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Research Sites in Montour
County 
The MCGS Genealogy Room
is located on
the second floor of the Thomas Beaver Free Library,
205 Ferry Street, Danville, PA. The library is at the corner of Market and Ferry
Streets in Danville. The entrance is on the Ferry Street side. Turn
right after entering and take the stairs to the second floor. We are at
the end of the hall to the left. An elevator is also available. Phone: (570) 275-6177 (Please call during
open hours. We cannot return long-distance calls). For
questions, contact
Cindy Elder via e-mail.
Regular Hours
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Mondays
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1:00 PM to 5:00 PM
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Saturdays
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11:00 AM to 1:30 PM
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Additional hours may be available by prior arrangement. If you are
planning a visit to Danville and would like to make arrangements to visit the
Genealogy Room to do research, please contact the
webmaster,
Cindy Elder, prior to your visit. If staffing is available we will try to
accommodate you within the open hours of the Thomas Beaver Free Library.
A partial list of some helpful resources you'll find at MCGS:
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Cemetery lists
(including some plot maps) of almost all Montour County Cemeteries
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Census images for 1790-1930,
immigration and military information available
via Ancestry.com on MCGS computers.
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Church records (See Church Files page to see if we have what you want).
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County History Books: Beers,
Battle, Freeze, Floyd etc.
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Deed Index: Montour County
Grantor index 1850 through 1958. (You can plan your trip to the courthouse
by finding out what's available).
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Danville and other local
histories.
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Deaths & Marriages reported
in the Danville Intelligencer 1828-1879. For information on
requesting a search and obtaining relevant copies, please
click here.
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Ethnic Collections:
Welsh, Jewish.
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Genealogies in binders,
files, Family Tree Maker and bound format.
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History of Pennsylvania
Volunteers by Samuel Bates, Pennsylvania German Pioneers by
Strassberger & Hinke.
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Microfiche: Montour
County Naturalizations, Marriages 1852-1854, Deaths 1852-1854, Book
titled "Pleas Entered & Enrolled by William Montgomery, Justice of the Peace for
the county of Northumberland (1797-1805).
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Microfilm listed below:
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Church records: Several reels
of church records outlined on church record page.
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Newspapers:
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The Gem 1885-1903
The Danville Intelligencer
1828-1898 and 1904-1907 (marriage and death notices have been
printed, extracted and compiled into a database). There are some time
periods missing; for example there are no issues between 22 Nov 1861 to 06 Sep
1872 and 03 Sep 1875 to 06 April 1877.
The Danville News from 1956
through 2008
Montour American 1871-1897,
1903-1910
The Morning News
September 1898-1930
The Sun 1883-1899
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Columbia County:
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Columbia Co. Naturalizations
1814-1847
Columbia County Orphans Court
Dockets 1814-1869
Columbia Co. Tax Assessments
1814-1840
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Montour County:
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Montour County Birth Register
1892-1905.
Montour County Common
Pleas Dockets 1850-1888.
Montour County Death Register
1893-1905.
Montour County Marriage
License Index 1885-1909.
Montour County Marriage
licenses 1885-1909.
Montour County Orphan's Court
Dockets 1851-1865.
Montour County Special
Delayed Birth Registration Index, Volumes 1-3.
Montour County WW I Draft
Registrations.
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Northumberland County:
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Northumberland County
mortgages, wills and administrations 1773-1833.
Northumberland County Deed
Books 1770-1836
Northumberland County Grantor
and Grantee Indexes 1772-1914.
Northumberland County Orphans
Court Indexes 1727-1930.
Northumberland County Orphans
Court Dockets 1772-1813.
Northumberland County Will
Indexes 1792-1930.
Northumberland County Wills
1772-1871.
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Naturalizations: All
Montour County Naturalization documents from 1850 through 1956 are indexed and
available on microfiche.
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Obituaries: Database includes
primary information; newspaper clipping on file.
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Photographs
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City Directories,
yearbooks, scrapbooks.
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Surname files:
Files of contributed genealogies and related documents referenced by surname.
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Will Indexes: Montour
County Will Book Index 1850-1963, Northumberland County Vol. I (1772-1858)
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Donating Materials to MCGS
Our
collection continues to grow through the generosity of many helpful individuals. We
welcome donations of books, resources, genealogies, histories, anything related
to genealogy. If you are planning to send us anything, it would be helpful
to include a completed and signed accession form.
Click here for printable accession form.
You may wish to exclude living persons from your genealogical information.
If you include data regarding living individuals, please be sure you have
permission of those persons to do so. We respect your privacy.
Using the Genealogy Room
The
fee for individuals to perform their own research in the Genealogy Room is $2.00 an hour for
non-members and no charge for members.
Research Request
If you are unable to travel to
Danville, our volunteer staff is willing to
perform research in the MCGS Genealogy Room, the Thomas
Beaver Library and the Montour County Courthouse for a fee (Fee schedule is on
the research request). Please send a
written request (click here for a printable form)
with specific details and appropriate deposit to:
Correspondence Secretary
Montour County
Genealogical Society
205 Ferry Street
Danville, PA 17821
If there are any questions regarding a research request,
you may contact Cindy
Elder via e-mail.
The
Thomas Beaver Free Library
located at the corner of East Market & Ferry Streets,
Danville, PA.
(570) 275-4180
Day
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Hours
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Monday
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1:00 PM-8:00 PM
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Tuesday
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10:30 AM-5:00 PM
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Wednesday
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11:00 AM-5:00 PM
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Thursday
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10:30 AM-8:00 PM
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Friday
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Noon -5:00 PM
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Saturday
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11:00 AM-3:00 PM
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Library
holdings of interest to genealogists are:
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Various genealogies
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City Directories for various dates between 1898 and 1989
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County Histories
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Military References
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Danville Histories
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WPA Microfilm
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Maps & Atlases
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Danville Newspapers on microfilm
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The
Montour County Historical Society
is located in the Montgomery House
Museum at the corner of Bloom and Mill Streets, Danville. This beautifully
restored home of William Montgomery holds various local artifacts. A small
library contains local and county histories, some industrial record books,
business and law ledgers, military references, photographs, some Danville Tax
Records, and maps. The building is open to visitors on Sundays from 2:00-4:00 PM
from Memorial Day until the first Sunday in October, as well as during the Iron
Heritage Festival. To schedule visits during other hours, please contact the
curator in writing.
Montour County Historical Society, P.O. Box 8, 1 Mill
St., Danville, PA 17821
http://montourcountyhistoricalsociety.org/
Call for
appointment:
275-7875
or 275-0383
or e-mail Lynn Reichen at
MCHS17821@aol.com
The
Montour County Courthouse
is located at 29 Mill Street, Danville. Public records of
interest to genealogists can be found in the
Prothonotary's Office, the Register & Recorder’s Office,
and in the Commissioner’s Vault in the basement.
Please check the notations below in regard to dates for which documents are
available at this site. Note: MCGS has a copy of the
Montour County Will Book Index 1850-1963, so that you can plan ahead for your
courthouse research trip! Copies are 50¢ each.
1766-1813: Records will be in Northumberland Co.
1813-1850: Records will be in Columbia Co. (At this time,
Danville was the county seat of Columbia Co.)
1850 to present: Records will be in Montour County.
Prothonotary’s
Office (570) 271-3010
· Birth records from 1892-1905
(After 1905 birth records are at the PA Department of Health.) Make sure to ask for complete record, not just
the birth certificate or death certificate. There is a link to the Dept.
of Health on the Links page.
Their site gives full information about requirements for requesting birth or
death records and printable forms for your use.
· Death Records-1852-1854 & 1893-1905
(After 1905, the death records are in the
PA Department of Health). The death record lists where the parents lived,
where they were born, doctor’s name and cause of death).
· Sheriff Sales
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Marriage Licenses 1852-1854 & 1885 to present
· JP Docket for 1798-1805 (includes some early
marriage licenses).
· Money Judgment records (for borrowing money, good
to place person in Montour Co.)
· Naturalizations 1850-1950 (may tell where person
came from, ship, & signature). If husband/father was naturalized, most likely
wife and children were too, but they are not listed on form. If child came with
someone other than parent, then he must be naturalized. These records are found
in the Little Common Pleas Docket.
· Clerk of Orphans’ Court Records. This court
protects people who can’t protect themselves. Guardianship for children,
adoption papers (sealed in PA) and First and Final filings in estate cases.
· Civil records. Lawsuits 1850-present. Old
divorce records, filed by name.
· Criminal records. These list all criminal
proceedings and coroner’s inquest hearings. Included are all coroners’ reports
on unattended deaths and also deaths, which resulted from suspected foul play.
· Old Land Grant Docket that came from the Surveyor
General’s Office in Harrisburg. Lists old land grants from the county, some as
early as 1756.
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Old articles of incorporations for businesses and organizations
Three maps can also be viewed:
1831 Hand-drawn map
1857 map, drawn to scale
1876 Atlas of
Columbia/Montour County
Register and Recorder’s Office (570) 271-3012
 The will book
index 1850-1963 is available in the MCGS Genealogy room and is now available
online at the Montour County website at
www.montourco.org. Please refer to directions on the site as to how to
obtain copies of an estate.
· Will Dockets which list wills, estates and
letters of administration from 1850 to present on microfiche.
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Deeds and Mortgages from 1850 to present
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WPA cemetery records. (Veterans grave sites only)
Commissioners’
vault in basement contains old tax records.
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