Reading, Pennsylvania Deaths, 1873-1905

Description (from source site)

This database indexes nearly 39,000 deaths recorded in the City of Reading only. In 1906, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania took over the recording of all birth and death records in the state. Please note that because in some instances the records are recorded without first names, last name only searches are most likely to produce results. When requesting a record from the Berks County Register of Wills, include the name, year, book volume, page, and line number.

This database is a part of the more than 750,000 records held by the Berks County, Pennsylvania Register of Wills/Clerk of the Orphans' Court whose office is located in the Berks County Services Center in Reading, Pennsylvania. The indexes were compiled by the staff of these offices and volunteers over a period of eight (8) years. The records were typed either from the indexes themselves or, for those records not indexed, from the actual documents.

In 1752 Berks County was formed as the seventh Pennsylvania County, from portions of Philadelphia, Lancaster and Chester Counties. At that time, Berks County included parts of the present counties of Schuylkill, Northumberland, Columbia, Montour, Union, Centre and Lycoming. As more settlers populated the frontier, additional counties were formed and Berks was limited to its present boundaries. For this reason, researchers from Berks and neighboring counties often find traces of their family heritage through Berks County's historical records.

Sources Berks County Pennsylvania Register of Wills City of Reading PA Death Records 1873-1905 Reading PA: Berksregofwills.com [database online].