Berks County

Berks County Atlas

Early Landowners of Pennsylvania: Atlas of Township Warrantee Maps of Berks County


This Berks County atlas contains all of the Township Warrantee Maps which are on file at the Pennsylvania Archives in Harrisburg, thus pinpointing the location of the earliest landowners. Each Township Warrantee Map was painstakingly platted by draftsmen from the original warrants, surveys, and patents. The maps show precise outlines in metes and bounds of each original tract and all surrounding tracts in the township, giving the names of the warrantee and patentee; dates of the warrant, survey, and patent; and the patent and survey books and page of the recorded patent. Please be aware, however, that the state only platted 23 townships, or just over half of the county, before the project came to a halt. Therefore, similar maps from several other sources, although with much less information regarding the tracts, have been added to this volume. The result is that original plats of the earliest landowners of over 75% of the county can be found in this book. Each chapter covers a township, beginning with a warrantee or landowner map (reduced to 8.5 X 11" size) upon which atlas coordinates have been superimposed. Each map is followed by a chart containing all data on each tract in alphabetical order by the warrantee's name, as well as the coordinates where the tract will be found on the township map. The majority of the warrants were issued before the first U.S. census in 1790, but some of the land transactions occur as late as the 1920s.

No maps are included for the following townships: Colebrookdale, Douglass, Hereford, Ontelaunee, Perry, Pike, and Washington. Partial (sometimes very partial) coverage is given for the following townships: Albany, District, Earl, Greenwich, Longswamp, Maidencreek, Windsor, Rockland and Richmond.

The large images (several of which are over 5 feet wide) without coordinates are contained on a companion CD which can be purchased separately or in combination with the atlas. The CD contains only the map images, not the text of the book.

Here is a small section of the Whiteley Township Warrantee Map.



In addition to our Warrantee Atlas, there are several other maps showing the history and landowners of the county. The following is a map showing Berks Co. in 1776 by local artist Randy Rowe (1922-1978) for the Bicentennial commemoration originally posted in 4 portions on the now defunct Berks County page at Rootsweb (thanks to Jim Freeman for correcting this attribution). We have combined the 4 sections and are posting it with John's kind permission. Click on the small image below to see the details--it is a large map so it may take some time to load. it can be enlarged by clicking on the image and then clicking on it again, and it may be saved to your computer by right-clicking and selecting "Save Image As..."


To see where the townships are in relaltion to each other, click here for the 1886 Map of Townships of Berks County from Montgomery.

Next, the 1876 Historical Atlas of Berks County has been posted online at The U.S. Genweb Archives site. And lastly, we are posting images from Map of Berks County from Actual Surveys published by H.S. Bridgens in 1860 which can be used in conjunction with the 1860 census to help pinpoint your ancestors. As always, once you click on an image and it is on your screen, it can be enlarged by clicking on the image, and it may be saved to your computer by right-clicking and selecting "Save Image As..."

1860 Landowner Map
Townships Albany Township
Alsace Township
Amity Township
Bern Township
Bethel Township
Brecknock Township
Caernarvon Township
Centre Township
Colebrookdale Township
Cumru Township
District Township
Douglass Township
Earl Township
Exeter Township
Greenwich Township
Heidelberg Township
Hereford Township
Jefferson Township
Longswamp Township
Lower Heidelberg Township
Maidencreek Township
Marion Township
Maxatawny Township
Muhlenberg Township
North Heidelberg Township
Oley Township
Ontelaunee Township
Penn Township
Perry Township
Pike Township
Richmond Township
Robeson Township
Rockland Township
Ruscombmanor Township
Spring Township
Tulpehocken Township
Union Township
Upper Tulpehocken Township
Upper Bern Township
Washington Township
Windsor Township
Towns and Villages Bernville
Hamburg Borough
Kutztown
Leesport
Reading
Womelsdorf


Finally, we want to draw your attention to the wonderful work by the Berks County Recorder of Deeds. The department has uploaded searchable images of all deeds and mortgages recorded since 1752. The images can be printed or saved as pdf files for a small charge. You will need to set up an account, but after the account is set up you will be able to see all images even if you do not care to print or save them.

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