Research by BCGS Members

research “at” bcgs.us

Members of the Butler County Genealogical Society will do research at the rate of $10.00 per hour plus the cost of copies.. The minimum fee for any research request will be $10.00. The hourly research fee still applies in circumstances where no records can be found relating to the ancestor.

Members of the Research Committee will perform research at the Butler Area Public Library, Butler County Courthouse or any other major source of genealogical information within the county of Butler that is deemed reasonable by the Society. They will not request or review research materials that are available for areas outside of Butler County. This would include materials available at the local Family History Library or online genealogy websites. Digital photographs of cemeteries, tombstones and other local family landmarks may be available depending on the time of year and specific locations of the cemeteries. This photography service will mostly be available May through September. Research requested may take at least 6 weeks to complete based upon the type and depth of research to be done.

Individuals requesting research from the BCGS should be aware of the following records limitations:

* County Birth Records are publicly available for births that took place between the years 1893–1905 & are available in their entirety on our website, www.bcgs.us . The index for the Delayed Birth records of Butler County are also available on our website. We will retrieve copies of these records at the courthouse. Records for births that occurred after 1905 are available from the Pennsylvania Bureau of Vital Statistics and are given only to direct family members. You may find a form to request these records from January 1906 to the present at www.vitalrecs.com .

* County Death Records are publicly available for deaths that occurred between the years 1893 – 1905. Records of deaths that occurred starting in January of 1906 are available from the Pennsylvania Bureau of Vital Statistics and are given only to direct family members. You may find a form to request these records from January 1906 to the present at www.vitalrecs.com/.

* Deeds for land transactions in Butler County are available from 1800 to present.

* Estate records are available from 1800 to the present and the index for these from 1800 through 1910 is available on our website.

* Marriage records are available from 1885 to the present at the County Courthouse. Records of marriages that occurred prior to 1885 are only available through the church where the marriage ceremony was performed. There are a limited number of these records that have survived and are published. The published works are publicly available at the library. These published works will be researched by the committee providing that the religious affiliation of the married couple is known. The Research Committee will not request information from a specific church if their marriage records are not in a published form, however they will provide the postal address of the church if it is requested.

* Naturalization records are available from 1800 to the present. The index from 1800 through 2000 is available on our website.

* The Butler Area Public Library’s Obituary Index holds the names of deceased individuals whose obituary was published in the county newspapers from the 1800’s through 1959. We do have some sporadic indexing from 1960 to the present.

* There is a five volume Cemetery Inventory available for purchase through the Butler County Historical Society and it is also available at the Butler Area Public Library. The Inventories were done in the 1970’s and any burials after that time will not be in the Inventories. The only names that show up in the Inventories are those where a headstone was present at the time of the reading.