Meigs County, Ohio Genealogy

United States

Ohio

Meigs County

Guide to Meigs 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: Pomeroy Organized: 1 April, 1819 Parent County(s): Athens, Gallia Neighboring Counties Athens  • Vinton  • Gallia  • Mason (WV)  • Jackson (WV)  • Wood (WV) See County Maps Courthouse Location Map Adoption This page is available for adoption

County Information

Description

The county was named for Return J. Meigs, Jr., the 4th Governor of Ohio. It is located in the South-Central area of the state. The County Seat for Meigs County, Ohio has moved two times over the years. The county seat was originally at the village of Middleport. In 1823, the county seat was changed to Chester. In 1841, the county seat was moved to Pomeroy where it is today. The records were retained at the county seat despite the moves and can be found there today.

County Courthouse

Meigs County Courthouse
100 East 2nd Street
Room 304
Pomeroy, OH 45769
Phone: +740-992-2895
Meigs County Website

Probate Judge has birth, marriage, death and probate records;
Clerk Court has divorce and court records from 1819;
County Recorder has land records.

Meigs 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
1867	1819	1867	1819	1819	1820	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 Athens and Gallia Counties 21 January 1819. County Seat: Pomeroy Organization Date: 01 Apr 1819 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:

Villages
Middleport Pomeroy (county seat)	Racine Rutland	Syracuse
Unincorporated communities
Antiquity Apple Grove Carletonville Carpenter Chester Darwin Harrisonville	Kingsbury Langsville Letart Falls Long Bottom Minersville Portland	Reedsville Salem Center Silver Run Spiller Success Welsh
Census-designated places
Tuppers Plains
Townships
Bedford Chester Columbia Lebanon	Letart Olive Orange Rutland	Salem Salisbury Scipio Sutton
Ghost towns
Flora

Resources

Bible Records

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

Cemeteries

Cemeteries of Meigs 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.	%±
1820	4,480	—
1830	6,158	37.5%
1840	11,452	86.0%
1850	17,971	56.9%
1860	26,534	47.6%
1870	31,465	18.6%
1880	32,325	2.7%
1890	29,813	−7.8%
1900	28,620	−4.0%
1910	25,594	−10.6%
1920	26,189	2.3%
1930	23,961	−8.5%
1940	24,104	0.6%
1950	23,227	−3.6%
1960	22,159	−4.6%
1970	19,799	−10.7%
1980	23,641	19.4%
1990	22,987	−2.8%
2000	23,072	0.4%
2010	23,770	3.0%
Source: "Wikipedia.org".

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
  

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.

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 Books and Resources

• Larkin, Stillman Carter, The Pioneer History of Meigs County, (Columbus, Ohio: Berlin Print. Co., 1908). Online at Google Books, Internet Archive, FamilySearch Digital Library.
• Howe, Henry, Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes: an Encyclopedia of the state, history both general and local, geography with descriptions of its counties, cities and villages, its agricultural, manufacturing, mining and business development, sketches of eminent and interesting characters, with notes of a tour over it in 1886. Vol 2 Vol 2 is for the counties Lake to Wyandot. (Norwalk, Ohio: The Laning Printing Co., 1896). Volume 2 online at FamilySearch Digital Library; Vol 1 is for the counties Adams to Knox. Volume 2 online at FamilySearch Digital Library.
• Ervin, Edgar, Pioneer History of Meigs County, Ohio to 1949, (Meigs County Pioneer Society, 1949). Online at FamilySearch Digital Library, Hathitrust.

Other Resources

• Howe, Henry, History of Meigs County, Ohio, 1819-1889, (Knightstown, Indiana: Bookmark, 1977). FHL book 977.1 A1

Maps and Gazetteers

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

• Maps of Ohio (1788-1940) at MapofUS.org
• 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 Meigs 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 Meigs County.

- 116th Regiment, Ohio Infantry, Companies B and G

The following Civil War battle was fought in Meigs County.

- July 19, 1863 Buffington Island, also known as St. Georges Creek

Map showing Civil War battles in Ohio.

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

Meigs 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, ($)
• Early- late 1900's Newspapers at Ohio Memory — sort by County, City, Time Period, and more.

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 Meigs 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.

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

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.

Birth

• 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 Collections.
• 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.
• 1970-2003 Ohio, Marriages, 1970 - 2003 at MyHeritage ($) — index

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.
• 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 ($) — index and images
• 1913-1944, 1954-1963 Ohio Death Index, 1913-1944, 1954-1963 at MyHeritage ($) — index

Divorce

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

Research Facilities

Archives

Listed below are archives in Meigs 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

• Athens Ohio Family History Center
• Parkersburg West Virginia Family History Center

Libraries

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

Meigs County District Public Library
Main Branch
216 W Main St
Pomeroy, OH 45769-1032
740-992-5813
Website

Museums

Meigs County Museum
144 Butternut Ave
Pomeroy, OH 45769
740-992-3810
Website

Societies

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

Meigs County Historical Society
399 S 3rd Ave
Middleport, OH 45760
PO Box 145
Pomeroy, OH 45769
740-992-3810
E-mail:info@meigschs.org
Facebook
Website

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
• Meigs County OH Genealogy at LDS Genealogy
• USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county. USGenWeb Meigs County
• 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.

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