The Clarion Free Library can provide basic information regarding your family through the Library’s Basic Search Program.  The intention of the Basic Search is to assist researchers in their genealogical research of two family surnames.  For a fee of $20.00, for a maximum of two hours of research time, we will check a variety of sources in which information regarding the surnames you have chosen is mostly likely to appear.  The information obtained from these sources will be copied and mailed to you.  You will be billed for the cost of the copies, $0.25 cents per copy, and for the cost of postage and handling, $5.00.  The Basic Search is not intended to be an in-depth study of all the Clarion Free Library’s Local History and Genealogy materials.   For more detailed and lengthy searches, you should contact the Clarion County Historical Society.

Requests for research are answered in the order in which they are received and as time permits. It is possible, therefore, that your request for a Basic Search may not be answered for several weeks.

The Basic Search of the two surnames will include the following sources:

      Caldwell’s Combination Illustrated Atlas of Clarion County, 1877
      Commemorative Biographical Record of Central Pennsylvania, 1898
      History of Clarion County, 1887
      Genealogical and Personal history of the Allegheny Valley, 1913
      Regional county histories and biographical volumes including Armstrong, Venango, Forest
         and Jefferson Counties
       Death and marriage records, 1852-1854, from Pat Steele’s book, Historical Notes Volume 1
           of records copied from the records of the Clarion County Courthouse.
       Obituary Indexes
       Marriage Index for 1868-1889 when completed
       Family genealogies and histories
       Online sources for Clarion County
       Some ship records and emigration information
       DAR Patriotic Index

Basic Search Fees:

First two hours                                     $ 20.00
Hourly rate after first two hours             $ 5.00
 (You will be notified ahead of time if any additional time is likely to occur)

Advance payment is required.  Make check payable to:

Clarion Free Library
P.O. Box 663/644 Main Street
Clarion, PA 16214
e-mail: genealogyhelp@clarionfreelibrary.org
 

For a more detailed list of our Local History Collection click here.
 

If you are looking for specific information, and you do not wish to have a Basic Search completed, the Library can provide a Specific Search to answer your request.  For a fee of  $5.00 we will search one record (marriage, death or census) that is currently available at the Clarion Free Library.  You will be billed for the cost of copies (.10 cents per page for photocopies and .25 per page for microfilm copies) and the cost of postage of handling, $1.00.

Minimum Fee                               $ 5.00
Hourly rate after first hour              $2.50

Advance payment is required.  Make check payable to:

Clarion Free Library
P.O. Box 663/644 Main Street
Clarion, PA 16214
 

The Clarion Free Library has newspapers and Federal U.S. Census records available on microfilm.  To request material from these searches, request a Specific Search for each surname you are seeking.  See the list of complete holdings for Newspapers and Census Records at the library.
 

Genealogy Query Column

The Clarion Free Library will begin to feature in January 2002 a genealogy column in which we print queries submitted by researchers on our web page.  The Web page will be updated quarterly, is available to online visitors.

Queries are printed in the order they are received and exactly as they as they are worded.  The cost of each query is $2.00, up to 50 words excluding your name and address and e-mail address.  Additional words are $.10 each.  We suggest that you use complete sentences with entire words and proper punctuation.

Advance payment is required.  Make check payable to:

Clarion Free Library
P.O. Box 663/644 Main Street
Clarion, PA 16214

Note:  You can also submit a Genealogy Query to be published in the Clarion County Historical Society’s quarterly newsletter, The Iron County Chronicle.  They should be contacted directly for this service at 814-226-4450 or at 18 Grant Street/Clarion, PA 16214.
 

The Clarion Free Library and the Clarion County Historical Society do not maintain a collection of public records (birth, death, marriage, divorce, land or probate) that are stored at the courthouse. The research of public records, therefore, must be conducted at the Clarion County Courthouse.  You can contact Greg Mortimer at the Register Recorder’s Office at 814-226-4000 (ask for his office).

Clarion County was not established by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as a county until 1839.  Prior to that date, the area north of the Clarion River was included in Venango County and the area south of the Clarion River was included in Armstrong County.

Deeds for Clarion County are available at the Courthouse from 1840 to the present.  Some deeds for Armstrong County and Venango County from 1806 to 1840, including the area that is now Clarion County, are also available at the Clarion County Courthouse.

Wills and other estate records for Clarion County from 1840 to the present are available at the Clarion County Courthouse.  For the time period prior to 1840, these records are available at the Armstrong County Courthouse in Kittanning (Market Street/Kittanning, PA 16201/412-543-2500) or the Venango County Courthouse (1174 Elk Street/Franklin, PA 16323/814-432-9539) in Franklin.

Marriage records from September 30, 1885 to present are available at the Clarion County Courthouse.

Birth records for Clarion County from 1893 to 1906 are available at the Courthouse.  For the period following 1906, these records must be obtained from the Division of Vital Statistics, State Department of Health, Central Building, 101 South Mercer Street, P.O. Box 1528, New Castle, PA 16103.  You can visit their web site at : http://www.health.state.pa.us/vitalrecords/
 

The Clarion County Courthouse has a limited number of marriage records and death records from 1852 to 1854.  These records are incomplete.  The information in these records is available at the Clarion County Courthouse.  It is also available in a book by Pat Steele entitled Historical Notes Volume I available at the Clarion Free Library.

The Clarion County Courthouse can be reached at :  Clarion County Courthouse/Main Street/Clarion, PA 16214.  814-226-4000.  Ask for the Register Recorder’s Office.