Erie County, Ohio Genealogy

Guide to Erie 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 Huron and Sandusky Counties 15 March 1838.
 * County Seat: Sandusky

Description
The county was named for the Erie tribe, whose name was their word for "wildcat". It's county seat is Sandusky and was founded March 15, 1838. It is located in the North-central 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 this county:

Neighboring Counties
Ottawa County •  Sandusky County  •  Huron County  •  Lorain County

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.

Finding Church Records at Other Repositories

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


 * WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).

Local History

 * Peeke, Hewson Lindsley, A Standard History of Erie County, Ohio: An authentic Narrative of the Past… (Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co., 1916) Digital version at Google Books; digital version of volume 2 only at Internet Archives; available on microfilm at.
 * Williams, William W., History of the Fire lands, comprising Huron and Erie Counties, Ohio: with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of the prominent men and pioneers (Cleveland, Ohio : Leader Print, 1879) Digital version at Google Books; Internet Archives; available on microfilm at ; indexed in Index to history of the Fire lands volume 1 Erie County only.
 * Aldrich, Lewis Cass, History of Erie County, Ohio: with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of the prominent men and pioneers (Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason, 1889) Digital version at Google Books; available on microfilm at.

Maps

 * Maps of Ohio (1788-1940)

Military

 * 1888-1919 - at FamilySearch — index and images

War of 1812

 * Altoff, Gerald T Deep water sailors, shallow water soldiers : manning the United States Fleet on Lake Erie - 1813 (Put in Bay, Ohio Perry Group, 1993) pages 203 FHL Book 973 M3 Cherry, Marjorie Louise, Blockhouses and military posts of the Firelands (1968)  1 microfilm LDS Film 547548 Item 3
 * Civil War service men from Erie 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 Erie County.
 * 107th Regiment, Ohio Infantry, Company F
 * 123rd Regiment, Ohio Infantry, Companies G and K

Naturalization and Citizenship

 * 1800-1977 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Newspapers
Online Newspapers Online Newspaper Abstracts


 * various years - community contributed newspaper articles

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

Courthouse
Erie County Courthouse 323 Columbus Avenue Sandusky, OH 44870 Phone: 419.627.7705 County Health Department has birth  records from 1908, death and burial records; Probate Judge has marriage and probate records; Clerk Court has divorce and court records from 1870; County Recorder has land records

Clerk of Courts Marriage &amp; Probate Records 323 Columbus Avenue Sandusky, OH 44870 Phone: (419) 627-7705

Erie County Recorder's Office Land Records 247 Columbus Avenue; Suite 225 Sandusky, OH 44870 Phone: (419) 627-7686

Hours of Operation: Monday - Friday 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Family History Centers
Sandusky 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 Connecticut Western Reserve  was a part of northeast Ohio originally intended for settlement by Revolutionary War refugees from Connecticut. The former Connecticut Western Reserve  lands were in the modern counties of Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Erie, Geauga, Huron, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage, and Trumbull fully, but also in parts of Ashland, Mahoning, Ottawa, Summit, and Wayne counties in Ohio.

The Research Library at the Western Reserve Historical Society History Center  is the premier repository for Cleveland, Ohio and Connecticut Western Reserve history material. One of the principal strengths is its manuscript collections. The WRHS collection has original land records, genealogies of New England, New York, and Pennsylvania, biographies, histories, and family Bibles.

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


 * various years - community contributed birth records Courtesy OhioGenWeb

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
 * various years - community contributed marriage records Courtesy OhioGenWeb

Original Marriage Records on Microfilm

Death
Online Death Indexes and 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.
 * various years - community contributed death records Courtesy OhioGenWeb

Original Death Records on Microfilm

Websites

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