Early Landowners of Centre Township, Berks County, PA (pdf download)

This chapter is based on a working draft in pencil of a Township Warrantee Map of Centre Township that was never finished by the Pennsylvania Land Office, probably in the 1950s. We physically looked up all of the surveys in the Pennsylvania State Archives, the Berks and Lancaster County Warrant Registers, and sometimes the Patent Registers to provide the names of the warrantee and patentee; size of the tract; patent and survey book references; and location.  This is the first time this information has been published (2020).  Since Berks County was carved from Lancaster and Philadelphia Counties, warrants dated before 1752 are found in the Lancaster or Philadelphia County Warrant Registers while those dated from the formation in the county in t752 are in the Berks County Warrant Register.  Three maps show the metes-and-bound outlines of each tract and the first owners of each tract who received their land directly from the Penn family or from the state.  Using the survey book information, you can see the original surveys online. We also added copious footnotes that give additional details for these owners, especially concerning overlapping tracts.  Most of these land conveyances cover about 1732-1790 with a few outside that scope. Once the land was transferred from the government to private individuals, all subsequent sales were recorded in the Berks County Courthouse.