Lorain County, Ohio Genealogy

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

Description
Lorain County was named by early settler Heman Ely for the French province of Lorraine. The county is located in the north-central area of the state.

County Courthouse
Lorain County Courthouse 225 Court St 1st Floor Elyria, OH 44036-0749 Lorain County Courthouse

Lorain County Clerk of Court of Common Pleas Online Case Docket contains records from 1988 onward of Civil, Criminal, Domestic Relations and 9th District Court of Appeals cases, contains divorce records from 1988 onward. Probate Judge has birth, marriage and probate records; Clerk Court has divorce records from 1850 and court records from 1824; County Recorder has land records; Elyria Public Library and Lorain County Historical Society have books of genealogical interest

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:

Church Records

 * 1765-1947 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index and images; selected counties, incomplete; includes, death, church, and cemetery records

List of Churches and Church Parishes
 * FamilySearch Places

Pittsfield Community Church
 * Pittsfield Community Church Originally two churches, the Pittsfield Methodist Church, formed in 1824, and the Pittsfield Congregational Church, formed in 1836 (and originally organized as the Evangelical Union Church of Christ), which built permanent structures in 1845 and 1846, respectively. Both buildings were destroyed in the Pittsfield Tornado of 1965, at which point both churches elected to combine into the Pittsfield United Church of Christ, which rebuilt by 1966. The church became independent and was renamed Pittsfield Community Church in 1997.

Ethnic, Political, and Religious Groups
African American

Bigglestone, William E., They Stopped in Oberlin: Black Residents and Visitors of the Nineteenth Century (Scottsdale, Ariz.: Innovation Group, C 1981).

Land and Property Records
Online Land Indexes and Records

Local Histories

 * Williams, W.W., 1807 History of Lorain County, Ohio, with Illustrations & Biographical Sketches ... (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Williams Bros., 1879) online at Google Books Internet Archive
 * Henes, Ernst Louis, Looking Back on Lorain County, (Wellington, Ohio: Southern Lorain Historical Society, 1978).
 * Boynton, Washington Wallace; The Earl History of Lorain County. Historical Address presented 1876 (Western Reserve Historical Society, 1894) online at FamilySearch Digital Library, Google Books, Hathitrust
 * Lorain County Sesquicentennial, 1824-1974, (Elyria, Ohio: American Mult-Service, 1974).
 * Wright, G. Frederick, A Standard History of Lorain County, Ohio: An Authentic Narrative of the Past, with Particular Attention to the Modern Era in the Commercial, Industrial, Civic and Social Development, (Chicago, Illinois: Lewis Pub. Co., 1916) Volume 1 online at Google BooksFamilySearch Digital Library,; Volume 2 online at Internet Archive, FamilySearch Digital Library
 * Upton, Harriet Taylor, History of the Western Reserve (Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1910) Volume 1 online at Google Books, Volume 2 online at Google Books, and Volume 3 online at Google Books

Maps and Gazetteers

 * Maps of Ohio (1788-1940) at MapofUS.org
 * FamilySearch Places: Map of cities and towns in this county - How to Use FS Places

Military Records

 * 1888-1919 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.

Civil War Civil War service men from Lorain 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 Lorain County.


 * -1st Regiment, Ohio Light Artillery, Batteries B and E
 * -41st Regiment, Ohio Infantry, Companies F and H
 * -107th Regiment, Ohio Infantry, Company G

World War I
 * 1914-1918 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.
 * 1914-1919 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.
 * 1916-1920 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.

Naturalization and Citizenship
Online Naturalization Indexes and Records
 * 1800-1977 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.

Newspapers

 * 1793-late 1900s at History Connection —  Select county.
 * 1793-2009 Ohio Newspapers, 1793-2009 at MyHeritage — index & images ($)
 * Early-late 1900s Newspapers at Ohio Memory — sort by County, City, Time Period, and more.

Obituaries

 * Lorain County Obituaries at LorainCounty.com

Probate Records
Online Probate Indexes and Records
 * 1786-1998 Ohio, Wills and Probate Records 1786-1998 at Ancestry ($) — index and images.
 * 1789-1996 at FamilySearch.org — How to Use this Collection.
 * Lorain County Probate Online Records Search at LorainCounty.com - Contains all probate related records, including marriages, since 1990. The search also includes marriage records (bride's and groom's names only) back to about 1930.

School Records

 * Oberlin High School Alumni Association at O-High Alumni - Finding Missing Class Members from the 1800s to present.

Social Security Records

 * 1935-2014 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index. Also at Ancestry, findmypast, Fold3, GenealogyBank, MyHeritage, and Steve Morse. Click here for more information.
 * 1936-2007 U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 at Ancestry ($) — index, click here for more information.
 * 1936-2007 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index

Tax Records
Online Tax Indexes and Records
 * 1800-1850 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.
 * 1800-1850 Ohio Tax Records, 1800-1850 at MyHeritage ($) — index

Birth

 * 1841-2003 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.
 * 1908-1998 Ohio, Birth Index, 1908-1998 at Ancestry ($) — Index
 * 1918-1953 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index and images
 * 1959-1998 Ohio, Birth Index, 1959-1998 at MyHeritage - index ($)

Marriage

 * 1789-2013 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.
 * 1800-1942 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.
 * 1800-1958 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.
 * 1970-2003 Ohio, Marriages, 1970 - 2003 at MyHeritage ($) — index

Death

 * 1765-1947 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index and images; selected counties, incomplete; includes, death, church, and cemetery records
 * 1833-1967 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index
 * 1840-2001 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.
 * 1854-1997 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.
 * 1908-1932, 1938–1944, and 1958–2007 at FamilySearch– How to Use this Collection
 * 1908-1932, 1938-2018 Ohio, Death Records, 1908-1932, 1938-2018 at Ancestry ($) — index and images
 * 1908-1953 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.
 * 1913-1944, 1954-1963 Ohio Death Index, 1913-1944, 1954-1963 at MyHeritage ($) — index
 * 1918-1953 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index and images

Divorce

 * 1962-2007 Ohio, Divorce Abstracts, 1962-1963, 1967-1971, 1973-2007 at Ancestry ($)

Archives
Lorain County Records Retention Center 320 Gateway Blvd N Elyria, OH 44035 440-326-4868 Email:[mailto:Recordscenter@loraincounty.us Recordscenter@loraincounty.us] Website

FamilySearch Centers

 * Westlake Ohio FamilySearch Center
 * Oberlin Public Library - an affiliate library

Libraries
Amherst Public Library 221 Spring St Amherst, OH 44001-2243 440-988-4230 Email: [mailto:AskaLibrarian@amherstpubliclibrary.org AskaLibrarian@amherstpubliclibrary.org] Website Avon Lake Public Library 32649 Electric Blvd Avon Lake, OH 44012-1669 440-933-8128 Email: [mailto:info@avonlake.lib.oh.us info@avonlake.lib.oh.us] Website Elyria Public Library 320 Washington Ave Elyria, OH 44035-5199 440-323-5747 Website Grafton-Midview Public Library 983 Main St Grafton, OH 44044-1447 440-926-3317 Website Herrick Memorial Library 101 Willard Memorial Square Wellington, OH 44090-1342 440-647-2120 Website Lorain Public Library System 351 Sixth St Lorain, OH 44052-1705 440-244-1192 Website Oberlin Public Library 65 S Main St Oberlin, OH 44074-1626 440-775-4790 Website

Museums
Lorain County Historical Society 284 Washington Ave Elyria, OH 44035 440-322-3341 Email: [mailto:lchs@lchs.org lchs@lchs.org] Website'''

The Southern Lorain County Historical Society/Spirit of '76 Museum PO Box 76 201 N Main St Wellington, OH 44090 440-647-4367 Email: [mailto:thespiritof76museum@gmail.com thespiritof76museum@gmail.com] Website

Sheffield Village Historical Society Cultural Center 4944 Detroit Rd Sheffield Village, OH 44054 440-934-1514 E-mail:[mailto:herdendorf@aol.com herdendorf@aol.com] Website

103rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry 5501 E Lake Rd Sheffield Lake, OH 44054 440-949-2790 E-mail:[mailto:museum@103ovi.com museum@103ovi.com] Website

Societies
Western Reserve Historical Society Research Library in the History Center 10825 East Blvd Cleveland, OH 44106 216-721-5722 FamilySearch Wiki Website Lorain County Chapter of OGS PO Box 865 Elyria, OH 44036-0865 E-mail:[mailto:contact@loraincoogs.org contact@loraincoogs.org] Website

Websites

 * Local Gov't Records by County at Ohio History Connection — Browse their list; records are not online.
 * Custom Browse of Historical Collections at Ohio Memory — Use map or alpha bar to select county or place, then browse search options in left sidebar.
 * Ohio Genealogical Society ($) — online databases
 * Lorain County OH Genealogy at LDS Genealogy
 * LorainCounty.com
 * OHGenWeb Archives
 * – The FamilySearch catalog contains descriptions and access information for all genealogical materials (including books, online materials, microfilm, microfiche, and publications) in their collection.  Use Historical Records to search for specific individuals in genealogical records.