Indices available online
Governor Tom Corbett recently signed into law SB-361, which allows for public access to birth certificates over 105 years old and death certificates over 50 years old. Following what is now known as Act 110 Public Records, the state has posted its indices for the appropriate years: 1906 for birth records and 1906-1961 for death records. You can access these indices at the Pennsylvania Department of Health website.
Birth records
Since state-wide record-keeping only began in 1906 and we have to wait 105 years after the birth to view the records, 1906 is the only year available. More will be added in a rolling process as time goes on. The records are PDF files, but are not searchable electronically. Once the file downloads, you select the appropriate letter for the surname you are searching. It is easy to locate the alphabetical listing of the surname – just remember to try all the various spellings! Occasionally, in addition to or instead of a first name, you will see the initials “S.B.” This is for stillborn. The name in the second column is the child’s mother’s maiden name. The number preceding the birth date is a number equivalent to one of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties, designated alphabetically. For a list of PA Counties, click here. Also included in the birth record is the municipality of the birth within the county.
Death records
Locating your ancestors in the death records is a little more challenging. There is a wealth of information in these indices as over fifty years are posted. Different formats are present in different years and it becomes quite confusing once you hit 1920. Up until then the format is similar to the one used in the birth records. From 1920-1924 and 1930-1951, the Russell Soundex System is used to arrange the records. There is some inconsistency among the various years’ collections, so you will have to feel your way as you navigate each year. In the later records, the deceased’s age is provided in the column of numbers closest to the name. The column of numbers before the death date further clarifies the location after the municipality designation just preceding it. The Department of Health does not provide a legend explaining what those numbers beyond the 67 counties translate to.
The Russell Soundex System
This system is an algorithm for classifying surnames to cover slight differences in spelling of names that sound similarly as spoken. It is for classifying consonants, no vowels are coded. It consists of one letter following by three numbers. The letter is the first letter of the surname. To determine the 3-digit code that follows, use this table:
- 1 – B, F, P, V
- 2 – C, G, J, K, Q, S, X, Z
- 3 – D, T
- 4 – L
- 5 – M, N
- 6 – R
- 7 – No consonants
Disregard the consonts H, W, and Y and the vowels A, E, I, O, and U. If two of the same key letters appear together, treat is as one. A key letter when it is the same as the INITIAL letter should be discarded when coding. When there are no more key letters to code, use zeros to complete the number. Here are some examples:
Crossley – C624 (CRSL)
Stephens – S315 (STPN)
Zimmerman – Z565 (ZMRM)
Scklar – S640 (SLR_)
Use this link to further understand the Russell Soundex System.
Great finds!
In one afternoon, I finally was able to determine the death date for my husband’s great-grandmother (Kathryn Swisher Crossley of previous article on unearthing family photos fame). I knew she died between 1910 and 1920 from census records. The death record indices show her dying in Lycoming County on 02 Sep 1913. Now that I have her death date and the state file number, I can request her uncertified death record for $3 from the state. A link to the downloadable application is available on the site designated above.
Pennsylvania has joined numerous other states that have provided this information to researchers online. We are eagerly awaiting the transcription and online searchability of these records!
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