
1878 Lackawana

CHESTER County 1682
(PA Area 2)

1729 Lancaster
1749 York
1750 Cumberland
1752 Berks (partial)
1771 Bedford
1772 Northumberland (partial)
1773 Westmoreland
1781 Washington
1783 Fayette
1784 Franklin
1785 Dauphin
1786 Allegheny
1787 Huntingdon
1789 Delaware
1789 Miflin (partial)
1795 Somerset
1796 Greene

1800 Adams
1800 Armstrong (partial)
1800 Beaver
1800 Butler
1800 Centre (partial)
1800 Crawford
1800 Erie
1800 Mercer
1800 Venango (partial)
1800 Warren (partial)
1803 Indiana (partial)
1804 Cambria
1804 Clearfield (partial)
1811 Schuylkill (partial)
1813 Columbia (partial)
1813 Lebanon
1813 Union (partial)
1820 Perry
1831 Juniata (partial)
1839 Clarion (partial)
1839 Clinton (partial)
1843 Elk (partial)
1846 Blair
1848 Forest (partial)
1849 Lawrence

1850 Fulton
1855 Snyder
1860 Cameron (partial)

PENNSYLVANIA County 1862
(PA Area 3)

1752 Berks (partial)
1772 Northumberland (partial)
1784 Montgomery

1811 Schuylkill (partial)
1813 Union (partial)

NOTE: (partial) means part from more than one AREA! i.e. PA1+PA2,
PA1+PA2+PA3, PA2+PA3, etc. AREA's are original counties!

Disclaimer: "These lists may not be absolutely accurate because
they were prepared without paying strict attention to actual
County or Township boundaries. The intent here is to provide you
with just one more tool (perhaps an important one?), that may help
you to determine a family's whereabouts, or path of migration,
that might otherwise be too confusing to follow! Again, it might
appear that the descendants of an individual have moved from place
to place, when in fact, it was not THEY who moved, but rather the
County name changed, and/or the boundaries moved!" Hint: Always
try to determine, first, the County and State or Territory, that
your ancestor lived in. This will be important when you discover
the numerous instances where the same township names occur from
county to county and state to state. Someone from Fulton, could
be from Illinois, or from Pennsylvania! Someone from Warwick....,
Oh, let's just forget that one!!!

When looking for an ancestor or relative of yours, you should,
always keep in mind, that folks were not quite so likely to move
from place to place, in those days! Farm families, especially,
were likely to stay on the farm, and their offspring were likely
to marry someone from within their community, often moving in
with their family to help out with the farm! Quite often we see,
upon examining Wills, that upon marriage, Offspring were deeded
small plots of Land to farm, together with cows, hogs, and the
like!

Additional factors to consider are, Church denominations, given
name patterns, ethnic makeup of a community, and occupations!
Some of the early settlers, settled on lands that were purchased
or were granted to various Religious denominations. The given
name, "Cristian" might be a male if from Germany, or a female,
if from The British Isles. Many given names in Germany tended
to be "Old Testament" names, while many given names from The
British Isles were often, "New Testament" names! Catholics
tended to wed Catholics, Quakers wed Quakers, Presbyterians
wed Presbyterians, and so on! Miners from England and Wales,
often settled in areas where mining jobs were available! Farmers
seldom settled in Cities, but where there was available land to
farm! A little Logic, can go a long way!

More About PA Counties! PA GenWeb!

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Page Updated Sun Jul 29, 2001 2:44pm EDT