Portage County, Ohio Genealogy

United States

Ohio

Portage County

Guide to Portage 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: Ravenna Organized: June 7, 1808 Parent County(s): Trumbull Neighboring Counties Cuyahoga  • Geauga  • Mahoning  • Stark  • Summit  • Trumbull See County Maps Courthouse Location Map Adoption This page is available for adoption

County Information

Description

The county was named for an old Native American path called "Portage Trail". It is located in the northeastern area of the state.

County Courthouse

Portage County Courthouse
203 West Main Street
Ravena, Ohio 44266
Phone: 330-297-3639
Portage County Website

Portage 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	1808	1867	1820	1795	1803	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 Trumbull County on 7 June 1808. County Seat: Ravenna 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
Aurora Kent	Ravenna (county seat) Streetsboro	Tallmadge
Villages
Garrettsville Hiram	Mantua Mogadore	Sugar Bush Knolls Windham
Unincorporated communities
Black Horse Brady Lake Campbellsport Diamond Drakesburg	Hiram Rapids Lloyd Mahoning Mishler	New Milford Saint Joseph Wayland Yale
Census-designated places
Atwater Brimfield
Townships
Atwater Brimfield Charlestown Deerfield Edinburg Franklin	Freedom Hiram Mantua Nelson Palmyra Paris	Randolph Ravenna Rootstown Shalersville Suffield Windham

Resources

Bible Records

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

Cemeteries

Cemeteries of Portage County, Ohio online and in print
Tombstone Transcriptions Online	Find A Grave Interment.net USGenWeb Tombstone Transcription Project Billion Graves OHGenWeb 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.	%±
1810	2,995	—
1820	10,095	237.1%
1830	18,826	86.5%
1840	22,965	22.0%
1850	24,419	6.3%
1860	24,208	−0.9%
1870	24,584	1.6%
1880	27,500	11.9%
1890	27,868	1.3%
1900	29,246	4.9%
1910	30,307	3.6%
1920	36,369	20.0%
1930	42,682	17.4%
1940	46,660	9.3%
1950	63,984	37.1%
1960	91,798	43.5%
1970	125,868	37.1%
1980	135,856	7.9%
1990	142,585	5.0%
2000	152,061	6.6%
2010	161,419	6.2%
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.

• Brown, Robert Charles, History of Portage County, Ohio: Containing a History of the County, Its Townships, Towns, Villages, Schools, Churches, Industries, etc., (Chicago, Illinois: Warner, Beers, 1885). Digital copy at Google Books, Internet Archive, FamilySearch Digital Library, FHL film 1697596 Item 14; book 977.137 H2h

• Holmes, James B., Portage Heritage: A History of Portage County; Its Towns and Townships and the Men and Women Who Have Developed Them, (Kent, Ohio: Commercial Press, 1957). Digital copy at Internet Archive, FamilySearch Digital Library, FHL film 1033821 Item 1

• Bowen, A.W., A Portrait and Biographical Record of Portage and Summit Counties, Ohio, (Logansport, Indiana: A.W. Bowen, 1898). Digital copy at Google Books, Internet Archive, FamilySearch Digital Library, FHL film 1000336 Item 5; book 977.13 D3p

• Ohio Indexes at EveryNameIndex.com — Select the county.

Maps and Gazetteers

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

• Maps of Ohio (1788-1940)
• 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; index and images.

Civil War
Service men from Portage 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 Portage County.

-1st Regiment, Ohio Light Artillery, Batteries A, D, and I.

- 104th Regiment, Ohio Infantry, Companies D and I

World War I

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

Naturalization and Citizenship

Online Naturalization Indexes and Records

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

Newspapers

Portage 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 Portage 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; index and images.

School Records

• Kent State University Yearbooks - approximately 1914-1985 yearbooks are freely available on the Internet Archive

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; index and images.
• 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; index and images; or scroll down to Browse images by county.
• 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; index and images.
• 1800-1942 Ohio, Marriages, 1800-1942 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index.
• 1800-1958 Ohio Marriages, 1800-1958 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index.
• 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; index and images.
• 1908-1932, 1938–1944, and 1958–2007 Ohio, Death Index, 1908-1932, 1938-1944, and 1958-2007 at FamilySearch– How to Use this Collection; Index.
• 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 Portage 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

• Akron Ohio Family History Center (Tallmadge)
• Rootstown Ohio Family History Center
• Plano Community District Public Library - an affiliate library
• Akron-Summit County Public Library - an affiliate library

Libraries

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

Portage County District Library
Aurora Memorial Library
115 East Pioneer Trail
Aurora, OH 44202
330-562-6502
Website

Societies

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

Portage County Historical Society
6549 N. Chestnut Street
Ravenna, OH 44266
330-296-3523
Website

Portage County Chapter, OGS
P.O. Box 821
Ravenna, OH 44266
E-Mail:pccogs@embarqmail.com
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
• Portage County Ohio Genealogy
  
• Ohio GenWeb: Portage County - free genealogy resources; part of the national USGenWeb Project
• 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.