Portage County, Ohio Genealogy

Guide to Portage 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 Trumbull County in 1808.
 * County Seat: Ravenna

Description
The county was named for an old Native American path called "Portage Trail". It's county seat is Ravenna and was founded June 7, 1807. It is located in the South-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
Geauga County • Trumbull County • Mahoning County • Stark County • Summit County • Geauga County

Boundary Changes
For animated maps illustrating Ohio county boundary changes, "Rotating Formation Ohio County Boundary Maps" (1788-1940) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Record Loss
There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

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

Education

 * Kent State University Yearbooks - approximately 1914-1985 yearbooks are freely available on the Internet Archive

Local Histories

 * Brown, Robert Charles, History of Portage County, Ohio: Containing a History of the County, Its Townships, Towns, Villages, Schools, Churches, Industries, etc., (Chicago, Illinois: Warner, Beers, 1885). Digital copy at Google Books Internet Archive


 * Holmes, James B., Portage Heritage: A History of Portage County; Its Towns and Townships and the Men and Women Who Have Developed Them, (Kent, Ohio: Commercial Press, 1957). Digital copy at Internet Archive


 * Bowen, A.W., A Portrait and Biographical Record of Portage and Summit Counties, Ohio, (Logansport, Indiana: A.W. Bowen, 1898). Digital copy at Google Books Internet Archive

Maps

 * Maps of Ohio (1788-1940)

Military

 * 1888-1919 - at FamilySearch — index and images

Civil War
Service men from Portage 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 Portage County.


 * -1st Regiment, Ohio Light Artillery, Batteries A, D, and I.
 * - 104th Regiment, Ohio Infantry, Companies D and I

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.

Courthouse
Portage County Courthouse 203 West Main Street Ravena, Ohio 44266 Telephone: 330-297-3635 Website

Family History Centers

 * Rootstown 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

Original Birth Records on Microfilm

Marriage

 * 1789-2013 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1800-1958 - at FamilySearch — free; Index.
 * 1800-1942 - at FamilySearch — index

Online Marriage Indexes and Records

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.

Original Death Records on Microfilm

Websites

 * Portage County, OH History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
 * Ohio Genealogy Network Community on Google+
 * Ohio Genealogy Network Group on Facebook
 * Portage County Ohio Genealogy
 * Ohio GenWeb: Portage County - free genealogy resources; part of the national USGenWeb Project

Neighboring Counties

 * Cuyahoga
 * Geauga
 * Mahoning
 * Stark
 * Summit
 * Trumbull