Clearfield County Death Records and Vital Certificates
Clearfield County death records from the early registration period are held at the Register of Wills office on East Market Street in Clearfield, the county seat. The county was formed in 1804 from Lycoming County and sits in central Pennsylvania. Death records covering 1893 through 1905 are on file at the county level, and certified copies of those records are available for just $5 each, well below the $20 state fee. For deaths after 1905, the Pennsylvania Department of Health Division of Vital Statistics in New Castle handles all requests.
Clearfield County Quick Facts
Clearfield County Death Records at the Register of Wills
The Clearfield County Register of Wills and Clerk of Orphans' Court holds birth and death records from 1893 through 1905. Certified copies of these county-held records cost $5 each, which is significantly less than the $20 charged by the state for post-1906 certificates. This lower fee makes the county office a cost-effective option for researchers whose target records fall within the 1893 to 1905 range. Marriage licenses at this office date back to 1885, and estate records go as far as 1832.
The office is located at 230 East Market Street in Clearfield. Researchers should call ahead to confirm current hours and procedures, especially if planning to visit in person. Written requests by mail are also accepted. When submitting a written request, include as much identifying information as possible, such as the full name of the deceased, the approximate year of death, and the township or municipality where the death occurred.
| Office | Clearfield County Register of Wills & Clerk of Orphans' Court 230 East Market Street, Suite 112, Clearfield, PA 16830 Phone: (814) 765-2641 ext. 2126 |
|---|---|
| Hours | Monday–Friday, 8:30 AM–4:30 PM |
| Records | Birth and death records 1893–1905 ($5 certified copy); marriage licenses from 1885 ($50); estates from 1832 |
Note: Certified copies of birth and death records at this county office cost $5 each, compared to the $20 fee charged by the state for records after 1905.
Post-1905 Clearfield County Death Certificates
For deaths that occurred after 1905, Clearfield County records are held by the PA Department of Health Division of Vital Statistics, P.O. Box 1528, New Castle, PA 16103. Requests by mail or through the online portal at mycertificates.health.pa.gov are processed from that office. The fee for a certified copy from the state is $20. The state also accepts orders through VitalChek.
Access to death records less than 50 years old is restricted under Pennsylvania's vital statistics law. Immediate family members and those with a qualifying legal interest may request recent records. For older genealogical records, the Department of Health allows mail requests covering a 10-year date range, with a $25 search fee. The genealogy request page at the Department of Health explains how to submit these requests.
The image below comes from the Clearfield County Register of Wills page.
The Clearfield County Register of Wills maintains death records from 1893 through 1905, with certified copies available for $5 each.
Pennsylvania State Archives Clearfield County Records
The Pennsylvania State Archives in Harrisburg holds death certificates for all Pennsylvania counties, including Clearfield, from 1906 through 1975. Online death indexes allow researchers to search by name and confirm a death before requesting a copy. The Archives is managed by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and provides both online access tools and in-person research services.
For Clearfield County genealogy work, the Archives is the primary resource for twentieth-century death records in the middle decades. The PA Archives partnership with Ancestry.com provides free access to digitized record sets at State Library terminals, which can supplement what researchers find through online search tools.
Clearfield County was formed from Lycoming County in 1804. Researchers tracing lines that predate the county's formation should look at Lycoming County records for the relevant period. Land and probate records from early Lycoming County may contain information about families who later settled in Clearfield County.
Genealogy Resources for Clearfield County Vital Records
Beyond the courthouse and state archives, several online platforms hold indexed or digitized Clearfield County death records. FamilySearch is free to use and includes Pennsylvania death certificate collections spanning much of the twentieth century. Ancestry.com holds digitized death certificate images for many Pennsylvania counties, including Clearfield, as part of its Pennsylvania vital records collection.
Local libraries and genealogical societies in the Clearfield area may also hold cemetery transcriptions, church burial registers, and newspaper obituary files that extend beyond what official vital records capture. These informal records are often the only surviving documentation of deaths in rural townships before 1893.
The State Library research guide on vital records explains the full landscape of available resources and where each type of record is held. The CDC Pennsylvania page provides a brief but useful overview of the certificate ordering process.
The Pennsylvania open records and genealogy access policies govern how Clearfield County death certificates may be requested by family researchers.
Clearfield County death records older than 50 years are available to genealogical researchers under the access rules outlined by the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
Note: The Pennsylvania Vital Statistics Law at 35 P.S. §450.801 governs all access to death certificates in the state, including those for Clearfield County.
Clearfield County Historical Background and Record Context
Clearfield County covers a large area of central Pennsylvania. Its landscape is defined by rivers, forests, and small towns that grew around the lumber and coal industries of the nineteenth century. Population shifts tied to those industries affected how and where people lived and died in the county, and the death records from the 1893 to 1905 period reflect a community in transition from frontier settlement to industrial economy.
Estate records at the Register of Wills going back to 1832 are especially useful for pre-1893 death research. When a person died and left property, an estate file was opened. Those files name heirs, describe assets, and often give the date of death. For the period before formal death registration, estate records are one of the few official sources that can confirm when someone died and who survived them. Clearfield County's estate records from the early decades are well preserved and available for research at the courthouse.
Nearby Counties
Clearfield County neighbors several other central Pennsylvania counties with their own vital records repositories and genealogy collections.