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Pennsylvania Genealogy: Historical Background
Chronology
1643
- First permanent settlement by Swedes on the Delaware.
- William Penn receives Pennsylvania as royal grant.
- Philadelphia chartered as a city.
- The Amish begin settlement in Berks County.
- French establish Fort Duquesne at the forks of the Ohio.
- French and Indian War begins with French and Indians fighting the British.
- French troops retreat and burn Fort Duquesne; British General Forbes occupies area and names it "Pittsbourgh."
- Mason/Dixon Line sets boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland.
- First Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia.
- New state constitution for Pennsylvania.
- Congress establishes Philadelphia as seat of federal government.
- Purchase of "Erie Triangle" to complete present state.
- Uprising against excise tax known as "Whiskey Rebellion."
- New state constitution.
- Pennsylvania counties keep vital statistics records.
- The Civil War Battle of Gettysburg is fought.
- First practical Bessemer steel made at Steelton.
- Pennsylvania Railroad reaches west to Columbus, Ohio.
- New state constitution.
- Railroad riots cause destruction and deaths.
- Marriage license applications begin in county records.
- Births and deaths recorded by counties.
- State records of births and deaths begin.
- State law closes access to original birth records held in the state depository.
