Perry Township follows the Mahoning Creek valley south of Brookville. Historic records often reference the villages of Perrysville (Hamilton), Frostburg, Valier, and Grange, along with smaller mining and rail-side localities.
Tip: When searching, combine township and village names, such as Perrysville, Hamilton, Frostburg, Valier, or Grange, plus your surname to catch items filed under different place names, post offices, and map labels.
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When searching, try combinations like Perry Township, Perrysville, Hamilton, Perry Twp., or simply the village names Frostburg, Valier, and Grange in addition to “Jefferson County, Pennsylvania.”
Perry Township developed along the Mahoning Creek corridor south of Brookville, tied closely to the early round-bottom farms, mills, and later coal and rail development that connected it to Punxsutawney and neighboring townships. Nineteenth-century county histories trace a cluster of early settlers in the Round Bottom and Whitesville neighborhood—families such as Stewart, McBride, Postlethwait, Bell, McHenry, Nolf, Armstrong, Long, Fuller, and Newcome—whose farms and land entries formed the backbone of what became Perry Township.
Later township sketches list early and influential residents including Isaac London, John Van Horn, Thomas Gourley, William Marshall, George Blose, and David and James Hamilton, alongside merchants and civic leaders such as Thomas S. Mitchell and James McCracken. By the mid-1800s, the Mahoning valley supported a network of farms, sawmills, schoolhouses, and churches anchored by the villages of Perrysville (Hamilton), Frostburg, Valier, and Grange.
Jefferson County was created in 1804 from Lycoming County and attached to other counties for court business until it was fully organized in 1830. For families who later lived in Perry Township, that means earlier deeds, tax lists, and court records may appear in several parent counties:
Research strategy: if a record index does not list Perry Township or Jefferson County, search under Lycoming, then Northumberland, and finally the appropriate colonial parent jurisdictions and state-level land-record series.
When an ancestor appears to “move” from Perry Township to a neighboring township or borough, first rule out a township split, annexation, or a change in post office service before assuming a physical relocation.
By the 1880s, Perrysville—later commonly known as Hamilton—served as the principal village of Perry Township. County histories describe two general stores operated by Mitchell & Neel and A. L. Gibson, and two hotels kept by Sharp Neel and George Jordan. With a population of 117 in 1880, Perrysville functioned as the township’s commercial hub, drawing farmers, mill workers, and travelers to its stores, taverns, schoolhouse, and nearby churches. Many families associated with the village—Mitchell, Neel, Jordan, McCracken, and others—also appear in Perry Township tax lists, deeds, and probate files.
Frostburg (historically spelled Frostburgh in some records) developed as a small rural center with a church, school, and nearby burial grounds serving outlying farms. The Frostburg post office and local congregations connected Perry’s interior neighborhoods to the broader county, so families in the surrounding countryside may be indexed in records under either “Perry Township” or simply “Frostburg.” Cemetery and church registers from the Frostburg area are especially important for tracking families who do not appear in borough-level vital records.
The village now known as Valier grew out of an earlier settlement at Whitesville in the Round Bottom of Mahoning Creek. Nineteenth-century descriptions place the Valier post office at Whitesville, and later coal and rail development brought the Valier name into wider use. Because records may reference Whitesville, Round Bottom, or Valier for the same neighborhood, genealogists should search all three place names when working with deeds, tax lists, coal-company papers, and newspaper items tied to this stretch of the Mahoning valley.
Grange developed as a small village focused on church, school, and cemetery life for surrounding farm families. The Grange Church of God and its cemetery appear frequently in obituaries, funeral notices, and local histories, sometimes with the location described simply as “Grange” rather than “Perry Township.” When you encounter Grange in burial registers or church minutes, treat it as a key locality for mapping kinship networks among Perry Township farm families and neighbors living just across adjacent township lines.
Historical summary adapted from Scott (1888), McKnight (1917), the 1878 Caldwell atlas, and Pennsylvania state and county formation guides.
Cemetery names are compiled from township histories, local surveys, and the county cemetery guide. Use the main county cemetery page for exact locations, alternate names, gravestone photographs, and transcription links.
The earliest schools in what became Perry Township grew out of neighborhood efforts near Perrysville (Hamilton) and the Round Bottom settlement. Township histories describe an early log schoolhouse northeast of the village and later one-room schools scattered across the Mahoning valley.
Congregations associated with Perry Township include churches at Frostburg, Grange, Hamilton, and nearby communities, often tied to Methodist, Presbyterian, and other Protestant denominations. Many residents also appear in the church records of Punxsutawney and adjoining townships.
For parish registers or anniversary booklets, contact the Jefferson County Historical Society, local congregations, and denominational archives. Many churches in and around Perry Township published centennial or jubilee histories with member lists, photographs, and pastor rosters.
Perry Township residents received mail through post offices at Hamilton (Perrysville), Frostburg, Valier, Grange, and nearby offices in adjacent townships. Use opening and closing dates of these post offices to explain why a family’s mailing address or “town of residence” shifts between censuses, tax lists, and newspaper notices.
These cards summarize villages, ghost towns, coal patches, and named localities connected to Perry Township. Use them to track families who appear under changing place names across censuses, deeds, tax assessments, church records, coal-company files, and railroad references.
Watch for name changes: the same Mahoning Creek neighborhood may be described as Round Bottom, Whitesville, or Valier, while some coal-era maps mislabel Perrysville/Hamilton as “Perryville.” When in doubt, verify location on historic and modern maps.
Use historic atlases and modern GIS to place Hamilton (Perrysville), Frostburg, Valier, Grange, Fordham, and other Perry Township villages along the Mahoning Creek valley and to track township boundary changes.
Cross-check Perry burials across USGenWeb transcriptions, Find A Grave, and FamilySearch. Watch for Hamilton, Frostburg, Grange, and “Perryville Run” in burial locations.
Deeds, coal leases, and probate files at the courthouse frequently mention Perry Township residents and village names such as Hamilton, Frostburg, and Valier. Use township and village names together when searching indexes.
Newspapers fill gaps between censuses for Perry Township—look for items datelined Hamilton, Frostburg, Valier, Grange, and Punxsutawney. Coal-era reports, mine-inspector records, and military honor rolls also help place families in specific villages and neighborhoods.