Cuyahoga County, Ohio Genealogy

United States Ohio Cuyahoga County

Quick History
Cuyahoga County is located along the shores of Lake Erie in Northeast Ohio. Its largest city, Cleveland, was founded at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River in 1796 when the first of the Connecticut Land Company arrived to survey the Connecticut Western Reserve. The area grew rapidly during the Industrial Revolution as a transportation and manufacturing hub, drawing people of diverse backgrounds from around the world.

Parent County
1808--Cuyahoga County was created 10 Februray 1808 from Geauga County. County seat: Cleveland

Boundary Changes
See an interactive map of Cuyahoga County boundary changes.

Townships

 * Chagrin Falls Township
 * Olmsted Township

Neighboring Counties

 * Geauga
 * Lake
 * Lorain
 * Medina
 * Portage
 * Summit

Resources
Cuyahoga County Resources

Bible Records
Bible Records Index

Biographies
Biographical Sketch Name Index

Cemeteries

 * Cleveland City Cemetery Burials -- online burial index from the East Cuyahoga County Genealogical Society of all the city-owned cemeteries. Contains more than 350,000 names.
 * Greater Cleveland Cemeteries - online database of more than 200,000 names from area cemeteries. Last updated in 2004.
 * Alger, Brookmere, and Denison Cemeteries Index
 * Butternut Ridge Cemetery (North Olmsted)
 * Calvary Cemetery Search Engine
 * Cemeteries in Cuyahoga County by Lawrence A. Boyle - a listing of cemetery addresses, photos of the front gates and more.
 * Cemetery and Church Records by MattsonWorks Genealogy Preservers
 * Strongsville Cemetery
 * St. Adelbert's (Polish) Cemetery
 * Cuyahoga County Cemeteries
 * Erie Street Cemetery Burials (before 1841)
 * Find-A-Grave
 * Holy Cross Cemetery
 * Lutheran Cemetery Records
 * Mapleshade Cemetery (Independence)
 * Monroe Street Cemetery Foundation
 * East Cleveland Twp. Cemetery
 * Scranton Road Cemetery
 * Lakeview Cemetery
 * River Road Cemetery
 * Riverside Cemetery
 * St. Lawrence Cemetery (Independence)
 * St. Mary's Cemetery (Cuyahoga Heights)
 * St. Paul Lutheran Cemetery (Berea)
 * The Tombstone Transcription Project
 * Woodland Cemetery Foundation

Census
1930 Cuyahoga Census Abstract(partial)

Church
LDS Ward and Branch Records


 * Cleveland

Cleveland Ohio Pastors and Their Churches by Laura Hine.

Cleveland Church Histories

Cleveland Clergy to 1942 by Don O'Malley

Cleveland Jewish History

Lakewood Church Histories

St. Colman Church History

City Directories

 * Fold3 ($) has Cleveland City Directories 1861, 1864-1923 (5 yrs. missing) available online.

Get free access to Fold 3 by signing on through the Cuyahoga County Public Librarysite. Click "Research" then "Electronic Resources A-Z" then "Genealogy" then "Fold 3" (entering your Cuyahoga County Public Library card number when asked for) Once on the Fold 3 site, click browse, then "City Directories" then "City Directories Cleveland"


 * 1834-35 Ohio City Directories
 * 1837 City Directory
 * 1900 Cleveland City Directory
 * 1834, 1845, 1846, 1848, 1850 Ohio City Directories
 * U.S. City Directories

Court
Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Civil and Criminal Index

Gazetteers
1906--Cleveland Street Name Changes

Land
Cuyahoga County Recorder's Office Deed Images

Cuyahoga County Auditor's Office

Local Histories
A Book of Clevelanders

A History of Cleveland: Its Settelment, Rise, and Progress, 1796-1896

Cuyahoga County American History and Genealogy Project

Cuyahoga County - The First 200 Years by Dr. Judith Cetina

CWRU Digital Books

Encyclopedia of Cleveland History

Google Books (free older books, previews of others)

The Pioneer Families of Cleveland 1796-1840 by Gertrude Van Rensselaer Wickham

Tremont History Project

Virtual Jewish History

World Vital Records (paid site) has the following histories: (click on Ohio)

History of Cuyahoga County, Ohio (1879) History of Cuyahoga County, Ohio (1881) Ohio Wills &amp; Estates to 1850 by Carol Wilsey Bell Early Ohio Tax Records by Esther Weygand Powell - Cuyahoga Co. 1810, 1811, 1814 and 1819. Maps

1874 Atlas of Cuyahoga County

CSU Cleveland Maps

Converting pre 1906 addresses to post 1906 addresses in Cleveland

Military

 * Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument

Civil War
Civil War service men from Cuyahuga 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 Cuyahoga County.


 * 1st Regiment, Ohio Light Artillery, Batteries B, E, and G
 * 1st Regiment, Ohio Infantry
 * Company E, also known as the Cleveland Grays
 * Company F, also known as the Hibernian Guards
 * 41st Regiment, Ohio Infantry, Companies A, D, E, H, I, and K
 * 107th Regiment, Ohio Infantry - many men in this regiment were immigrant Germans from Cleveland and Cuyahoga County. Companies B and E were raised in Cuyahoga County.

Naturalization
Cuyahoga County Naturalizations

Naturalization Petitions for the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio Eastern Division, Cleveland 1907-1946 at Fold 3 (paid site) (the old Footnote) Get free access to Fold 3 by signing on through the Cuyahoga County Public Library site. Click "Research" then "Electronic Resources A-Z" then "Genealogy" then "Fold 3" (entering your Cuyahoga County Public Library card number when asked for) Once on the Fold 3 site, click browse at the top and then Naturalizations then Documents then Naturalizations Ohio Northern

Newspapers

 * The Cleveland Necrology File (Obits from 1833-1975)
 * The Cleveland News Index (index to articles 1983 to current and obituaries 1976 to current)
 * Berea Advertiser - full-text of more than 1,200 issues spanning 1882-1908 freely available in Google Newspaper Archive
 * The Plain Dealer-- Obituaries (past six months)
 * Cleveland Plain Dealer Searchable Archive (for those with a CPL library card)
 * Cleveland Magazine(1983- present)
 * Ohio Magazine(Oct 1990-present)

Probate
Cuyahoga County Wills and Estates Index (with directions and link to Family Search where you can see actual images of the documents)

A wiki article describing an online collection is found at:

Ohio Cuyahoga County Probate Records (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Vital Records

 * Birth

Cuyahoga County Birth Returns 1871-1908 - located at Fold 3 (paid site) (the old Footnote)

Get free access to Fold 3 by signing on through the Cuyahoga County Public Library site Click "Research" then "Electronic Resources A-Z" then "Genealogy" then "Fold 3" (entering your Cuyahoga County Public Library card number when asked for) Once on the Fold 3 site, click browse at the top and then vital records and choose "Cuyahoga County Birth Returns"

Cuyahoga County Birth Affidavits (1860-1897) and Corrections (1873-1908) (Index only)

Ohio Births &amp; Christenings 1821-1962 (Searchable Index but no images)

Birth Affidavits 1898-1908 (images)


 * Marriage
 * Historical Marriage License Index--1810-1998
 * Marriage Index Years Covered
 * Cuyahoga County Marriages (from Cuyahoga County Archive)
 * Cuyahoga County Marriage Transcriptions
 * Ohio Marriage Index by Ancestry 1970; 1972-2007
 * Ohio Divorce Index 1962-1996 by OGS
 * Ohio Divorce Index by Ancestry
 * Death
 * Coroner Case Files--1833-1900
 * Ohio Deaths 1854-1997 (Index only)
 * Ohio Deaths, 1908-1953 Free name indexes and images at FamilySearch – Pilot. 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.
 * Ohio Death Certificates 1954-present (how to obtain them)


 * Miscellaneous
 * Hospitals and related Health Departments for Vital Records

Voter Registration
1893-1899 Cleveland Voter Registration

1907 Cleveland Voter Registration

Societies and Libraries
Berea Historical Society

Cleveland Heights Historical Society

Cuyahoga County Archives

Cleveland Public Library

Cuyahoga County Public Library Genealogy Site

Greater Cleveland Genealogical Society

Lakewood Historical Society

North Olmsted Historical Society

Ohio Historical Society

Shaker Heights Historical Society

Slavic Village Historical Society

South Euclid/Lyndhurst Historical Society

Westlake Historical Society

Western Reserve Historical Society Library

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers
 * Solon Ohio Family History Center
 * Westlake Ohio Family History Center

Web Sites

 * Castle Garden Passenger Lists
 * Cleveland Digital Library(from Cleveland State University books and links to books)
 * Cleveland Police Museum
 * Clew Bay to Cleveland (Irish History)
 * Cuyahoga County Ohio Genealogy and History
 * Cuyahoga County OHGenWeb
 * Cuyahoga County Research FAQs
 * Cuyahoga County History
 * Cuyahoga County Cities in 1896
 * Cuyahoga County Old Photos
 * Cuyahoga County Photos by Wikimedia
 * Cuyahoga County Schools
 * Case Western Reserve University Digital Book Collection
 * Cleveland State University Digital Library
 * Cleveland State University Memory Project
 * Cleveland's German Businesses
 * Cyndi's List for Cuyahoga County
 * Ellis Island Passenger Lists
 * Genealogy and Family Tree Search Engine by Mocavo
 * Genforum Message Board
 * German Heritage in Cleveland
 * Germans In Cleveland
 * German Immigrants to Cleveland
 * Greater Cleveland Genealogical Research Websites
 * Harm's Way (site about Germans to Cleveland)
 * Heritage Pursuit (paid site)
 * Lakewood Public Library History Site
 * Linkpendium
 * National Archive
 * Ohio Genealogy Express
 * Ohio History Central
 * Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN)
 * Ohio and Erie Canal
 * Footnote.com
 * Cleveland District Round Table Regional Activities
 * Cleveland Public Library Genealogy Databases
 * Polka Hall of Fame Cleveland Style
 * Rootsweb, Rootsweb Mailing Lists and Worldconnect
 * Rootsweb Resources for Cuyahoga County
 * Social Security Death Index
 * Steven Morse Site for searching Immigration and Census Records
 * Western Reserve Historical Society Searchable Databases
 * Western Reserve Historical Society Catalog
 * WorldCat
 * WorldCat

FamilySearch Historical Record Collections
Online collections containing these records are located in FamilySearch.org.

Wiki articles describing these collections are found at:


 * Ohio Cuyahoga County Records (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Ohio Cuyohaga County Probate Records (FamilySearch Historical Records)