Franklin County, Ohio Genealogy

United States Ohio  Franklin County

Historical Facts

 * Parent Counties: Formed from Ross County and unorganized land in 1803.
 * County Seat: Columbus
 * Neighboring Counties: residents may also have records in Delaware (north)·Pickaway (south)·Madison (west)·Union (northwest)·Fairfield and Licking (east)

Ohio Digital Collections

Quick Facts

 * Named for Benjamin Franklin.
 * The county was created just 2 months after Ohio became a state.
 * The county originally extended all the way to Lake Erie before the divisions.

Parent County
9 December 1800: Franklin County was created from Ross County.

Boundary Changes

 * Parts set off in a series of divisions:
 * Champaign 20 Febrary 1805
 * Delaware 10 Febrary 1808
 * Pickaway 12 January 1810
 * Madison 16 Febrary 1810
 * Union 10 January 1820

See an interactive map of Franklin County boundary changes.

Record Loss

 * The 1820 US Federal Census is missing for Franklin County.

Archives and libraries

 * Columbus Metropolitan Library
 * Ohio Historical Society Archives Library
 * State Library of Ohio (Sources for Genealogists)

Cemeteries

 * Obetz Cemetery, Obetz BillionGraves

Germans
Archives, Libraries, and Museums Biographies Church Records Cemetery Records Court Records Histories Immigration/emigration/migration Maps Newspapers Societies

Civil War, 1861-1865

 * Civil War service men from Franklin 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 Franklin County.


 * - 1st Regiment, Ohio Cavalry, Companies F and K
 * -1st Regiment, Ohio Heavy Artillery, Company C
 * - 113th Regiment, Ohio Infantry, Companies B, C, H, and I

Newspapers

 * Arlington News - a few full-text digital issues in Google News Archive from 2005

Vital records

 * Ohio Death Certificates, 1908-1953 Free name indexes and images at FamilySearch Historical Records. 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.

Hint: Enter name of the county, will narrow the search.

Societies, Libraries and Museums

 * Columbus Historical Society
 * Columbus Metropolitan Library
 * The Franklin County Genealogical &amp; Historical Society

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers
 * Columbus Ohio Family History Center (Grover City)
 * Columbus Ohio North Family History Center (Dublin)
 * Columbus Ohio South Family History Center (Reynoldsburg)
 * West Chester Ohio Family History Center

Websites

 * The Franklin County OH GenWeb Project, a member of The OHGenWeb Project, an affiliate of The USGenWeb Project.
 * The USGenWeb Archives Project for Franklin County.