Source Information

Ancestry.com. Berks County, Pennsylvania Delayed Births [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1999.
Original data: Berks County Pennsylvania Register of Wills. Berks County Pennsylvania Delayed Birth Records. Reading, PA, USA. Berksregofwills.com.

About Berks County, Pennsylvania Delayed Births

Delayed Birth Certificates were authorized by a law passed in the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 1946 to provide proof of birth for persons who were born prior to 1906 and who needed this information in order to apply for benefits under the Social Security Act. This collection of over 4,200 birth records is found in the Berks County Birth Record Volumes with complete copies of the file available on microfiche. When requesting copies, indicate the name, year, volume, page, and line number.

This database represents 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.

To obtain copies of the original records indexed in these records, e-mail your request to "[email protected]" with a list of the records which interest you. You will receive back a listing indicating how much each record will cost. Next, mail a check or money order to the address listed below. In your correspondence, indicate the records you would like to obtain, list your email address, and indicate that you found the records on Ancestry.com. Copies will be forwarded as soon as possible upon receipt of your payment. Your check is not cashed until your order is processed.

Register of Wills

Berks County Courthouse

633 Court Street

2nd Floor

Reading PA, 19601-3581

More information about researching in Berks County is available at www.berksregofwills.com.