Officially it is said that this area of S.W. Pennsylvania began to be
settled in the 1770's. But, in fact, some families were in the county before
1750 (such as Arnold and Leatherman - see Dr. Raymond Bell's Anthology).
In 1771, the area was a part of Bedford County.
In 1773, the land became part of Westmoreland County.
Finally, Washington County was created on March
28, 1781 from Westmoreland County. Included was the area lying west of the
Monongahela River and south of the Ohio River. The present day counties of
Washington, Greene and parts of Allegheny and Beaver Co. were included.
There was a dispute over this territory with the state of Virginia. Virginia
claimed this area until 1780. Between 1775-1780 courts were held by Virginia
in the disputed territory.
RECORDS IN WASHINGTON COUNTY, PA
Birth and death
records from 1893-1906.
Marriage records from 1885.
Divorce
& probate from 1843.
Additionally, some early records *might* be
located in the court houses of the previous counties of Bedford and
Westmoreland. Or in Virginia.
WESTWARD MIGRATION
If you have families who moved west, read the
County History in the State and County of residence. The biographical
sketches may state that a person's parents or grandparents migrated from
Washington County, PA. *If you have any of these biographical sketches
from out of State that refer to Washington Co., PA, I would greatly appreciate
it if you would scan it so the record can be added to this website.*
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This is the Washington County PAGenWeb Genealogy Project
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Website updated January 31, 2006; March 5, 2006;
continuously through 2009 and beyond ; See Site
History
To submit material for the website or to report a
broken link, put "Washington PAGenWeb" in
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GCHLace@aol.com ©
2006, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 Judith Ann Florian, all rights reserved. Website is
updated weekly or monthly, as I receive submissions or when I complete a
transcribing project. The materials (files) located on this website are the
property of the webmaster and the contributors. This material is for personal research.
Previous Copyright held by and the site design now used was created by the last county
coordinator, Christina Hunt. History of this website - The first PAGenWeb Washington County PA
coordinator was Jean Suplick Matuson [who also developed Chartiers.com].
Other county coordinators were Georgeann Malowney [who now hosts the Chartiers
site] and Peggy Tebbetts. Each coordinator has contributed much to
the preservation of Washington County genealogical information/history.
This Washington County PA website is a current member of
PAGenWeb and the USGenWeb.
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