Wood County, Ohio Genealogy

United States Ohio Wood County

Historical Facts

 * Parent Counties: Formed from Hamilton and County in 1803.
 * County Seat: Bowling Green
 * Neighboring Counties: residents may also have records in Lucas (north)·Hancock (south)·Henry (west)· Seneca (southeast)·Ottawa (northeast) ·Putnam(southwest corner) and Sandusky (east)

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

Church Records

 * Ministers of Wood County Ohio

History
Wood County is located in northwestern Ohio and is surrounded by Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky, Seneca, Hancock, Putnam and Henry counties. Wood County was established 1 April 1820 from Logan County and is named for Colonel E. Wood who fought in the War of 1812 and helped build Fort Meigs, which is located on the northern border of the county. undefined

Fort Meigs was built by General William Henry Harrison on a high bluff of the southern bank of the Maumee River to the east of tbe town of Perrysburg and was named for the Governor of Ohio Return Jonathan Meigs.

Originally, the land that became Wood County was swamp land known as the Black Swamp and was inhabited by a variety of native american tribes such as the Wyandot, Miami, Ottawa, Erie, Seneca and Pottawatomie. The land was very lush with forests of large oak, sycamore and hickory trees; wildlife native to this part of Ohio are boar, black bears, timber wolves and bobcats. Draining of the swamp and clearing the trees began in the 1850s as settlers moved in to create farm land and since then, Wood County has been mostly agricultural in nature, covered by farms growing mostly soybeans, corn and wheat.

After the treaty of Brownsville in 1808, construction of the Western Reserve Road began. The road connected the Maumee River to the western edge of the Connecticut Reserve stretching from Fort Meigs to Fremont, along present day U.S. Route 20. This route was difficult to travel due to high levels of water from rains and overflowing creeks, and the added danger of insects carrying diseases such as malaria.

Bowling Green, founded in 1834, is the county seat and is centrally located. It is the home of Bowling Green State University, established as the “State Normal School” in 1910 for training teachers; the first classes being held in 1914 and the first bachelor’s degrees awarded in 1917. A vast majority of the settlers to Wood County were from Germany or other Germanic-derived countries; in the 1990 US Census 31% of the Bowling Green population and 40% of the Perrysburg population claimed to have German ancestry.

Military
War of 1812


 * Fort Meigs, Ohio's War of 1812 Battlefield
 * Excursion of veterans of the War of 1812 to Fort Meigs, June, 1870 (Lexington, Kentucky 1871 - 1953) pages 34
 * Nelson, Larry L. .Men of patriotism, courage, &amp; enterprise : Fort Meigs in the War of 1812 (Canton, Ohio: Daring Books 1985) pages 156 pages FHL Books 977.116/P3 M2


 * Civil War Civil War service men from Wood 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 Wood County.


 * - 100th Regiment, Ohio Infantry, Company A
 * - 111th Regiment, Ohio Infantry, Companies B, D, I, and K

Repositories
Wood County Courthouse 1 Courthouse Square Bowling Green, OH 43402-2473 Phone: 419.354.9230 Clerk Court has divorce records from 1851 and court records; Pro Judge has birth records to 1908, marriage, death and probate records; County Health Department has birth records from 1908; County Recorder has land records

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers
 * Toledo Ohio Family History Center (Perrysburg)

Death
Ohio Deaths, 1908-1953 Free name indexes and images at FamilySearch. 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.

Web Sites

 * USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.

Places
Bowling Green

Neighboring Counties

 * Hancock
 * Henry
 * Lucas
 * Ottawa
 * Putnam
 * Sandusky
 * Seneca