Clark County, Ohio

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Revision as of 19:34, 15 March 2013

	Ohio Online Records

Clark County, Ohio
Map
Location of Ohio in the U.S.
Courthouse
Address	Clark County Courthouse 101 N. Limestone St. Springfield, Ohio 45502 Clark County Website Phone: 937.328.2458

Historical Facts

• Parent Counties: Formed from Champaign, Greene and Madison counties 26 December 1817.^[1]
  
• County Seat: Springfield
• Neighboring Counties: Clark County, Ohio residents may also have records in Champaign (north) · Greene (south) · Madison (east)  · Montgomery (southwest) · Miami (west). ^[2]

Boundary Changes

See an interactive map of Clark County boundary changes.

Record Loss

Resources

Bible Records

Biography

Business Records and Commerce

Cemeteries

• Ferncliff Cemetery. By far, the largest cemetery in Springfield. The cemetery's website has a searchable database.
• Glen Haven Memorial Cemetery, New Carlisle BillionGraves
• New Carlisle Cemetery, New Carlisle BillionGraves

Harmony Township Cemeteries

• Brighton Cemetery
• Fletcher Chapel Cemetery
• Laybourn Cemetery
• Lisbon Cemetery
• South Vienna Cemetery, State Route 40, just west of South Vienna.
• Plattsburg Cemetery, on Plattsburg Road just east of Plattsburg.
• Wilson Chapel Cemetery
• Wragg Cemetery, located south of Plattsburg Road with no public access.

Church Records

Church records and the information they provide vary significantly depending on the denomination and the record keeper. They may contain information about members of the congregation, such as age, date of baptism, christening, or birth; marriage information and maiden names; and death date. For general information about Ohio denominations, view the Ohio Church Records wiki page.

Court Records

Emigration and Immigration

Ethnic, Political, or Religious Groups

Gazetteers

Genealogy

Miami Valley Genealogy Index is an Index to more than a half million pointers to records all over Miami Valley including Clark County.

Clark County Ohio GenWeb is the Clark County branch of the Ohio GenWeb project. It includes vital records, cemetery transcriptions, census indexes, maps, and other information provided by volunteers.

Clark County Ohio Historical Society is located in the Heritage Center of Clark County, with an extensive library and archives containing local history documents. This is also the location of the Clark County Genealogical Society.

Clark County Public Library has genealogical records on microfilm including census, birth and death records, naturalization records, local newspapers, etc. Also holds city directories beginning in 1852 and some rural directories beginning in 1903.

= History

Local histories are available for Clark County, Ohio. County histories may include biographies, church, school and government history, and military information. For more information about local histories see the wiki page section Ohio Local Histories. =

Wikipedia has more about this subject: Clark County, Ohio

Land and Property

Land and property records can place an ancestor in a particular location, provide economic information, and reveal family relationships. Land records include: deeds, abstracts and indexes, mortgages, leases, grants and land patents.

See Ohio Land and Property for additional information about early Ohio land grants. After land was transferred to private ownership, subsequent transactions were usually recorded at the county courthouse and where records are currently housed.a

Clark County Recorder's Office has a searchable online index beginning in 1988. All prior land records must be searched on location at the A.B. Graham building in downtown Springfield.

Maps

Military

Civil War

• With Diplomas of Patriotism: African American Civil War Veterans in Ohio by Amy L. Crow (Senior Thesis, The Ohio State University, 2009). This thesis uses Springfield as a case study.

Naturalization and Citizenship

Newspapers

Clark County, Ohio newspapers may contain genealogical value including obituaries, births, marriages, deaths, anniversaries, family gatherings, family travel, achievements, business notices, engagement information, and probate court proceedings.

To access newspapers, contact public libraries, Ohio Genealogical Society chapters, college or university libraries, the Library of Congress, Google News, or the Ohio Historical Society. The Ohio Genealogical Society Obituary Database is another source of newspaper information.

For more Ohio newspaper information see the Newspaper Guides on the wiki page Ohio Newspapers. Online Newspapers
Online Newspaper Abstracts

• Springfield Daily News, Springfield, Ohio  See:  Ohio Obituary Index, 1830s-2009, Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center - Ancestry $

Newspaper Extracts and Abstracts in Book Form
Additional newspapers abstracts can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Clark County, Ohio newspapers in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
• Do a Clark County, Ohio Place-name search for these and other records in the Family History Library Catalog (For instructions see FHL Catalog Place-name Search). }

Obituaries

Periodicals

Probate

Probate records created after 1852 are held by the Clark County, Ohio Probate Court. From 1797 or the creation of the county, probate records were held by the Court of Common Pleas. Most counties transferred all records to the Probate Court, but in some circumstances, Court of Common Pleas records should be searched for records prior to 1852. Most records are housed at the Clark County, Ohio Courthouse. Some records are on microfilm at the Ohio Genealogical Society and the Family History Library. For more complete information about the location of county probate records see:

• Carol Willsey Bell, Ohio Wills and Estates to 1850: An Index (1981). ^[3] FamilySearch Books Online - Free online copy.
  

See the wiki page Ohio Probate Records for information about how to use probate records.

Content: Probate Records may give the decedent's date of death, names of his or her spouse, children, parents, siblings, in-laws, neighbors, associates, relatives, and their place of residence.

Record types: Wills, estates, guardianships, naturalizations, marriage, adoption, and birth and death records (1867-1908 only).

Clark County Probate Court 50 E. Columbia Street Springfield, Ohio 45502

Phone:(937) 521-1845 Fax:(937) 328-2589 Email: sweldy@clarkcountyohio.gov

Genealogical resources available:

• Births and deaths recorded in Clark County from 1867 to August 1908.
• Marriage records from 1818 to the present.
• Naturalization records from March 20, 1861, to March 5, 1904 (index at Clerk of Courts Office, Common Pleas Court).
• Estate records from 1818 to 1985 on microfilm and original records from 1985 to the present.

Hours: M-F, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Closed on weekends and holidays.

All materials are available to be researched personally. Staff will do lookups and make copies by written request, with a $3.00 fee for each name requested. Extensive genealogical requests cannot be filled and will be forwarded to experienced local researchers.

Public Records

Repositories

Courthouse

Clark County Courthouse
Ab Graham Building
Springfield, OH 45502
Phone: 937.328.2458 

Probate Judge has birth, marriage, death, probate and naturalization records.
Court Clerk has divorce and court records.
County Recorder has land records.^[1]

Family History Centers

• Introduction to LDS Family History Centers

FamilySearch Centers are branches of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, and are located all over the world. Their goal is to provide resources for family history research.

The main FamilySearch Center for Clark County, Ohio is the  Dayton Ohio East Family History Center. For additional nearby Family History Centers, search online in the FHC directory.

Libraries

• Clark County Public Library
• New Carlisle Public Library
• Fisher Family Library and Archives at the Heritage Center
• Friends of the Library Genealogical Research Group

Museums

Societies

Clark County Genealogical Society

• Clark County Historical Society
• Clark County Ohio Genealogical Society

Taxation

Ohio tax records complement land records and can be used in place of censuses before 1820 or to supplement the years between censuses. Because only persons who owned taxable property were listed, many residents were not included in tax lists. There may also be gaps of several years in the tax records of some counties. For more information see the wiki page Ohio Taxation.

Vital Records

Vital records consist of birth, death, marriage and divorce records. Although Ohio enacted a statute in 1856 -1857 requiring registration of births, deaths and marriages, many did not comply. A second law was written in 1867 but, again, was not always followed. By 1908, the law was more clearly defined and kept. Any existing birth and death records from 1867 through December 19, 1908 are located at the Clark County, Ohio Probate Court. The Ohio Department of Health has birth records filed after December 20, 1908 and death records filed after January 1, 1954 while the Ohio Historical Society houses death records from December 20, 1908 through December 31, 1953.

Original marriage records are held at the office of the Clark County, Ohio Probate Court with divorce records located with the Clark County, Ohio Clerk of Courts.

Birth

Online Birth Indexes and Records
Original Birth Records on Microfilm

Marriage

Online Marriage Indexes and Records
Original Marriage Records on Microfilm

Death

Online Death Indexes and Records

• Ohio Deaths, 1908-1953 Free name indexes and images at FamilySearch. Records include such information as birth date of deceased, city, county, and state of death, name of spouse if married, names of parents, maiden name of mother, name of informant, if deceased was single, married, windowed or divorced, occupation of deceased.

Original Death Records on Microfilm Finding Vital Records at Other Repositories

Additional vital records can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Clark County, Ohio Vital Records in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
• Family History Library Catalog (For instructions see FHL Catalog Place-name Search).

• Champaign County Library Family History Center

Web Sites

• Family History Library Catalog

Places / Localities

Populated Places

• Springfield
• Catawba
• Clifton
• Crystal Lakes
• Donnelsville
• Enon
• Harmony
• Lawrenceville
• New Carlisle
• North Hampton
• Plattsburg
• South Charleston
• Tremont City

References

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), 540, Clark County, Ohio. At various libraries (WorldCat); FHL Book 973 D27e 2002.
2. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Clark County, Ohio" in Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clark_County,_Ohio (accessed 10 May 2012).
3. ↑ Carol Willsey Bell, Ohio Wills and Estates to 1850: An Index (Columbus, Ohio: the author, 1981). FamilySearch Books Online - Free online copy.

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