Ohio, Diocese of Toledo, Catholic Parish Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States Ohio Lucas County

What is in the Collection?
The Catholic Parish entries are recorded in register books in columns or in paragraphs without columns. Records are organized by county, then by community, and finally by parish within each community. This collection includes records for the dates 1796-2004. Some records for some parishes are available for the following Ohio counties:

Some parishes, especially German speaking ones, were served by the same priest and so records appear very similar in the various parishes during the time period when they served. For example: St. Mary, Sandusky, Erie County and St. Sebastian, Bismark, Huron County shared the same priests during their early years.

What Can These Records Tell Me?
This collection usually contains the following information:

Birth Records


 * Date and place of baptism
 * Child's name and gender
 * Child's date of birth
 * Parents' names including maiden name of mother
 * Names of sponsors or witnesses
 * Name of officiating priest

Confirmation Records


 * Confirmation date and place
 * Given name, surname and confirmation (Catholic) name of child
 * Date and place of baptism
 * Names of parents
 * Name of officiating priest

Marriage Records


 * Groom's name and place of residence
 * Date and place of groom's baptism
 * Names of groom's parents, including maiden name of mother
 * Bride's name and place of residence
 * Date and place of bride's baptism
 * Names of bride's parents, including maiden name of mother
 * Names of witnesses
 * Name of pastor

Death and burial records


 * Death date and burial date
 * Name and age of deceased
 * Birthplace of deceased
 * Cause of death
 * Name of officiating priest
 * Name of cemetery in which interred

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know:
 * The name of your ancestor.
 * The approximate date of a birth, marriage or death.
 * The place where the event occurred.
 * The names of family members and their relationships.

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page: To search the collection you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒Select the "Browse" link on the initial search page ⇒Select the "County" category ⇒Select the "City/Town/Village" category ⇒Select the "Parish" category ⇒Select the "Record Type and Year Range" category which takes you to the images

Look at each image comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination. Keep in mind:


 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * You may not be sure of your own ancestor’s name.
 * Your ancestor may have used different names or variations of their name throughout their life.

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor in the Catholic Parish records, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors. Add this new information to your records of each family.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Copy the citation below, in case you need to find this record again later.
 * Use the age or estimated birth date to find other church and vital records such as birth, baptism, marriage, and death records.
 * Use the information found in the record to find land, probate and immigration records.
 * Use the information found in the record to find additional family members in censuses. Witnesses were usually family members.
 * Repeat this process with additional family members found, to find more generations of the family.
 * Church Records were kept years before counties began keeping records. They are a good source for finding ancestors before 1900.

I Can’t Find Who I’m Looking for, What Now?

 * Look for variant spellings of the names. You should also look for alias names, nicknames and abbreviated names.
 * Look for an index. There are often indexes at the beginning of each volume. Local genealogical and historical societies often have indexes to local records.
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby localities.

Known Issues with This Collection
For a full list of all known issues associated with this collection, see the attached Wiki article. If you encounter additional problems, please email them to [mailto:support@familysearch.org support@familysearch.org]. Please include the full path to the link and a description of the problem in your e-mail. Your assistance will help ensure that future reworks will be considered.

Citing this Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

Collection Citation:

Image citation: Top of Page