Hamilton County, Ohio Genealogy

United States &gt; Ohio &gt; Hamilton County

County Courthouse
The Hamilton County Courthouse is located at 1000 Main St., Cincinnati, Ohio 45202-1206. The records are maintained by the Hamilton County Clerk of Courts.

Parent County
1790--Hamilton County was created 2 January 1790 as an original county. County seat: Cincinnati

Populated Places
Cincinnati

Neighboring Counties

 * Boone County, Kentucky
 * Butler
 * Campbell County, Kentucky
 * Clermont
 * Dearborn County, Indiana
 * Franklin County, Indiana
 * Kenton County, Kentucky
 * Warren

Church
LDS Ward and Branch Records


 * Cincinnati

Court

 * The Hamilton County Probate Court has digitized and made available many different records types including Naturalizations (1856-1906), Minister's Licenses (1963-1975), Physician Certificates (1919-1987), and Probate Court Journal Entries (1791-1837). Probate Court Journal Entries have been transcribed in Abstract of Book 1 and Book A, Probate Record 1791-1826; Abstract of Book 3, Probate Record 1829-1834; and Abstract of Book 4, Probate Record, 1834-1837. 
 * The Hamilton County Clerk of Courts maintains the court records of Hamilton County and the Municipal court. Many of the early court records have been moved to the University of Cincinnati Archives or the Cincinnati Historical Society.  The Hamilton County Courthouse has the following records available on microfilm:  Naturalization Records (1850-1893), Declarations of Intent (1842-1926), Court Dockets (1884-present), Certified Judgments (1884-present), Pending Suits (1884-present), Judgments (1884-present), Law Suits and Divorces (1884-1994) and Criminal and Civil Records (1884-present).  The Hamilton County Clerk of Courts website has a searchable database of cases that indexes many of these records. Early records may only contain a list of litigants.  Many cases tried after 1884 involved property or estates from earlier time periods.  It is worthwhile to search the records for all your ancestors.
 * The University of Cincinnati Archives holds many of the county's Court of Common Pleas and Probate Court original records. Digitized versions of many of these records are available online at the Hamilton County Probate Court.  For a partial list of UC Archives holdings, see A Guide to Genealogical Resources in Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio, 6th Edition or Inventory of Government Documents for Eight Counties of Southwest Ohio.   The UC Archives has indexed Hamilton County Ohio Citizenship Records, 1837-1916 and Hamilton County Ohio Wills, 1791-1901.  The indexes are available online at their website.  They have received a grant to an LSTA Grant to Digitize Cincinnati Birth and Death Records.  Access to those records is expected in August 2010.  The University of Cincinnati Archives also holds township Justice of the Peace records for some townships.

Genealogy

 * Miami Valley Genealogy Index is an Index to more than a half million pointers to records all over Miami Valley including Hamilton County.

Probate

 * The Hamilton County Probate Court has digitized and made available many different records types including Estates (1791-1984), Wills (1791-1973), Trusts (1791-1984), and Guardianships (1791-1984).

Vital Records

 * Ohio Deaths, 1908-1953 Free name indexes and images at FamilySearch Record Search. 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
 * The Hamilton County Probate Court has digitized and made available many different records types including Births (1863-1908), Marriages (1808-1983), and Deaths (1881-1908).

Web Sites

 * USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.
 * Family History Library Catalog
 * The Hamilton County Probate Court has digitized many of its records and made them available online.