Mahoning County, Ohio Genealogy

United States

Ohio

Mahoning County

Guide to Mahoning County, Ohio ancestry, genealogy and family history, birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

Ohio Online Genealogy Records

County Facts County seat: Youngstown Organized: 1 Mar 1846 Parent County(s): Columbiana, Trumbull Neighboring Counties Trumbull  • Portage  • Stark  • Columbiana  • Lawrence (PA)  • Mercer (PA) See County Maps Courthouse Location Map Adoption This page is available for adoption

County Information

Description

The county was named from the Mahoning river, which in turn was named from a Native American word meaning "salt lick". It is located in the North-Eastern area of the state.

County Courthouse

Mahoning County Courthouse
120 Market St
Youngstown, OH 44503
Phone: 330–740–2104
Mahoning County Website

County marriage records; Births and Deaths 1864–1908; Guardianship; Will and estates (Wills are on film–original case packets are at the Mahoning Valley Historical Society.), Land and deeds; grave registrations; soldier's discharges after 1864. Mark the envelope of your requests with Probate Office or Recorder's Office
Original civil court packets/files 1871-1901 are housed at the Mahoning Valley Historical Society.

Mahoning County, Ohio Record Dates

Information for this chart was taken from various sources, often containing conflicting dates. This information should be taken as a guide and should be verified by contacting the county and/or the state government agency.

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1856	1846	1856	1795	1846	1847	1820
Statewide registration for births and deaths started in 1908. General compliance year is unknown.

Record Loss

There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

Boundary Changes

Parent Counties: Formed from Columbiana and Trumbull counties 16 February 1846. Organized Date: March 1, 1846 County Seat: Youngstown Interactive Map of Ohio County Formation History (1790-1897) - animated maps illustrating Ohio county boundary changes Ohio Historical Boundary Changes - list of all boundary changes by county provided by Newberry Library

Populated Places

For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit Hometown Locator. The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:

Cities
Alliance Campbell Canfield	Columbiana Salem Struthers	Youngstown (county seat)
Villages
Beloit Craig Beach Lowellville	Sebring New Middletown Poland	Washingtonville
Unincorporated communities
Berlin Center Blanco Calla Coitsville Center East Lewistown Ellsworth Fredericksburg Garfield Greenford Hickory Corners	Knaufville Locust Grove Millville New Albany New Buffalo New Springfield North Benton North Jackson North Lima Ohltown	Paradise Patmos Petersburg Poland Pricetown Rosemont Snodes West Austintown Woodworth
Census-designated places
Austintown Boardman	Damascus Lake Milton	Maple Ridge Mineral Ridge
Townships
Austintown Beaver Berlin Boardman Canfield	Coitsville Ellsworth Goshen Green Jackson	Milton Poland Smith Springfield

Resources

Bible Records

For an extensive list of resources for Bible Records see Ohio Bible Records.

Biographies

• Williams, H.Z. and Bro. History of Trumbull and Mahoning Counties: with illustrations and biographical sketches. (Cleveland: H.Z. Williams and Bro., 1882) Online at FamilySearch Digital Library, Internet Archive, Google Books, Ancestry ($). Index of names at FamilySearch Digital Library.

Cemeteries

Cemeteries of Mahoning County, Ohio online and in print
Tombstone Transcriptions Online	Find A Grave Interment.net USGenWeb Tombstone Transcription Project Billion Graves OHGenWeb Tombstone Photo Project Ohio Gravestones
Tombstone Transcriptions in Print (Often more complete)	Family History Library WorldCat
List of Cemeteries in the County	Find A Grave FamilySearch Places
See Ohio Cemeteries for more information.

 

Census Records

Historical populations
Census	Pop.	%±
1850	23,735	—
1860	25,894	9.1%
1870	31,001	19.7%
1880	42,871	38.3%
1890	55,979	30.6%
1900	70,134	25.3%
1910	116,151	65.6%
1920	186,310	60.4%
1930	236,142	26.7%
1940	240,251	1.7%
1950	257,629	7.2%
1960	300,480	16.6%
1970	303,424	1.0%
1980	289,487	−4.6%
1990	264,806	−8.5%
2000	257,555	−2.7%
2010	238,823	−7.3%
Source: "Wikipedia.org".

• 1850-1885 U.S. Federal Census Mortality Schedules, 1850-1885 at Ancestry ($) - images and index.

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, see Ohio Church Records.
List of Churches and Church Parishes

• FamilySearch Places
  

• 1762-2008 Ohio, Church Records, 1762-2008 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection
• Mahoning Valley Historical Society has a variety of collections of original church records including but not limited to Lutheran and Reformed congregations within the county.

Lutheran

• Records of Woodland Avenue Lutheran Church, Youngstown, in Evangelical Lutheran Church in America database at Archives.com ($).
  

Society of Friends

• 1828-1926 Church Records - Society of Friends, Damascus, New Garden and Springfield Quarterly Meetings. FHL film 1533198 items 5–7 – 1533200 items 1–2.

Court Records

See Ohio Court Records for more information about using these records.

• 1847-1867 Civil Records FHL film 363350 item 1 .
• 1848-1851 Court Records FHL film 363350 item 2 .

Ethnic, Political, and Religious Groups

Quaker

• Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy. Vol. IV: (Ohio Monthly Meetings) at Ancestry ($) - including West and East Goshen Monthly Meetings.

Land and Property Records

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.

Online Land Indexes and Records

• 1796–1907 U.S. General Land Office Records at Ancestry ($)
• Beginning 1820 Land Patent Search at Bureau of Land Management. See Ohio Land and Property for more information about this database.
• Ohio, Homestead and Cash Entry Patents, Pre-1908 at Ancestry ($) This database contains over 100,000 Ohio land patents.
• Land Records at US GenWeb Archives

Local Histories

Local histories are available for this county. County histories may include biographies, church, school and government history, and military information. For more information about local histories, see Ohio Local Histories.

Online Databases and Digital Books:

• Butler, Joseph Green, History of Youngstown and Mahoning Valley, Ohio (Chicago, Illinois: American Historical Society, c1921) Volume 1 available online at FamilySearch Digital Library, Google Books; Volume 2 available online at FamilySearch Digital Library, Google Books, Hathitrust; Volume 3 available online at FamilySearch Digital Library, Hathitrust.
• Sanderson, Thomas W. 20th Century History of Youngstown and Mahoning County, Ohio and Representative Citizens. (Tucson, Arizona: W.C. Cox Co., 1974) Online at FamilySearch Digital Library, Google Books, Internet Archive.
• Mahoning Valley Historical Society, Historical collections of the Mahoning Valley: containing an account of the two pioneer reunions; ... (Mahoning Valley Historical Society, 1876) Online at FamilySearch Digital Library.
• Ohio Indexes at EveryNameIndex.com — Select the county.

Other Resources:

• 1805-1955 Columbiana Sesquicentennial Official Historical Program FHL book 977.163/C1 H2c

Maps and Gazetteers

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

• Maps of Ohio (1788-1940) at MapofUS.org
• Map of Mahoning County, Ohio at Library of Congress showing the original lots and farm
• Mahoning County Township Map at USGenWeb Project with a detailed map of each section.
• FamilySearch Places: Map of cities and towns in this county - How to Use FS Places

Military Records

• 1888-1919 Ohio Soldier Home Records, 1888-1919 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.

Civil War
Civil War service men from Mahoning County served in various regiments. Men often joined a company (within a regiment) that originated in their county. Listed below are companies that were specifically formed in Mahoning County.

- 41st Regiment, Ohio Infantry, Company F

- 105th Regiment, Ohio Infantry, Companies A and H

World War I

• 1914-1918 Ohio, World War I, Enrollment Cards, 1914-1918 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.
• 1914-1919 Ohio, World War I Statement of Service Cards, 1914-1919 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.
• 1916-1920 Ohio, WWI Index and Return Cards, 1916-1920 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.

Naturalization and Citizenship

Online Naturalization Indexes and Records

• 1800-1977 Ohio, County Naturalization Records, 1800-1977 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.

Newspapers

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

• For more online Ohio newspapers index and images, see Ohio Newspapers.

• 1793-late 1900's Newspapers at Ohio History Connection — Select county.
• 1793-2009 Ohio Newspapers, 1793-2009 at MyHeritage — index & images, ($)
• 1807-1984 Youngstown Vindicator (Apr–Aug) Issues intermittent at Google News Archive
• 1869-1875 The Mahoning Vindicator (Jun–July) at Google News Archive
• 1875-1877 The Mahoning Valley Vindicator (July–July) at Google News Archive
• 1891-1893 Youngstown Evening Vindicator (Mar-May) at Google News Archive
• 1896-1928 The Sunday Vindicator (Jun–Oct) at Google News Archive
• 1899-1890 The Evening Vindicator (Sept 23–Jun 23) at Google News Archives
• Early-late 1900's Newspapers at Ohio Memory — sort by County, City, Time Period, and more.
• 1981-2009 The Vindicator (Oct–Jun) at Google News Archive
• Newspaper Articles at USGenWeb Archives

Obituaries

• Obituary Database at Ohio Genealogical Society ($)

Probate Records

From 1797 or the creation of the county, probate records were held by the Court of Common Pleas. After 1852, records are held by the Mahoning County Probate Court. Records include wills, estates, guardianships, naturalizations, marriage, adoption, and birth and death records (1867-1908 only). The records may give the decedent's date of death, name of spouse, children, parents, siblings, in-laws, neighbors, associates, relatives, and their place of residence.

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

Online Probate Indexes and Records

• 1786-1998 Ohio Wills and Probate Records 1786-1998 at Ancestry ($) — index and images.
• 1789-1996 Ohio Probate Records 1789-1996 at FamilySearch.org — How to Use this Collection.
• 1846-1899 Original Mahoning County Probate Estate Case Packets housed at the Mahoning Valley Historical Society Archive. These packets contain the original documents, with actual signatures; wills, administration applications, bonds, inventories, receipts, affidavits, and any other record needed to settle an estate. These packets are the originals.
  
• ca. 1870-1905 Original Mahoning County Probate Civil Case packets housed at the Mahoning Valley Historical Society's Archival Library. These cases include but are not limited to: civil cases, divorces, guardianships, inquests of lunacy, applications for the Worthy Blind (1904-1905), judgements, land transfers resulting from estate files, legal name changes, adoptions, etc. These are original documents with actual signatures.
  

School Records

• 1935 Chaney High School, Youngstown, Ohio 1935 Basketball Team, with names on photo. Family Old Photos

Social Security Records

• 1935-2014 United States Social Security Death Index at FamilySearch — How to use this collection; index. Also at Ancestry, findmypast, Fold3, GenealogyBank, MyHeritage, and Steve Morse. Click here for more information.
• 1936-2007 U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 at Ancestry ($) — index, click here for more information.

Tax Records

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.

Online Tax Indexes and Records

• 1800-1850 Ohio Tax Records, 1800-1850 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.
• 1800-1850 Ohio Tax Records, 1800-1850 at MyHeritage ($) — index
• Original county tax lists are available 1846, and parts of the county for 1859 at the Mahoning Valley Historical Society.

Vital Records

Vital records consist of birth, death, marriage and divorce records. Marriages were usually recorded from the formation of the county and are held at the office of the County Probate Court. Divorce records are located with the county Clerk of Courts.

Any existing birth and death records from 1867 through December 19, 1908 are located at the County 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 History Connection houses death records from December 20, 1908 through December 31, 1953. See Ohio Vital Records for more information about Vital records in Ohio.

Birth

• 1800-1962 Ohio, Births and Christenings Index, 1800-1962 at Ancestry ($) — Index
• 1821-1962 Ohio Births and Christenings, 1821-1962 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection
• 1841-2003 Ohio, County Births, 1841-2003 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.
• 1908-1998 Ohio, Birth Index, 1908-1998 at Ancestry ($) — Index
• 1959-1998 Ohio, Birth Index, 1959-1998 at MyHeritage - index ($)

Marriage

• 1789-2013 Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2013 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.
• 1800-1942 Ohio Marriages, 1800-1942 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.
• 1800-1958 Ohio Marriages, 1800-1958 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.
• 1803-1900 Ohio, Compiled Marriage Index, 1803-1900 at Ancestry ($) — Index.
• 1970-2003 Ohio, Marriages, 1970 - 2003 at MyHeritage ($) — index
• 1970-2007 Ohio, Marriage Abstracts, 1970, 1972-2007 at Ancestry ($)

Death

• 1833-1967 Ohio, Church and Civil Deaths, 1833-1967 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index
• 1840-2001 Ohio, County Death Records, 1840-2001 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.
• 1854-1997 Ohio Deaths and Burials, 1854-1997 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.
• 1904-1963 Death Certificates at Ohio History Connection – free. Index of deaths from the Ohio Department of Health in Columbus.
• 1908-1932, 1938–1944, and 1958–2007 Ohio Death Index, 1908-1932, 1938-1944, and 1958-2007 at FamilySearch – How to Use this Collection
• 1908-1932, 1938-2018 Ohio, Death Records, 1908-1932, 1938-2018 at Ancestry ($) — index and images
• 1908-1953 Ohio Deaths, 1908-1953 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.
• 1913-1944, 1954-1963 Ohio Death Index, 1913-1944, 1954-1963 at MyHeritage ($) — index

Divorce

• 1962-2007 Ohio, Divorce Abstracts, 1962-1963, 1967-1971, 1973-2007 at Ancestry ($)

Research Facilities

Archives

Listed below are archives in Mahoning County. For state-wide archival repositories, see Ohio Archives and Libraries.

Family History Centers

Family History Center and Affiliate Library Locator map - search for local Family History Centers or Affiliate Libraries

• Family History Centers provide one-on-one assistance, free access to center-only databases, and to premium genealogical websites.
• FamilySearch Affiliate Libraries have access to most center-only databases, but may not always have full services normally provided by a family history center.
  

Local Centers and Affiliate Libraries

• Youngstown Ohio Family History Center
• Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County - an affiliate library

Libraries

Listed below are libraries in Mahoning County. For state-wide library facilities, see Ohio Archives and Libraries.

Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County
Main Library
305 Wick Ave
Youngstown, OH 44503
330–744–8636
Website

Museums

Youngstown Historical Center of Industry and Labor
151 W Wood St
Youngstown OH 44501–0533
330–743-5934
Website

Mahoning Valley Historical Society
648 Wick Ave
Youngstown, OH 44502
330-743-2589
Email:mvhs@mahoninghistory.org
Website

Societies

Listed below are societies in Mahoning County. For state-wide genealogical societies, see Ohio Societies.

Western Reserve Historical Society
Research Library in the History Center
10825 East Blvd
Cleveland, OH 44106
216-721-5722
FamilySearch Wiki
Website

Mahoning County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society
PO Box 9333
Youngstown, OH 44513-9333
E-mail: MCCOGS@zoominternet.net
Facebook

Mahoning Valley Historical Society
648 Wick Ave
Youngstown, OH 44502-1289
330–743-2589
Email:archives@mahoninghistory.org
Website

Genealogical collections: The MVHS Archival Library. Original probate and civil court records 1846–1900 for Mahoning County. The collection includes diaries, Bibles, photographs, fraktur, manuscripts, deeds, wills, maps, architectural and mechanical drawings, ledgers, county and local government records, and church records in addition to other collections.

Websites

• Local Gov't Records by County at Ohio History Connection — Browse their list; records are not online.
• Custom Browse of Historical Collections at Ohio Memory — Use map or alpha bar to select county or place, then browse search options in left sidebar.
• Ohio Genealogical Society ($) — online databases
• Mahoning County USGenWeb
• USGW Archives Mahoning
• Mahoning County OH Genealogy at LDS Genealogy
• FamilySearch Catalog – The FamilySearch catalog contains descriptions and access information for all genealogical materials (including books, online materials, microfilm, microfiche, and publications) in their collection.  Use Historical Records to search for specific individuals in genealogical records.

This website requires a paid subscription for full access.

FamilySearch affiliate libraries may have access to center-only databases, but do not always have all services normally provided by a family history center.