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Ohio Birth, Marriage, Divorce and Death Records

See Also Researching in Vital Records - Vital records, as their name suggests, are connected with central life events: birth, marriage, and death. Maintained by civil authorities, they are prime sources of genealogical information; but, unfortunately, official vital records are available only for relatively recent periods. These records, despite their recent creation in the United States, are critically important in genealogical research, often supplying details on family members well back into the nineteenth century.......

Ohio enacted a statute in 1856–57 that required birth, death, and marriage registration, a law that was generally disregarded. Two types of “death records” known to be in existence before 1867 are records of cholera deaths, registered during some epidemics, and veterans' deaths. A later 1867 law again required registration of birth and death records. Some of these have survived. The third law, in 1908, established the more complete records now maintained.

For death and birth registration prior to 20 December 1908, contact the county. For birth registrations beginning 20 December 1908 and death registrations after 31 December 1936, write to the State Department of Health, Division of Vital Statistics, P.O. Box 15098, Columbus, Ohio 43215-0098. A certified photocopy of either record is $7; uncertified, $1.10. If exact date and place of birth or death cannot be provided with the request, they will search statewide indexes for the information for a fee of $3 per hour. Approximately ten years of indexes can be searched for one name in an hour. Unused finds are returned. It is not necessary to prove a relationship to obtain a birth or death record photocopy. Some city health departments may have city birth and death records if separate records were kept.

The State Department of Health has registered births and deaths since 20 December 1908. Early in 1989 all Ohio death records for 20 December 1908 through 31 December 1936 and the respective indexes plus death indexes, for 1937–38 were transferred to the State Archives of Ohio housed by the Ohio Historical Society (see Archives, Libraries, and Societies). Actual death records for 1937–38 were not transferred. The Ohio Historical Society will search the aforementioned records for $7. The nonrefundable fee will cover a search of eight years and an uncertified copy of the record, if found. Certified copies require two $7 checks, the first to the Ohio Historical Society, the second made out to the Ohio Division of Vital Statistics. The Ohio Historical Society will forward that check and the certificate to Vital Statistics for certification. The second check will be returned if no record is found. Only one name with one spelling variation will be accepted in each request. One letter per patron per week is the limit, and a two to three month response time should be anticipated.

Marriage records were kept by the office of the county probate clerks until 7 September 1949, when it became a state registration procedure. The statewide index to marriages begins with that date. Certified abstracts of marriages were filed with the state beginning 7 September 1949. The Division of Vital Statistics will search indexes of these abstracts for $3 per hour and indicate the county where the marriage occurred (the search covers about a ten-year period). However, certified copies of marriage records may only be obtained from the probate court of the county that issued the license.

Ohio marriages to approximately 1865 are included in the IGI of the FHL. The marriages in years between 1865 and 1949 are not indexed. Marriage records in Ohio usually include the following information: names of bride and groom, date of marriage, county and possibly the specific location, officiating party, and ages and residences of the bride and groom.

The Ohio Historical Society and the Ohio Network of American History Research Centers (see Archives, Libraries, and Societies) are collecting centers for early birth, marriage, and death records and may need to be contacted regarding their holdings in addition to the county courthouse.

Hamilton County has the jurisdiction for the registration of marriages for Cincinnati. However, many of those records were lost in a courthouse fire. Records that survived were indexed by the WPA and include applications, licenses, and returns. Genealogists have reconstructed marriage records from ministers' daybooks, original certificates, and newspaper accounts.

Marriage records from family and local sources have been collected by the DAR. The State Library of Ohio is the official depository for the state copies of DAR compilations. These records are listed in Carol W. Bell, Master Index Ohio D.A.R. Genealogical and Historical Records, Vol. 1 (Westlake, Ohio: Mrs. Thomas B. Clark, 1985). Local genealogical societies have compiled numerous vital records indexes.

Cincinnati was also a “Gretna Green” (meaning, no questions asked) marriage locale. Although the records for Cincinnati are incomplete, they should be checked for a marriage not otherwise found in Ohio, Indiana, or Kentucky.

An index of some Ohio marriages is Marjorie Smith, ed., Ohio Marriages 1790–1897 (1977; reprint, Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1986). The information is extracted from the Old Northwest Genealogical Quarterly. Marriages, listed alphabetically by bride and groom, are from fifteen volumes of this periodical and begin in the early 1800s. This includes records from only nine counties.

Since 1851, divorces have been handled by the county court of common pleas. Prior to 1851 the records were found in either the supreme court, the chancery court, or the court of common pleas, and then appealed through the legislature. See David G. Null's, “Ohio Divorces, 1803–1852,” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 69 (March 1981): 109–14, for a list of people granted divorces by the legislature between 1795 and 1852.