Genealoger

Genealogy Resources

Ohio Genealogy Resources

Ohio was originally part of the Northwest Territory. Its unique history provided a challenging set of land records that include military grants, metes and bounds descriptions, and the township and range grid system in two different measurements.

• Akron-Summit County Public Library. Special Collections. The Special Collections Division houses the library’s collection of genealogy and local history materials.
  
  
• Andrusko, Samuel M.  Der Deutsche Pionier: membership lists (1869-1887) of the Deutschen Pionier-Verein ofCincinnati and branches in Dayton and Toledo (Ohio) and Covington and Newport (Kentucky)with selected additional biographical information from obituaries and biographhies [sic] in theDeutschen Pionier / abstracted, translated, and edited by Samuel M. Andrusko. Washington,D.C. : S.M. Andrusko, c1989.Information includes date and place of birth, year of immigration.
  
  
• Bell, Carol Willsey. Ohio Guide to Genealogical Sources. [Baltimore, Md.]: Genealogical Pub. Co, 1988. This is a very comprehensive guide to the genealogical records and sources in Ohio, written by one of Ohio's foremost genealogists. A variety of information is provided for each of Ohio's eighty-eight counties.
   
• Bowers, Ruth and Anita Short. Gateway to the West. 2 volumes. Baltimore, Maryland: Clearfield Company, 2005, 1967-78. Gateway to the West had a short but spectacular life as a periodical. In slightly more than 10 years, from 1967 to 1978, it managed to cover some of the least accessible yet most important genealogical records of 76 of Ohio's 88 counties. From common pleas court records, guardianships, naturalizations, and deed abstracts to the more conventional births, marriages, deaths, cemetery records, and wills, Gateway offered a range of genealogical source materials unmatched by any other Ohio periodical. At its peak, it had a circulation of nearly 2,000, and when it ceased publication with Volume 11 in 1978, its fame had surpassed even that of the Old Northwest Genealogical Quarterly. For this set, the principal articles, arranged under their respective counties, have been consolidated into two large volumes--each with its own index. Altogether, in some 350 articles naming more than 95,000 persons, in records ranging from Adams County to Wood County, from court records to church records, from township records to cemetery records, the researcher now has permanent access to a priceless body of material.
   
• Clegg, Michael Barren  et al. Ohio Newspaper Abstracts Series, Volumes 1-5. Decorah, Iowa: Anudsen Publishing Co., 1981-1987.
   
• Cleveland Necrology File. This database was produced from a microfilmed copy of an alphabetical card file containing local cemetery records and newspaper death notices gathered by the staff of the Cleveland Public Library. A small collection of records from the Cleveland Bureau of Vital Statistics and some indexed items from the Annals of Cleveland were also part of the original card file and are also included in the database. The newspaper source material consists of paid notices which were published in the following newspapers: Cleveland Plain Dealer, 1850-1975, the Cleveland Herald, 1833, 1847-1848, 1876, 1878-1879 and the Cleveland Press, August 16, 1941 - 1975.
  
  
• Cleveland, Ohio Press, 1878-1982.  Comprised of hundreds of thousands of clippings and photographs, The Cleveland Press Collection is the former editorial library, or "morgue," of The Cleveland Press and is now part of Cleveland State University Library's Special Collections. The last of Cleveland's daily afternoon newspapers, The Cleveland Press was published from 1878 until 1982.
  
  
• Columbus Memory. Columbus Memory is a collaborative project between the Columbus Metropolitan Library and the Columbus Historical Society providing access to thousands of images, primary documents, maps and artifacts about Columbus, Ohio.
   
• Cuyahoga County, Ohio Recorder has images of deed records.
  
  
• Early Ohio Settlers. Genealogical Pub Co, 2008. This collection of Ohio genealogical records refers to approximately 165,000 individuals and contains everything from vital records to the biographies that help bring your Ohio research to life. Based on marriage records, cemetery inscriptions, genealogies, censuses, biographical sketches, tax lists, newspaper abstracts, and vital records, it is the epitome of traditional genealogical source records. Not surprisingly, many of these records date from as early as 1787.
   
• The Fleshman Files. Grave transcriptions from some Ohio cemeteries: Green Lawn Cemetery Columbus, Ohio; Obetz Cemetery    Columbus, Ohio; Oak Grove Cemetery Delaware, Ohio; and Wesleyan Cemetery Cincinnati, OH 
  
  
• Gagel, Diane VanSkiver. Research in Ohio. Arlington, Va: National Genealogical Society, 2008.
   
• Gutgesell, Stephen, editor. Guide to Ohio Newspapers, 1793-1973. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio Historical Society, 1974.
  
  

• Hamilton County, Ohio Probate Court.
  

• Hanna, Charles A. Historical Collections of Harrison County, in the State of Ohio. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2004, 1900. Incorporating Hanna's smaller work, Ohio Valley Genealogies, along with lists of first landowners, early marriages (to 1841), will records (to 1861), and burial records, this book is the premier reference work on the Ohio Valley. Concerned chiefly with a record of names and events, it bears reference to upwards of 50,000 pioneers, most of them Pennsylvanians and Revolutionary War bounty holders who ventured into this region of eastern Ohio.
   
• Koffroth, Willis Adrian and Linda Thompson. Voices from the River. Manhattan Beach, California: The author.
   
• Miami Valley Genealogical Index.
  
  
• Obituary Index. The Rutheford B. Hayes Presidential Center offers an Ohio Obituary Index with more than 1,200,000 indexed obituaries. Other newspaper items are in the index, including wills and estates and marriage notices, and more. Dates range from 1810 to the present.
   
• Ohio Biographies Project. In May of 1997, this project was organized by Jeff Murphy, using the established  KY  Biographies Project as a model.
  
  
• Ohio Births and Christenings, 1821-1962 – Name index to birth, baptism and christening records from the state of Ohio. FamilySearch.
  
  
• Ohio, County Births, 1841-2003. Citing Probate Courts in Ohio. Ohio, county birth records. Courthouses in Ohio. FamilySearch.
  
  
• Ohio County Marriages, 1790-1950 – Name index and images of county marriage records acquired from local courthouses. FamilySearch.
  
  
• Ohio, County Naturalization Records, 1800-1977. Images of naturalization records from county courthouses in Ohio. The record content and time period varies by county, though most content falls between 1818 and 1954. FamilySearch.
  
  
• Ohio, Crawford County Obituaries, 1860-2004. Obituary file from the Crawford County Genealogical Society in Galion, Ohio. FamilySearch.
  
  
• Ohio, Cuyahoga County Probate Files, 1813-1917. – Browsable imaged records – not indexed yet – Probate case files from the Cuyahoga County Courthouse in Cleveland. The files are arranged by docket number, case number and date. FamilySearch.
  
  
• Ohio, Cuyahoga County Records, 1880-1950. Birth affidavits, delayed births and corrections, and voter registration from the Cuyahoga County courthouse in Cleveland. This collection is being published as images become available. FamilySearch.
   
• Ohio, Death Index, 1908-1932, 1938-1944, and 1958-2007. This database indexes Death Certificates of persons that died in Ohio in the above years, useful for determining date of death and certificate number. FamilySearch.
  
  
• Ohio Deaths and Burials, 1854-1997 – Name index to death and burial records from the state of Ohio. FamilySearch.
  
  
• Ohio Deaths, 1908-1953 – Imaged Records – Name index and images of Ohio statewide death certificates. FamilySearch.
  
  
• Ohio, Diocese of Toledo, Catholic Parish Records, 1796-2004 -Browsable Imaged Records, Currently not indexed – Baptism Records are included. Images of parish registers recording the events of baptism, first communion, confirmation, marriage, and death in the Diocese of Toledo (Ohio), Roman Catholic Church. In addition to traditional parish registers, this collection includes miscellaneous cemetery records, Books of the Elect, Professions of Faith, Sick Call registers, etc. The following counties are found in the database: Allen, Crawford. Defiance. Erie, Fulton, Hancock, Henry, Huron, Lucas, Ottawa, Paulding, Putnam, Richland, Sandusky, Seneca, Van Wert, Williams, Wood, and Wyandot. FamilySearch.
   
• Ohio Genealogical Society.  The Ohio Genealogical Society is the largest state genealogical society in the United States.
   
• Ohio GenWeb Project.
   
• The Ohio Historical Society Archives/Library -- Online Collection Catalog. The Ohio Historical Society's Online Collection Catalog allows you to search the records of more than 230,000 items in the Society's library, newspaper, manuscript, audiovisual, state archives, history, natural history, and archaeology collections.
   
• Ohio Historical Society Research Tools.
  
  
• Ohio, Jefferson County Court Records, 1797-1940. Birth and probate records from Jefferson County, Ohio. This collection is being published as images become available. An index is being created in cooperation with the Jefferson County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society and will be published as it becomes available. Contact the county courthouse to get the case number for a deceased person. FamilySearch.
   
• Ohio Land and Tax Records, 1787-1840 [CD]  Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Co. contains the following five publications, all linked by a single electronic name index and a unique search engine. Your Ohio research starts here! *Early Ohio Settlers: Purchasers of Land in Southwestern Ohio, 1800-1840, by Ellen T. Berry and David A. Berry; *Early Ohio Settlers: Purchasers of Land in East and East Central Ohio, 1800-1840, by Ellen T. Berry and David A. Berry; *Early Ohio Settlers: Purchasers of Land in Southeastern Ohio, 1800-1840, by Ellen T. Berry and David A. Berry; *Early Ohio Tax Records, by Esther Weygant Powell; and *First Ownership of Ohio Lands, by Albion M. Dyer.
  
  
• Ohio Marriages 1800-1958 - Name index to marriage records from the state of Ohio - 4,740,284 records after 14 May, 2010. FamilySearch.org.
   
• Ohio - Meigs County Deaths. This collection of Meigs County death records was extracted from microfilm of the original public records (LDS film #313469) by Sharon Bickle Rickerson and Merry Anne Pierson, and appears here by their gracious permission. It contains approximately 970 deaths from the years 1866-1908.
   
• Ohio - Meigs County Death Index. This index of Meigs County death certificates was extracted from the online index at the Ohio Historical Society. The index is an ongoing project of the Ohio Vital Information for Libraries Center (OVIL), and this extract is published here with their kind permission. This extract includes approximately 8100 deaths from the years 1913-1937.
  
  
• Ohio, Montgomery County, Probate Estate Files, 1850-1900. Images of probate estate files from the Montgomery County Records Center and Archive in Dayton, Ohio. Usually the files are chronological and have a case file number. This collection is being published as images become available. FamilySearch.
   
• Ohio Obituary Index. Obituaries, death and marriage notices, and other sources; 1830s to present.
  
  
• Ohio, Probate Records, 1789-1996. Probate records and estate files from county courthouses in Ohio. The content and time period varies by county. FamilySearch.
  
  
• Ohio, Scioto County Recorder 1885-1887. Images of records from the Scioto County Recorders Office which include land records and military discharges. This collection is being published as images become available. FamilySearch.
  
  
• Ohio, Stark County Coroner's Records, 1890-2002. Images of Coroner's Inquest books, reports, and case files from the courthouse in Canton, Ohio. This collection is being published as images become available. FamilySearch.
  
  
• Ohio, Stark County Court Records, 1809-1917. Court of Common Pleas Records located at the Stark County Record Center in Canton, Ohio.This collection is being published as images become available. FamilySearch.
  
  
• Ohio, Stark County Probate Records, 1886-1921. Images of probate records from the Stark County Records Center in Canton, Ohio. This collection is being published as images become available. FamilySearch.
  
  
• Ohio, Summit County, Coroner Inquests, Hospital and Cemetery Records, 1882-1947. This collection contains the following records for the listed institutions: Admittance cards, 1915-1947 and employment cards, 1915-1940 of the Edwin Shaw Hospital; burial permits, 1915-1947 of the Briar Hill Cemetery and coroner's inquest books, 1882-1922 for Summit county. This collection is being published as images become available. FamilySearch.
   
• Ohio Surname Index, 1700s-1800s. Compiled by the Ohio Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Microfilm of card index, now located at the Ohio Historical Society, Columbus, Ohio (1984). Arranged alphabetically by surname. Film at FHL library, 64 rolls beginning with FHL film #398201.
  
  
• Ohio Tax Records 1800-1850 – (FamilySearch) Imaged Records – This project was indexed in partnership with the Ohio Genealogical Society. Name index of tax records as recorded with the County Auditor of each county. Includes the following Ohio counties: Ashtabula, Belmont, Carroll, Columbiana, Guernsey, Harrison, Jackson, Jefferson, Monroe, Trumbull and Washington. The majority of the tax records in this collection are for the years 1816 through 1838.
   
• Peden, Henry C. More Marylanders to Ohio and Indiana: Migration Prior to 1835. Lewes, Delaware: Colonial Roots, 2006.
   
• Pioneer Migration Routes Through Ohio.
   
• Powell, Esther Weygandt. Early Ohio Tax Records. Reprinted with The Index to Early Ohio Tax Records. 2 volumes in 1. Reprinted Baltimore, Maryland: Clearfield Co., 2005, 1971, 1973. This work presents a county-by-county list of Ohio settlers and residents from about 1800 to 1824.
   
• Revolutionary War Pensioners Living in the State of Ohio in 1818-1819. Includes veterans from other states.
   
• Sperry, Kip. Genealogical Research in Ohio. 2nd edition. 2003. Reprint: Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2006.
   
• Sperry, Kip. Kirtland Ohio: A Guide to Family History and Historical Sources. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, 2005. Kirtland, Ohio, served as headquarters for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the early nineteenth century and has a rich history belying the town's small size. In this book, Sperry has compiled a wealth of resources -- historical background, a chronology of events, and helpful sources of information.
  
  
• Stark County, Ohio Probate Court, provides searchable indexes for estate, marriage, and guardianship records (select case search).  Information from these indexes may be used to make online requests for document copies through the Genealogy Department of the Stark County District Library.. Despite the court's disclaimer, many early marriage records are indexed.
  
  
• The Stark County [Ohio] Recorder's office has real estate indexes and images back to 1809 (select archive search). A free account must be established to use the site's features.
   
• Summit County Clerk of Courts - Naturalization Search.
  
  
• Tuscarawas County, Ohio Connections: Ancestor Charts from Across the United States, Each Touching Tuscarawas County, Ohio. New Philadelphia, OH: Tuscarawas County Genealogical Society, 1982.
   
• Virginia Military District Lands of Ohio; Indexes (1787-1871). Microfilm of index and original records at the State Auditor's Office in Columbus, Ohio (1958). The Index to entrymen gives name of soldier or heirs, entry number, warrant number of soldier's claim, book and page number wherein found, acreage. Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1995, 1958, 33 rolls, beginning with FHL film #2022655.