Orphans' Court Record Search

Orphans' Court Record Search

Welcome to the online Orphans' Court record search.  This feature permits free access to public Orphans' Court index and case docketing dating back to 1800. Available records include formal and informal accounts,  trusts, small estate settlements, and marriage applications.  Adoptions, gestational births, and termination of parental rights are NOT public record and therefore are not included online. Birth and death records after 1905 are recorded at Vital Records in New Castle, PA and are not on file at the courthouse. 

Family Search

Visit www.familysearch.org and click search for the following case information.

Marriage Dockets                 1885 - 1950

Orphans' Court Docket        1800 - 1853

General index to Orphans' Court records

Ancestry

Visit www.ancestry.com for marriages prior to 1973. Pennsylvania residence may search for free using this link only.  Otherwise, you must create and pay for an account.  

Marriage Dockets                 1852 - 1945

Birth Records                       1852 - 1854

Death Records                     1852 - 1854

Online Services

Visit our online web portal for records from 1978 to present.

Marriage and Orphans'       1978 - present 

For further advice on where you might continue to search, contact the Adams County Historical Society.  For records prior to 1800, contact York County Historical Society.

The Pennsylvania Historical Museum Commission has digitized most of the physical case records from Adams County Clerk of Courts and made them available online, View Records

 

Resources

Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission
350 North Street Harrisburg PA 17120    
717-783-3281
www.phmc.state.pa.us

Department of Vital Records
PO BOX 1528
NEW CASTLE, PA 16103
724-656-3100 
www.health.pa.gov/vital-records


You may also complete the Written Request for Access to Case Records and send it to our office with the appropriate fee and a self-addressed stamped envelope.