Crawford County, Ohio Genealogy

Guide to Crawford 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 Delaware County 12 February 1820.
 * County Seat: Bucyrus

Description
The county was named for Colonel William Crawford, a soldier during the American Revolution. It's county seat is Bucyrus and was founded 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:

Neighboring Counties
Seneca County •  Huron County  •  Richland County  •  Morrow County  •  Marion County  •  Wyandot County

Boundary Changes

 * 1835: Six miles on the western side was added from the Wyndot Indian Reservation.


 * 1842: The last of the Wyandot Reservation was purchased and added to the county.


 * 1845: Wyandot County was formed from an 18-mile strip from western Crawford County. A 4-by-20-mile strip was added on the eastern side from Richland County. A 2-by-16-mile strip was added on the south from Marion County.


 * 1848: A 1-by-7-mile strip on the county's southeast was given to Morrow County at that county's formation. This finalized the boundaries of Crawford County.

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
1831  A courthouse fire may have damaged or destroyed some records.

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.

List and Location of Cemeteries by Townships

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

 * Perrin, William Henry, History of Crawford County and Ohio: containing a history of the state of Ohio, from its earliest settlement to the present time (Chicago : Baskin ; Battey, 1881) Digital version at Google Books; Internet Archives; on microfilm at.
 * Hopley, John E. History of Crawford County, Ohio, and representative citizens (Chicago : Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, 1912) Digital version at Internet Archives; book available at.
 * A centennial biographical history of Crawford County, Ohio (Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Company, 1902) Digital version at Internet Archives.

Land and Property

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

Maps

 * Maps of Ohio (1788-1940)

Military

 * 1888-1919 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Civil War
Civil War servicemen from Crawford 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 Crawford County.


 * - 1st Independent Battery, Ohio Light Artillery (a battery is like a company in an artillery regiment)
 * - 57th Regiment, Ohio Infantry, Company I

Naturalization and Citizenship

 * 1800-1977 - at FamilySearch — index and images

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

A wiki article describing an online collection is found at:

Ohio, Crawford County Obituaries (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Obituaries

 * 1860 - 2004 - at FamilySearch — index and images

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
Crawford County Courthouse 112 E Mansfield Street Bucyrus, OH 44820 Phone: 419.562.2766 City and County Health Department has birth and death records from 1908; Probate Judge has birth and death records 1867-1908, marriage and probate records from 1831; County recorder has land records; Clerk Court has divorce and court records from 1834

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

Societies
Crawford county Chapter OGS P.O. Box 1033 Bucyrus, Ohio 4482

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

Taxation

 * 1825-1836 - Township tax lists Courtesy OhioGenWeb Archives

Birth
Online Birth Indexes and Records


 * various years - community contributed births 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
 * various years - community contributed marriages Courtesy OhioGenWeb Archives

Original Marriage Records on Microfilm

Death
Online Death Indexes and Records


 * 1840-2001 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1860-2004 - Obituaries from the Crawford County Genealogical Society Courtesy OhioGenWeb
 * 1908-1953 - Ohio Deaths, 1908-1953 Free name indexes and images at FamilySearch. Records include such information as birthdate 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; and occupation of deceased.
 * various years - community contributed death records Courtesy OhioGenWeb Archives

Original Death Records on Microfilm

Websites

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