Register/Recorder

Bradford County Courthouse
Recorders Office
301 Main St.
Towanda, PA 18848
Phone: 570-265-1702
Fax: 570-265-1721
Hours 9:00 - 5:00   Monday - Friday

Recorder of Deeds
Clerk of the Orphans' Court
Register of Wills

Shirley Rockefeller

Shirley has worked in the Recorder/Register/Clerk of the Orphan's Court Office since 1965, and is presently serving her 6th term. She is married to Richard Rockefeller and they have one son, Randy. She is a member of Leraysville Eastern Star, is a past Matron, Form District Deputy and is presently serving as secretary. She is presently serving her second term as regent of Mach-Wi-Hi-Lusing Dar. She is the first Vice President of the Bradford County Council or Republican Women. She is a member of Pennsylvania Recorder of Deeds Association. She is also a member of the Pennsylvania Register of Wills and Clerk of Orphan' Court Association and is currently serving on the Executive Committee.

Duties:

The Register & Recorders Office records Deeds, Mortgages, Power of Attorneys, Satisfaction Pieces, Oil Leases, Ordinances Assignments and Releases of Mortgages. We do 12,000 plus a year. This is under the Recorder of Deeds Hat.

Under Register of Wills we probate approximately 350 to 400 estates a year. We collect over 2 million dollars in Inheritance Tax. The Register of Wills is part of the Court System and holds hearings on Will contests and anything that is appealed due to probate.

As Recorder of Deeds we are the collection agency for the Department of Revenue for the 1% Realty Transfer Tax on each deed and also the collection agency for the School Districts and Municipalities. We collect over $500,000.00 for the State and School each.

We do Marriage Licenses - about 500 a year. This is done under Orphans Court. Also under Orphans Court are Adoptions, Relinquishments, Settlements and Guardianships.

Everything is open to the Public except Adoptions and Soldiers Discharges.

We have birth and death records that start in 1893 through 1905. We have Marriage records starting in 1885. We do several hundred Genealogy letters each year.

We have our deed and mortgage index on the computer back to 1970. We have scanned several books and are continuing to do the rest. We have scanned the first 12 Marriage license books.

You can search on the computer by name, date, location, parcel number and instrument type.

We sell printouts of deeds and mortgages to several companies.

Our goal is to have all the records scanned on the computer so there will be no more books to handle. It takes time and we work on it each and every minute when our daily work is done.

Turn around time for recording is about 3 days. We receive the instrument, put it on a s soon as it comes across the counter, scan it, proof it, verify it, and then it is returned to whoever brought it in or mailed it in. If the attorney tells you we keep it for 5 to 6 weeks he is pulling your leg.

We invite anyone who is interested to come to our office and ask us to show them around and how to used the computer. We are happy to do it any time.

We also record maps that have been approved by the Bradford County Planning Commission, Asylum Township, Athens Township, and Wyalusing, who have their own planning boards. We record approximately 24 a month.