Defiance County, Ohio Genealogy

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

Historical Facts

 * Parent Counties: Formed from Henry, Paulding and Williams Counties 4 March 1845.
 * County Seat: Defiance

Description
The county was named after an early Army fortification, Fort Defiance. It's county seat is Defiance and was founded April 7, 1845. It is located in the Northwest area of the state.

Populated Places
For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit Hometown Locator. Hometown Locator

The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in Defiance County:

Neighboring Counties
Paulding County •  Putnam County  •  Henry County  •  Williams County  •  DeKalb County, Indiana  •  Allen County, Indiana  •

Boundary Changes
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.

Bible Records
For an extensive list of resources for Bible Records see Ohio Bible Records.

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

Catholic

 * 1796–2004 at FamilySearch Historical Records – free. This collection includes images of parish registers recording the events of baptism, first communion, confirmation, marriage, and death in the Diocese of Toledo (Ohio), Roman Catholic Church. These records are accessed by browsing the images by county. In addition to traditional parish registers, this collection includes miscellaneous cemetery records, Books of the Elect, Professions of Faith, Sick Call registers, etc.

Local History

 * A History of Defiance County, Ohio : containing a history of the county… (Chicago : Warner, Beers, 1883) Digital version at Internet Archives; ; indexed in History of Defiance County, Ohio: a surname index.

Land and Property

 * 1790-1907 - Bureau of Land Management database Courtesy OhioGenWeb Archives
 * various years - community contributed deeds Courtesy OhioGenWeb Archives

Maps

 * Maps of Ohio (1788-1940)

Military

 * 1888-1919 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Civil War
Civil War service men from Defiance 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 Defiance County.


 * - 100th Regiment, Ohio Infantry, Company D
 * - 111th Regiment, Ohio Infantry, Companies E and F

Naturalization and Citizenship

 * 1800-1977 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Newspapers
Online Newspapers Online Newspaper Abstracts Newspaper Extracts and Abstracts in Book Form

Probate
Online Probate Records
 * 1786 - 1998 Ohio Wills and Probate Records 1786-1998 at Ancestry.com — index and images $
 * 1789 - 1996 at FamilySearch.org — images
 * 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.
 * various years - community contributed wills Courtesy OhioGenWeb Archives

Courthouse
Defiance County Courthouse 510 Court Street Defiance, OH 43512-2157 Phone: 419.782.4761 County Recorder has birth and death records 1867-1908, marriage records from 1845, land records from 1843, probate records from 1845, divorce and court records 1800’s, naturalization records 1872-1903 and military discharge records 1865-1973; County Health Department has birth and death records from 1908

Family History Centers
Wauseon 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.

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
 * U.S. and Canada Genealogy Research - FamilySearch Community group, must have a free FamilySearch account to join

Birth
Online Birth Indexes and Records


 * 1867-1908 - Defiance County Court records Courtesy OhioGenWeb
 * various years - community contributed birth records Courtesy OhioGenWeb Archives

Original Birth Records on Microfilm

Marriage
Online Marriage Indexes and Records


 * 1789-2013 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1800-1958 - at FamilySearch Historical Records – free; Index. Name index to marriage records from the state of Ohio. Microfilm copies of these records are available at the Family History Library and some FamilySearch Centers. Due to privacy laws, recent records may not be displayed. The year range represents most of the records. A few records may be earlier or later.
 * 1800-1942 - at FamilySearch — index
 * 1845-present - Defiance County Court records Courtesy OhioGenWeb
 * various years - community contributed marriage records Courtesy OhioGenWeb Archives

Original Marriage Records on Microfilm

Death
Online Death Indexes and Records


 * 1840-2001 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1867-1908 - Defiance County Court records Courtesy OhioGenWeb
 * 1908-1953 - Ohio Deaths 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.
 * various years - community contributed death records Courtesy OhioGenWeb Archives

Original Death Records on Microfilm'

Websites

 * Defiance County, OH History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
 * Defiance County OH Genealogy
 * Ohio Genealogy Network Community on Google+
 * Ohio Genealogy Network Group on Facebook
 * Ohio Genealogy Network Group on Facebook