Williams County, Ohio Genealogy

Guide to Williams County Ohio genealogy. Birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

United States Ohio Williams County

Historical Facts

 * Parent Counties: Formed from Darke, Shelby, and Wood Counties in 1820 (1824).
 * County Seat: Bryan
 * Neighboring Counties: residents may also have records in Hillsdale County, Michigan (north)·Defiance (south)·Steuben County, Indiana (northwest)· DeKalb County, Indiana (southwest)·Henry (southeast)·Fulton (east)

Boundary Changes
See an interactive map of Williams County boundary changes.

Cemeteries
BillionGraves:


 * Fountain Grove Cemetery, Bryan
 * Lash Cemetery, Montpelier
 * Shiffler Cemetery, Bryan

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

See Ohio Cemeteries for more 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.

Finding Church Records at Other Repositories

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


 * WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).

Military

 * Civil War Civil War service men from Williams 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 Williams County.


 * - 100th Regiment, Ohio Infantry, Company C
 * - 111th Regiment, Ohio Infantry, Company C

Newspapers
The Williams County Public Library has an online obit index to the local Williams County newspapers. Email them your index information and your snail mail address to obtain a copy of the obit.

The Bryan Times 11,650 issues Jan 23, 1800 - Dec 31, 2007 is online for free through news.google.com/newspapers.

Probate

 * 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.

Courthouse
Williams County Courthouse 107 W Butler Street Bryan, OH 43506 Phone: 419.636.8253 County Record Center has birth and death records 1867-1908, marriage and probate records 1824-1984, divorce and court records 1824-1977 and naturalization records 1860-1926; County Health Department has birth and death records from 1909

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers

Libraries
William County Public Library 107 E. High Street Bryan, OH 43506

Death
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.

Web Sites

 * USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.

Neighboring Counties

 * DeKalb County, Indiana
 * Defiance
 * Fulton
 * Henry
 * Hillsdale County, Michigan
 * Steuben County, Indiana