Marion County, Ohio Genealogy

United States

Ohio

Marion County

Guide to Marion County, Ohio ancestry, family history, and genealogy birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

Marion County, Ohio
Map
Location of Ohio in the U.S.
Courthouse
Address	Marion County Courthouse 100 North Main St. Marion, Ohio 43302-3089 Marion County Website

Marion County, Ohio Record Dates

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1867	1824	1867	1724	1821	1825	1820
Statewide registration for births and deaths started in 1908. General compliance year is unknown.

• Parent Counties: Formed from Delaware County 12 February 1820.
• County Seat: Marion

Description

The county was named for General Francis "The Swamp Fox" Marion, an officer in the Revolutionary War. It's county seat is Marion and was founded April 1, 1820. It is located in the Mid-Central area of the state.

Populated Places

For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit Hometown Locator. The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:

Cities
Marion (county seat)
Villages
Caledonia Green Camp LaRue	Morral New Bloomington	Prospect Waldo
Unincorporated communities
Big Island Claridon	Kirkpatrick Martel	Meeker Owens
Townships
Big Island Bowling Green Claridon Grand Grand Prairie	Green Camp Marion Montgomery Pleasant Prospect	Richland Salt Rock Scott Tully Waldo
Ghost towns
Bethlehem

Neighboring Counties

Hardin County  • Hardin County  • Delaware County  • Morrow County  • Crawford County  • Wyandot County

Boundary Changes

• 1848: Marion County gave up land for the formation of Morrow County in February. The Townships of Canaan, Cardington, Gilead, Morven and Washington were detached from Marion County and were transferred to Morrow County.

• In return for this loss of land, Big Rock Township was detached from Delaware County Ohio and given to Marion County; afterward its name was changed to Waldo Township.

For animated maps illustrating Ohio county boundary changes, "Rotating Formation Ohio County Boundary Maps" (1788-1888) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Record Loss

There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

Resources

Cemeteries

Cemetery records often reveal birth, marriage, death, relationship, military, and religious information.

Online Grave Transcripts	Published Grave Transcripts	County Cemetery Directories
Findagrave.com	Family History Library	Findagrave.com
Interment.net	WorldCat	Names in Stone
USGW Tombstones		Billion Graves
Billion Graves		Epodunk
OHGenWeb Tombstone Photos
Ohio Gravestones
See Ohio Cemeteries for more information.

Church Records

Finding More Church Records

Additional church records can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Marion County, Ohio Genealogy Church Records in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
• FamilySearch Catalog (For instructions see FamilySearch Catalog Place-name Search).
  

History

Local histories are available for Marion County, Ohio Genealogy. County histories may include biographies, church, school and government history, and military information. For more information about local histories, see the wiki page section Ohio Local Histories.

Marion County Ohio is one of the numerous counties in the United States named in honor for Gen. Francis Marion, "The Swamp Fox," who served in the Revolutionary War Brigadier General Francis Marion (c1732-1795). No member of the Marion family was involved in the establishment of the county, and the name is merely an honoraium.

Local Histories

• Leggett, Conaway, The History of Marion County, Ohio: Containing a History of the County, Its Townships, Towns, Churches, Schools, etc., (Chicago, Illinois: Leggett, Conaway and Co., 1883). Digital copy at Internet Archive FamilySearch Books Online FHL film 1000330 Item 2

• Jacoby, John Wilbur, History of Marion County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens, (Chicago, Illinois: Biographical Pub. Co., 1907). FHL film 1000331 Item 1

Land and Property

Land and property records can place an ancestor in a particular location, provide economic information, and reveal family relationships. Land records include: deeds, abstracts and indexes, mortgages, leases, grants and land patents.

See Ohio Land and Property for additional information about early Ohio land grants. After land was transferred to private ownership, subsequent transactions were usually recorded at the county courthouse and where records are currently housed. =====Finding More Land Records===== Additional land records can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Marion County, Ohio Genealogy Land and Property Records in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
• FamilySearch Catalog(For instructions see FamilySearch Catalog Place-name Search).

• The Trumbull County Archives/Microfilm department has online maps and deed indexes
  

Maps

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

• Maps of Ohio (1788-1940)

Military

• 1888-1919 - Ohio Soldier Home Records, 1888-1919 at FamilySearch — index and images

Civil War

Service men from Marion 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 Marion County.

- 4th Regiment, Ohio Infantry (3 months, 1861), Companies H and K

- 96th Regiment

Company D (both Marion and Morrow Counties), roster

Company E, roster

World War I

• 1914-1919 - Ohio, World War I Statement of Service Cards, 1914-1919 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1914-1918 - Ohio, World War I, Enrollment Cards, 1914-1918 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1916-1920 - Ohio, WWI Index and Return Cards, 1916-1920 at FamilySearch — index

Naturalization and Citizenship

• 1800-1977 - Ohio, County Naturalization Records, 1800-1977 at FamilySearch — index and images

Newspapers

Marion County, Ohio Genealogy newspapers may contain genealogical value including obituaries, births, marriages, deaths, anniversaries, family gatherings, family travel, achievements, business notices, engagement information, and probate court proceedings.

To access newspapers, contact public libraries, Ohio Genealogical Society chapters, college or university libraries, the Library of Congress, Google News, or the Ohio Historical Society. The Ohio Genealogical Society Obituary Database is another source of newspaper information.

For more Ohio newspaper information see the Newspaper Guides on the wiki page Ohio Newspapers. Online Newspapers
Online Newspaper Abstracts
Newspaper Extracts and Abstracts in Book Form

Probate

Probate records created after 1852 are held by the Marion County, Ohio Genealogy Probate Court. From 1797 or the creation of the county, probate records were held by the Court of Common Pleas. Most counties transferred all records to the Probate Court, but in some circumstances, Court of Common Pleas records should be searched for records prior to 1852. Most records are housed at the Marion County, Ohio Genealogy Courthouse. Some records are on microfilm at the Ohio Genealogical Society and the Family History Library. For more complete information about the location of county probate records see:

• Carol Willsey Bell, Ohio Wills and Estates to 1850: An Index (1981).  Carol Willsey Bell, Ohio Wills and Estates to 1850: An Index (Columbus, Ohio: the author, 1981).FamilySearch Books Online - Free online copy.
  

See the wiki page Ohio Probate Records for information about how to use probate records.

Content: Probate Records may give the decedent's date of death, names of his or her spouse, children, parents, siblings, in-laws, neighbors, associates, relatives, and their place of residence.

Record types: Wills, estates, guardianships, naturalizations, marriage, adoption, and birth and death records (1867-1908 only).

Online Probate Records

• 1786 - 1998 Ohio Wills and Probate Records 1786-1998 at Ancestry.com — index and images $
• 1789 - 1996 Ohio Probate Records 1789-1996 at FamilySearch.org — images
• 1790–1967 - Ohio, Probate Records, 1790-1967 at FamilySearch Historical Records – free. This collection consists of probate records and estate files from county courthouses in Ohio. The content and time period varies by county, with more records being added as they become available. This Collection will include records from 1789 to 1996. Currently, (September 2012) the collection is only searchable by browsing the images. A list of Fires that have destroyed records in the courthouses of several counties are listed on the Record Description page.
  

Finding More Probate Records

Additional probate records can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Marion County, Ohio Genealogy Probate Records in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
• FamilySearch Catalog (For instructions see FamilySearch Catalog Place-name Search).

Repositories

Courthouse

Marion County Courthouse
100 N Main Street
Marion, OH 43302
Phone: 740.387.8128

Probate Court has marriage and probate records;
City Health Department has birth and death records
from 1908; Public Library has birth and death records
1867-1908; Clerk Court has divorce and court records;
County records has land records

County Records are kept by the offices of the county government as proscribed by Ohio law and are subject to the public records retention policy of the State of Ohio.

The physical location of most original records (those not lost to fire, flood or other act of God) are kept in the offices of the elected officials who oversee a particular function of government.

Family History Centers

Family History Centers provide one-on-one assistance and free access to premium genealogical websites. In addition, many centers have free how-to genealogy classes.

• For current information about a center near you, go to the Family History Center Map

• Marion Ohio Family History Center

For additional nearby Family History Centers, search online in the FHC directory. Put your town name in the top search box.

Societies

The county is served by a membership based genealogical society, the Marion Area Genealogical Society, also known by its acronym of MAGS.  The society is a chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society.  The society maintains open help days on Saturday afternoons at the Brinker Howser Resource Center, in the lower level of the Marion County Historical Society, 169 E. Church Street, Marion, Ohio 43302, 614-387-4255.

Online Genealogy Research Groups

• 
  
• U.S. Midwest Genealogy Research Community - FamilySearch Facebook Research Group
• Ohio Ancestors - FamilySearch Community group, must have a free FamilySearch account to join
• U.S. and Canada Genealogy Research - FamilySearch Community group, must have a free FamilySearch account to join

Taxation

Ohio tax records complement land records and can be used in place of censuses before 1820 or to supplement the years between censuses. Because only persons who owned taxable property were listed, many residents were not included in tax lists. There may also be gaps of several years in the tax records of some counties. For more information see the wiki page Ohio Taxation.

• 1800-1950 - Ohio Tax Records, 1800-1850 at FamilySearch — index and images

Finding More Tax Records

Additional tax records can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Marion County, Ohio Genealogy Tax Records in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
• FamilySearch Catalog (For instructions see FamilySearch Catalog Place-name Search).

Vital Records

Vital records consist of birth, death, marriage and divorce records. Although Ohio enacted a statute in 1856 -1857 requiring registration of births, deaths and marriages, many counties did not comply. A second law was written in 1867 but, again, was not always followed. By 1908, the law was more clearly defined and kept. Any existing birth and death records from 1867 through December 19, 1908 are located at the Marion County, Ohio Genealogy Probate Court. The Ohio Department of Health has birth records filed after December 20, 1908 and death records filed after January 1, 1954 while the Ohio Historical Society houses death records from December 20, 1908 through December 31, 1953.

Original marriage records are held at the office of the Marion County, Ohio Genealogy Probate Court with divorce records located with the Marion County, Ohio Genealogy Clerk of Courts.

See also How to order Ohio Vital Records or order vital records electronically online.

Birth

Online Birth Indexes and Records

• 1841-2003 - Ohio, County Births, 1841-2003 at FamilySearch — index and images

Original Birth Records on Microfilm

Marriage

• 1789-2013 - Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2013 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1800-1958 - Ohio, Marriages, 1800-1958 at FamilySearch — free; Index.
• 1800-1942 - Ohio, Marriages, 1800-1942 at FamilySearch — index

Online Marriage Indexes and Records
Original Marriage Records on Microfilm

Death

Online Death Indexes and Records

• 1840-2001 - Ohio, County Death Records, 1840-2001 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1908-1953 - 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.

Finding More Vital Records

Additional vital records can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Marion County, Ohio Genealogy Vital Records in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
• FamilySearch Catalog (For instructions see FamilySearch Catalog Place-name Search). Finding More Vital Records

Additional vital records can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Marion County, Ohio Genealogy Vital Records in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
• FamilySearch Catalog (For instructions see FamilySearch Catalog Place-name Search).

Original Death Records on Microfilm

Websites

• Marion County, OH History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
• Ohio Genealogy Network Community on Google+
• Ohio Genealogy Network Group on Facebook
• Marion County OH Genealogy
• USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.
• FamilySearch Catalog

Family History Library