Ohio Cemeteries

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Tombstones
Cemetery tombstones, or sexton's records, may give birth and death dates, age at death, name of spouse, names of children, and maiden names. Less often, they contain birth places. Tombstones may have symbols or insignias indicating military service and social or religious affiliations. There are also abbreviations that give clues when deciphered. Also, family members may be buried in the same plot or nearby. The Association of Gravestone Studies (AGS) has recommendations on the treatment and care of tombstones when needing to make inscriptions more visible. There are several major collections of Ohio cemetery records created by various organizations that transcribed tombstones and sexton’s records. Not all cemetery records are computerized and the records may be recorded on "lot" cards.

Locating Cemeteries
When trying to find the location of a cemetery search each collection because no collection includes all the cemeteries, although there maybe some duplication. Be sure to try the websites listed in the online resources part of this page.


 * Epodunk has a comprehensive cemetery list for Ohio. These can be searched for by individual cemetery name, city, or by county.
 * A few cemetery lists by county can be found at Access Genealogy
 * Some older cemetery lists have been reprinted in Ohio Cemetery Records : Extracted from the "Old Northwest Genealogical Quarterly." (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing, 1984)

Cemetery Societies

 * Jewish Genealogy Society of Cleveland has information on Cemeteries in Cleveland.
 * Ohio Cemetery Preservation Society
 * Ohio Genealogical Society Cemetery Committee

Cemetery Transcriptions

 * Daughters of the American Revolution. Genealogical Collection. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1970. Many volumes have individual indexes. This collection is arranged by county and consists of transcripts of Bible, cemetery, church, marriage, death, obituary, and probate records.
 * Baldwin, Henry R., The Henry R. Baldwin Genealogical Records (Fort Wayne, Indiana : Allen County Public Library) The first seven volumes are cemetery records. and include church, military, cemetery, court, and family data from eastern Ohio during 1867 to 1913.
 * Ohio Cemetery Records (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1972.)
 * Transcriptions of cemetery records compiled by local genealogical groups or individuals are available at the Family History Library for most counties in Ohio. The Family History Library also has microfilm copies of sexton and mortician records from some counties. The Place Search of the Family History Library Catalog lists more of these records under:


 * OHIO - CEMETERIES
 * OHIO, [COUNTY] - CEMETERIES
 * OHIO, [COUNTY], [TOWN] - CEMETERIES

Veterans' Graves

Excellent sources for veterans' graves are mentioned in the "Ohio Military Records" wiki page. The National grave locator and the more localized Dayton National Cemetery have searchable sites.

Cemetery Locations

The known names and locations of Ohio cemeteries and information about published transcriptions are given in:


 * Smith, Maxine Hartmann, ed. Ohio Cemeteries (Mansfield, Ohio: Ohio Genealogical Society, 1978.)
 * Klaiber, Teresa L. M., ed. Ohio Cemeteries Addendum (Baltimore, Maryland: Gateway Press, 1990.)
 * A county-by-county list of cemetery record transcripts available at theFamily History Library as of 1988 is found in: Family History Library Catalog, Index to United States Cemeteries. (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1988.)
 * LDS Cemetery Records
 * Many cemetery records are published in periodicals. See the Ohio Periodicals and, see PERiodical Source Index (PERSI).

Tip: If you know the name of the cemetery or the town and/or county you people were buried in, you can sometimes find online cemetery inscriptions by using a search engine such as "Google" and using the search terms “county or city you are looking for” + cemeteries or “West Cemetery” + Cuyahoga.

Online Resources
The following websites have Ohio cemetery records online:


 * Exploring almost forgotten grave sites in Ohio
 * Find-A-Grave
 * Interment
 * Ohio Cemetery Inscription Search
 * The OHGenWeb Project
 * Ohio Gravestone Photos Project
 * The USGenWeb Tombstone Photo Project
 * The USGenWeb Tombstone Transcription Project
 * Ohio Cemetery Records (at Ohio Genealogy) Cemetery records organized by county and city