Westmoreland Co.,

Pennsylvania,

United States

Introduction

Gen Tool-Kit

Surnames

Ancestral Gen-Sites

List Of Localities

Website Resources

Image Gallery

Contact Information

 

Introduction

 

     Westmoreland County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It was founded on February 26, 1773 from part of Bedford County and named for a county in England.  Westmoreland was the first county in the colony of Pennsylvania west of the Allegheny Mountains.

     Westmoreland County originally included the present-day counties of Fayette, Washington, Greene and parts of Beaver, Allegheny, Indiana and Armstrong counties. At the 2000 census, the population was 369,993. The county is part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area, while eastern Westmoreland County borders the Johnstown Metro Area.

     Greensburg[1]., the county seat after 1785, was incorporated as a borough on February 9, 1799 and as a city in 1928. It was named for General Nathanael Greene. The British and Indians burned Hannastown, the original county seat on July 13, 1782.

     Ligonier and Bushy Run were posts licensed by the British Army in 1758, along the Forbes Road, before the full county area was acquired by Pennsylvania

 

 from the Indians in the New Purchase in 1768. At Bushy Run, in 1763, one of the few field engagements against Indians resulted in a British and colonial victory. Robert Hanna and Arthur St. Clair led the move to erect a Pennsylvania county to thwart the extension of Virginia’s political control of the area. Rivalry with Virginia became violent in 1774–1775, but Virginia finally yielded its claim in 1779. This area was also involved in Dunmore’s War and in Indian fighting during the Revolution. Hannastown, burnt by Indians in 1782, was not rebuilt because Greensburg was growing rapidly. The county’s location on both the Forbes and Braddock Roads was vital to the rise of Pittsburgh. Railroads later followed, using approximately the same routes.

     Counties that are adjacent to Westmoreland County are Armstrong County (north), Indiana County (northeast), Cambria County (east), Somerset County (southeast), Fayette County (south), Washington County (southwest), Allegheny County (west), Butler County (northwest).

Westmoreland Co.,

Pennsylvania

Gen Tool-Kit

 

COUNTY RECORDS  :

Westmoreland Co. Register of Wills/Orphan's Court Clerk has Marriage and Probate Records from 1773 and is located at 2 N. Main Street, Suite 301, Greensburg, PA 15601; Ph: 724.830.3177 .

Westmoreland County Recorder of Deeds has Land Records from 1773 and is located at 2 N. Main Street, Suite 503, Greensburg, PA 15601; Ph: 724.830.3518.

Westmoreland County Prothonotary / Clerk of Courts has Court Records from 1773 and is located at 2 N. Main Street, Suite 501, Greensburg, PA 15601; Ph: 724.830.3502. 

 Source: Family History 101 States

 

COUNTY LIBRARY:

Address: 237 South Pennsylvania Avenue
Greensburg, PA 15601-3086
County:
Westmoreland

Phone: 724-837-5620

Connect to: Library Web Site   Online Catalog

Library details: Greensburg-Hempfield Area Library is a Public library.  This library is the central facility for the library system that serves Greensburg, PA.  The collection of the library contains 79157 volumes.

Source: lib-web-cats: Search for Libraries

 

HISTORICAL PLACES:

 

List of Historical Places in Westmoreland County, PA

 

Source: List of National Register of Historic Places

HISTORICAL SOCIETY:

Westmoreland County Historical Society
41 W. Otterman St., Suite 310, Greensburg, PA 15601
(P) 724.836.1800; (F) 724.836.2702;

 (E) [email protected]

Website: Westmoreland County Historical Society

Westmoreland Co.,

Pennsylvania

Surnames

The following are surnames of persons, found within our databases,

as having been either born, married or died in this location.

McVicker; Moreland; Pinnell; Scruggs and allied families

Boyd;   Bracken;   Johnson

Bozarth; Peiffer; Quigley; Rhubart and allied families

 

Dellinger; Knecht; Pfeffer; Silar and allied families

 

To find out more about each surname listed above click on the corresponding LINK.

Additional information regarding these surnames may also be found at:

  Surname Locator Resources

Westmoreland Co.,

Pennsylvania

Ancestral GenSite(s)

 

 

 

 

LOCATION OF IDENTIFIED SITE

 

DIRECTIONS TO IDENTIFIED SITE(s)

 

INTERNET WEB LINK(s)

 

FAMILY HISTORY NOTES(s)

Sarah Mary Wright;  Griffin Johnson;  James Johnson;  James Wright;  William Bracken;  Thomas Bracken

 

(1)   Sarah Mary Wright and Griffin Johnson may have married in 1798 at Westmoreland County, or that portion of the county that became Alleghany County in 1788.

(2)   Griffin Johnson, son of James Johnson was born at Westmoreland County in 1778.

(3)   It is quite probable the nine of the known eleven children of James Johnson were born in Westmoreland County between 1771 and 1782.  The last two were probably born in the same location after Washington county, PA was created out of Westmoreland County, 

(4)     In November 1778, Thomas Bracken, a son of Thomas Bracken (the Immigrant”, removed from York County to Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.  With him at this time  were his second wife, Ann, and there infant son then six weeks old, as well as four children by his first wife, a Miss Kilmary of New Castle County, Delaware, whose first name we do not know.  He took up two tracts of land, one known as "Three Shares" situated on Chartiers Creek near Canonsburg, the other known as "Logan Waters" on Raccoon Creek.  This area became a part of Washington County upon its creation in 1781.  Thomas Bracken died here at Canonsburg in 1803.

At some time after his marriage to Catherine DeMoss, probably around 1768, James moved from either possibly Frederick County, Virginia or Frederick County, Maryland, both of which are separated only by the upper reaches of the Potomac River, up into the wilderness area of  Pennsylvania.   In 1773 this land would become Westmoreland County the first county in Pennsylvania west of the Alleghany Mountains.  Between 1769 and 1784 he and Catherine produced eleven known offspring while living at this location.  During the American Revolution he served in the Army as a Ranger with a unit from Westmoreland County.  James's patriotic service during the Revolution is noted in DAR records.  James has been reported as living in Ohio County, Virginia, (now West Virginia). (Up to 1786 when Virginia terminated county jurisdictions in southwestern Pennsylvania the aforementioned Ohio County was also a part of Westmoreland County Pennsylvania until 1781 when Washington County, Pennsylvania was formed. As such the location of where James Johnson lived while in Westmoreland County would be what is now the southwest corner of Washington County, Pennsylvania.) 

 

 

 

LOCATION OF IDENTIFIED SITE(s)

 

DIRECTIONS TO IDENTIFIED SITE(s)

 

INTERNET WEB LINK(s)

 

FAMILY HISTORY NOTES(s)

 

 

 

 

 

Westmoreland Co.,

Pennsylvania

 

List of Localities

 

The red star in the map at the left designates the

location of the seat of government for this county.

Source: MapQuest

 

The list below will assist in your research regarding the matching of your ancestors birth, marriage, death dates and in what locality of this county these events may have occurred.  Source:  Wikipedia

Cities

 

Boroughs

 

Townships

 

Census-designated places

Westmoreland Co.,

Pennsylvania

Website Resources

The following are links to websites that will provide you with specific

genealogical information to assist with your research for this county.  .

General Resource Sites

 

 

Use the following LINKS to find more information that may pertain to this location.

 

 

Westmoreland Co.,

Pennsylvania

Image Gallery

 

During our research we have collected images and photographs that are of general interest to a variety of localities.  Some of them are presented on this website because we believe they tend to provide the reader with additional information which may aid in the understanding of our ancestors past lives.

Log House at Old Hanna’s Town

 

If you have any photographs or other images relating to this ancestral

 location we would greatly appreciate hearing from you.

Use the following LINK to ascertain whether we have any images that pertain to this location.

ANCESTRAL LOCATION PHOTOGRAPHS and IMAGES

 

Contact Information

Email

Pony Express:

Tom
27 Christopher Dr.
Burton, NB E2V3H4
Canada

Email

Snail mail:

Fred
889 Dante Ct.
Mantua, NJ 08051

USA