Gallia County, Ohio Genealogical Records Information

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Gallia County History and Information

Gallia County Facts

Gallia County was created on March 25, 1803 and was formed from Washington County. The County was named for the Latin word for France, as French settlers lived there. The County Seat is Gallipolis . See also County History for more historical details.

The Health Department has Birth & Death Records from 1908-Present, see the Vital Records section for more details. For birth and death records prior to Dec. 20, 1908, contact the Probate Court of this county.

Counties adjacent to Gallia County are Vinton County (north), Meigs County (northeast), Mason County, West Virginia (east), Cabell County, West Virginia (south), Lawrence County (southwest), Jackson County (northwest).

Gallia County Municipalities Include Gallipolis, Centerville, Cheshire, Crown City, Rio Grande, Vinton. Townships Include Addison, Cheshire, Clay, Gallipolis, Green, Greenfield, Guyan, Harrison, Huntington, Morgan, Ohio, Perry, Raccoon, Springfield, Walnut. Other localities Include Bidwell, Kerr, Patriot

The Gallia County Official Government Website
Search the Ohio USGenWeb Archives
Gallia County, Virginia History Books at Amazon.com
Family History Library - The largest collection of free family history, family tree and genealogy records in the world.

There are free downloadable and printable forms to help with your research. These include U.S. Census Extraction Forms, U.K. Census Extraction Forms, Research Calendar, Ancestral Chart, Research Extract, Correspondence Record , Family Group Sheet , Source Summary Form.

Records at the Gallia County Courthouse

PLEASE READ!! Please call the clerk's department to confirm hours, mailing address, fees and other specifics before visiting or requesting information because of sometimes changing contact information.

All Departments below are in the Gallia County Courthouse 18 Locust St., Gallipolis 45631, (740) 446-4374, unless otherwise noted below. The Official County website is located at http://www.gallianet.net/Gallia/index.htm . NOTE: The record dates below are from the earliest date to present time.

Gallia County Clerk of Probate Court has Marriage Records from 1803, Birth / Death Records from 1867-1908 and Probate Records from 1803 and is located in SUITE 1293. Phone Number: (740) 446 4612 EXT 289
The Probate Court handles the following administrative functions: the probating of wills, estate administrations (full estates and releases from administration), trusts, guardianships of incompetent adults and minors, commitment hearings for the mentally ill and mentally challenged, adoptions, birth corrections, name changes, delayed birth registrations, custodial accounts, lost heir accounts, order disinterments, and issues marriage licenses. In addition, the Court tries litigation issues in all the above matters. A unique aspect of the Probate Court is that the Probate Judge is the ex-officio Clerk of Courts, thus, the Court performs all the duties as its own Clerk of Courts (indexing, filing, docketing, etc.).

Gallia County Recorder has Land Records from 1803 . Phone Number: 740-446-4612 Ext. 246
In Ohio, the Recorder, as an elected official, is charged by law with the exacting duty of keeping certain specific records which may include: deeds, mortgages, financing statements, easements, leases, federal tax liens, personal tax liens, military discharges, powers of attorney, mechanics liens, plats, recognizance liens, partnerships, living wills, zoning resolutions, etc.

Gallia County Clerk of Court of Common Pleas has Court Records from 1811 and is located in Room 1290. Phone Number: Room 1290
The Clerk of Courts of Common Pleas is responsible for various administrative and ministerial duties in conjunction with the Court of Common Pleas. These duties include filing, docketing, indexing, and preserving all court pleadings for civil, felony criminal and domestic relations cases. The Clerk of Courts must also follow procedure required by law and issues writs to carry out Court orders. Some of these writs include summons, subpoenas, warrants to arrest and to convey to penal institutions, and signing the death warrant in capital cases. The Clerk is responsible for the receipt and disbursement of all money paid into the court system. Other services provided by the Clerk of Court of Common Pleas are accepting bonds, recording notary commissions, administering oaths, keeping naturalization records, and recording and retention of coroner records.

There are a few online databases for Court, Land and Probate Records which include:Ohio Land Records and Ohio Early Land Ownership Records.

Click Here to Search Ohio Court, Land, Wills & Financial Records! - Researchers often overlook the importance of court records, probate records, and land records as a source of family history information.

Below is a list of online resources for Gallia County Court Records. Email us with websites containing Gallia County Court Records by clicking the link below:

Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
Ohio Marriages: Extracted from the Old Northwest Genealogical Quarterly
Ohio Marriages, 1803-1900: This database contains records of marriages that took place in Ohio between 1803 and 1900.
Gallia County, Ohio Court Books at Amazon.com
Ohio Immigration & Emigration Records - Immigration records help the family historian to understand the movements of their ancestry as they relocated to different parts of the world.

Gallia County Vital Records

See Also Research In Tax Records

Tax records for Ohio began as early as 1800. The archives section of the Ohio Historical Society has a collection of original Ohio tax lists from the state auditor's office. They include lists from the county's organization to 1838, usually arranged by county and township. They are not indexed. County courthouses hold various tax records that have not been inventoried. They are in the office of the county auditor or the county records manager. The FHL has microfilm copies of all known extant tax records 1800-38 for Ohio.

The National Archives-Great Lakes Region retains numerous federal tax records for Ohio. These include assessment books for 1867-73 and corporate and personal records for District 10, Toledo, and District 11, Columbus.

Below is a list of online resources for Gallia County Tax Records. Email us with websites containing Gallia County Tax Records by clicking the link below:

Gallia County, Ohio Tax Books at Amazon.com

Gallia County Genealogical Addresses

See Also Other Ohio Genealogical Addresses

The Repositories in this section are Archives, Libraries, Museums, Genealogical and Historical Societies. Many County Historical and Genealogical Societies publish magazines and/or news letters on a monthly, quarterly, bi-annual or annual basis. Contacting the local societies should not be over looked. State Archives and Societies are usually much larger and better organized with much larger archived materials than their smaller county cousins but they can be more generalized and over look the smaller details that local societies tend to have. Libraries can also be a good place to look for local information. Some libraries have a genealogy section and may have some resources that are not located at archives or societies. Also, take a special look at any museums in the area. They sometimes have photos and items from years gone by as well as information of a genealogical interest. All these places are vitally important to the family genealogist and must not be passed over.

Below is a list of online resources for Gallia County Genealogical Addresses. Email us with websites containing Gallia County Genealogical Addresses by clicking the link below:

Gallia County Chapter, OGS, PO Box 1007, Gallipolis, OH 45631; meets the second Thursday of the month at 7:00pm at the Gallia County Probate Court. No meetings in July, August or December., E-mail: hcevans1775@sbcglobal.net
Gallia County Historical & Genealogical Society, 412 Second Avenue, Gallipolis, Ohio 45631; Phone: 740-446-7200. Three floors :genealogical research materials, many copies of books stored at Probate Court (32 volumes of marriage records starting at 1803, plus birth, death and many other records). Numerous family histories and many resource books, 22 volumes of obituaries. We also house the Gallia County Military Museum and the Gallia County Historical Museum on our second floor.
Local Ohio Researchers, Find a local researcher or become a local researcher.
Ohio Historical Society, Archives-Library Division,1982 Velma Avenue, Columbus, OH 43211; Telephone: 614-297-2300
The Ohio Historical Society Archives/Library is, by law, the archives for the State of Ohio. As such, we collect, preserve, and make available to the public, documents pertaining to the operation of state and local governments.
Ohio Genealogical Society, 713 S. Main St, Mansfield, OH 44907-1644;(419) 756-7294, [EMAIL]
Columbus Metropolitan Library, Genealogy Division, 96 S. Grant Ave., Columbus, OH 43215. 614-645-2ASK (2275);The Genealogy Division holds microfilm; printed, typescript, and manuscript collections, including family and local histories; atlases; cemetery records; city directories; military records; censuses and census indexes; and transcribed records provided by the Ohio chapters of the DAR.
Ohio Newspapers & Periodicals Records - Newspapers and periodicals are the diaries of local communities. They are excellent sources of family history details - often recorded nowhere else. Look for obituaries, marriages, legal notices, and more found in our Historical Newspaper Archives.
Ohio Genealogical Society Books at Amazon.com

Gallia County Church & Cemeteries

Click Here to Search Ohio Obituary Records! - This database is a compilation of obituaries published in U.S. newspapers, collected from various online sources. Obituaries can vary in the amount of information they contain, but many of them are genealogical goldmines, including information such as names, dates, places of birth and death, marriage information, and family relationships.

There are many churches and cemeteries in Gallia County. Some transcriptions are online. A great site is the Gallia County Tombstone Transcription Project.

Religion in Ohio was an early and important factor in settlement. The first Moravian mission was established in 1772. Presbyterians and Quakers were in the state at an early date, the latter having established forty-three monthly meetings and settlements between 1801 and 1883. The Presbyterians founded seventeen towns between 1784 and 1799. Baptists, Congregationalists, several reformed groups, Lutherans, Disciples of Christ, United Brethren, Methodists, and Catholics arrived prior to 1850. By 1890 the latter two denominations were the largest in the state. The Methodist circuit in Ohio was organized in 1798, with circuit riders traveling from log cabins to camp meetings across the territory. In 1831 the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints migrated from New York to Kirtland in Lake County. No thorough survey exists of any of the holdings of individual churches in Ohio, although many are on microfilm through the FHL. The Ohio Genealogical Society is presently undertaking a church records survey.

According to the Ohio Genealogical Society, the majority of Ohio counties have published cemetery records in one form or another. They suggest contacting local societies or one of the major genealogical libraries in the state.

Below is a list of online resources for Gallia County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing Gallia County Cemetery & Church Records by clicking the link below:

Ohio Cemetery Records: Extracted from the Old Northwest Genealogical Quarterly
Gallia County, Ohio Cemetery Books at Amazon.com
Gallia County, Ohio Church Books at Amazon.com

Family Trees & Genealogy Tidbits

Click Here to Search Ohio Family Tree Records! - The use of published genealogies, electronic files containing genealogical lineage, and other compiled sources can be of tremendous value to a researcher.

When view family trees online or not, be sure to only take the info at face value and always follow up with your own sources or verify the ones they provide. Below is a list of online resources for Gallia County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information. Email us with websites containing Gallia County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information by clicking the link below:

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Sites on USGenweb: [ Gallia County ] [ Ohio ] [ Main Page ]
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Genealogy Encyclopedia: General Abbreviations, Early Illnesses, Nickname Meanings, Worldwide Epidemics, Early Occupations, Common Terms, Censuses Explained, Free Genealogical Forms
Nichols and Related Families of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virgina.
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Ohio Family & Local History Records - The Family & Local Histories Collection lets you read journals, memoirs, and other first-hand historical narratives right on your computer. Gathered from some of the world's finest libraries, these materials may provide hard-to-find town, county, and state information; tax records and wills; military, church, and court records; as well as photographs, stories, and maps.
Genealogical Document Search and Retrieval Service
Gallia County, Ohio Family Books at Amazon.com

County History

On March 25, 1803, the Ohio legislature established Gallia County. Gallia County was originally part of Washington County. Residents named Gallia after the kingdom of Gaul, which used to exist in modern-day France. In 1790, several hundred French immigrants came to the United States, lured by land speculators representing the Scioto Company. They built a settlement in the Ohio Country which they called Gallipolis, meaning “city of the Gauls.” Once the French arrived, they discovered that the company’s representatives had swindled them. The land that they had purchased actually belonged to the Ohio Company of Associates rather than to the Scioto Company. Many of the immigrants returned east, but those who chose to stay either had to pay the Ohio Company of Associates for their land or move to an area set aside for them by the American government known as the French Grant. Those that purchased the land a second time were among the first white settlers of what became Gallia County.

Gallia County is located in the southeastern portion of Ohio and sits squarely in the heart of Appalachia. Its eastern border resides on the Ohio River. The county consists of 469 square miles of land, and it is primarily rural, with only 1.4 percent of the county deemed to be urban areas. The county seat is Gallipolis, which is the second largest community in the county, with a population of just over 4,180 people in 2000. The county’s largest community was Green Township, with a population of 5,514 people in 2000. Between 1995 and 2000, Gallia County experienced about a five percent population loss, leaving approximately 31,069 in the county in 2000. This loss in population is typical of many of Ohio’s more rural counties, as residents seek more opportunities in the state’s larger cities.

The largest employers in Gallia County are service industries and retail businesses. Among the larger employers is the Rio Grande University. Bob Evans Farm is also a major tourist attraction. It is here that Bob Evans began producing his own sausage and began to develop his restaurants. In 1995, the per capita was 19,438 dollars, with over eighteen percent of the county’s residents living in poverty, one of the highest rates in Ohio.

In 1790, land speculators representing the Scioto Company persuaded several hundred French immigrants to come to the United States. The immigrants built a settlement in the Ohio Country called Gallipolis, meaning "city of the Gauls." Once the French arrived, they discovered that the company's representatives had misled them. The land that they had purchased actually belonged to the Ohio Company of Associates rather than to the Scioto Company. Many of the immigrants returned to the East. Those who chose to stay had either to pay the Ohio Company for their land or move to the area set aside for them by the American government known as the French Grant. The French faced great difficulties during the early years of the town's settlement. Disease was common in the community due to the town's swampy conditions. Approximately one-third of the French settlers died from these diseases.

Gallipolis grew relatively slowly, despite its location along the Ohio River. The community is the county seat of Gallia County. By the 1880s, just over one thousand residents lived in the town. Numerous businesses operated in Gallipolis. Many of the manufacturing establishments made furniture, stoves, or carriages. Today, Gallipolis has a population of just over five thousand people. Most residents have found employment in the Bob Evans Farms Sausage plant, a Shell Chemical plant, the Southern Ohio Coal Company's mines, a Toyota automobile plant, and several smaller industries.

One of Gallia County's claims to fame is the longest running Emancipation Proclamation Day Celebration in the United States. This event commemorates the freedom of African-American slaves in areas in rebellion during the Civil War. The celebration in Gallia County began on September 22, 1863 on the one-year anniversary of the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation. It has been held every year since that time.

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