Lorain County, Ohio Genealogical Records Information

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Lorain County History and Information

Lorain County Facts

Lorain County was created on December 26, 1822 (Organized in 1824) and was formed from Cuyahoga, Huron and Medina Counties. The County was named for the province of Lorraine in France. Elyria is the county seat of Lorain County. The town’s first resident was Heman Ely, who arrived in 1817. Residents named the town in honor of Ely, who donated much of the land for the community. 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.

Lorain County was named after the providence of Lorraine France. The name was requested by Herman Ely, an early settler after which the county seat of Elyria was named. Elyria is an industrial city and the home of Lorain County Community College and an extension of Kent State University. Lorain, the largest city in the county is an important Lake Erie port and shipping center.
Principle industries include: transportation equipment, machinery, metals, chemicals, gray iron castings, iron and stell tubing, plastics, boats, communication equipment, automobiles, dairy products, vegetables and sandstone.

Probate Judge has birth, marriage & probate records;
Clerk of Courts has divorce records from 1850 & civil court records from 1824;
County Recorder has land records; the Elyria Public Library & Lorain County Historical Society both have some books of this locality of genealogical interest.
Lorain County Administration Building has Birth & Death 1867-1908 ($7.00 certified, $2.00 non-certified), Marriage records from 1824 to present (certified copy $2.00), Probate records (wills, estates from 1824).
County Recorder has Land records & Military Discharge papers.
County Engineer has Free "Highway Maps of Lorain County" sent postage free, order by mail or phone.
Clerk of Courts has Divorce records from 1850,
Civil court records from 1824, and Naturalization records.
The Lorain County Health Department has Birth and Death records from 20 Dec 1908 for all of Lorain County except for the cities of Lorain and Elyria. (The staff accommodates requests for information by mail, telephone or in person.)
Elyria City Health Department has Birth and Death records from 20 Dec 1908 for Elyria city (Certified copies $7.00).
Lorain City Health Department has Birth and Death records from 20 Dec 1908 for Lorain city (Certified copies $7.00).

Counties adjacent to Lorain, Monroe County, Michigan (north), Essex County, Ontario (northeast), Ottawa County (southeast), Wood County (south), Henry County (southwest), Fulton County (west), Lenawee County, Michigan (northwest) .

Lorain County Municipalities Include Amherst, Elyria, Oberlin, Avon, Lorain, Sheffield Lake, Avon Lake, North Ridgeville, Vermilion, Grafton, Rochester, South Amherst, Kipton, Sheffield, Wellington, LaGrange . Townships Include Amherst, Eaton, New Russia, Brighton, Elyria, Penfield, Brownhelm, Grafton, Pittsfield, Camden, Henrietta, Rochester, Carlisle, Huntington, Sheffield, Columbia, LaGrange, Wellington. Other localities Include Include Brentwood Lake

The Lorain County Official Government Website
Search the Ohio USGenWeb Archives
Lorain 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 Lorain 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 Lorain County Courthouse 308 2nd Street, Elyria, OH 44035; Phone: +1-216-329-5148, unless otherwise noted below. The Official County website is located at http://www.loraincounty.com/government/ . NOTE: The record dates below are from the earliest date to present time.

Lorain County Clerk of Probate Court has Marriage Records from 1824, Birth / Death Records from 1867-1908 and Probate Records from 1840 and is located at the 225 Court Street, 6th Floor, Elyria, OH 44035; (440) 329-5175, (440) 244-6261, Fax (440) 328-2157
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.).

Lorain County Recorder has Land Records from 1822 and is located at the Administration Building, 226 Middle Ave, Elyria OH 44035; 440-329-5176
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.

Lorain County Clerk of Court of Common Pleas has Court Records from 1824 and is located at the Administration Building, 226 Middle Ave, Elyria OH 44035; 440-329-5176
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 Lorain County Court Records. Email us with websites containing Lorain 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.
Lorain 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.

Lorain 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 Lorain County Tax Records. Email us with websites containing Lorain County Tax Records by clicking the link below:

Lorain County, Ohio Tax Books at Amazon.com

Lorain 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 Lorain County Genealogical Addresses. Email us with websites containing Lorain County Genealogical Addresses by clicking the link below:

Lorain County Chapter, OGS, PO Box 865, Elyria, OH 44036-0865; Lorain County Chapter, OGS has regular meetings on the second Monday of each month at 7:00pm at the Oberlin Public Library. Special meetings will be announced in The Researcher.
The Wellington Genealogical Group, PO Box 265, Wellington OH, 44090
Lorain County Historical Society, Hicks Memorial Library, 509 Washington Avenue, Elyria OH 44035; 440-322-3341
Black River Genealogists, Meet at the Lorain Public Library, 351 6th St, Lorain OH 44052
Elyria City Health Department, 202 Chestnut St, Elyria OH 44035; 440-323-7595
Lorain County Health Department, 9880 South Murray Ridge Rd, Elyria OH 44035; 440-322-6367
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

Lorain 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 Lorain County. Some transcriptions are online. A great site is the Lorain 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 Lorain County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing Lorain County Cemetery & Church Records by clicking the link below:

Ohio Cemetery Records: Extracted from the Old Northwest Genealogical Quarterly
Lorain County: Amherst News-Times Obituaries Index (recent)
Lorain County Probate Online Records Search 1990-present
Lorain County Cemeteries
Lorain County, Ohio Cemetery Books at Amazon.com
Lorain 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 Lorain County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information. Email us with websites containing Lorain County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information by clicking the link below:

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Sites on USGenweb: [ Lorain County ] [ Ohio ] [ Main Page ]
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Genealogical Document Search and Retrieval Service
Lorain County, Ohio Family Books at Amazon.com

County History

On December 26, 1822, the Ohio government authorized the creation of Lorain County. It originally was a portion of Huron, Medina, and Cuyahoga Counties. It also was a part of the Connecticut Western Reserve. The county is named for the Lorraine region of France. Many of the county’s earliest white settlers were opposed to slavery. Oberlin College was the first institution of higher education in the United States to admit women and African Americans into the same classes as white men.

Lorain County is located in northern Ohio and covers 493 square miles, with its northern border lying on Lake Erie. The county has grown in recent years, as residents of nearby Cleveland in Cuyahoga County have moved to Lorain and surrounding counties to escape the busyness of the city. Between 1990 and 2000, Lorain County’s population increased by five percent to a total of 284,664 residents in 2000. Elyria is the county seat and the second largest community in the county, with 55,953 residents in 2000. The county averages 577 residents per square mile.

Lorain County is overwhelmingly rural, with only seven percent of the county deemed to be urban, but most residents earn their livings by working in manufacturing, sales, or service positions. Farming ranks eighth. Some county residents also earn their livings on Lake Erie, working in the city of Lorain’s harbor, sending products across the Great Lakes and around the world. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, steel was a major industry in Lorain County. The county’s average income was approximately 25,700 dollars per person in 1999, with 10.4 percent of the population living in poverty.

Elyria is the county seat of Lorain County. The town’s first resident was Heman Ely, who arrived in 1817. Residents named the town in honor of Ely, who donated much of the land for the community. The town grew quickly. In 1846, 1,500 people resided in the community. That same year, Elyria contained six churches, one private school, ten stores, one newspaper office, one woolen mill, one axe factory, and one sash and blind factory.

Over the next four decades, Elyria continued to expand. In 1880, 4,777 people resided in the town, and by 1890, 5,611 inhabited the community. By 1886, two banks, two newspaper offices, and seven churches existed in Elyria. Numerous manufacturing businesses also operated in the town. Most of these businesses provided services or products to farmers residing in the surrounding countryside. Elyria’s largest employer was the Elyria Canning Company, which produced canned goods.

During the twentieth century, Elyria continued to grow. In 2000, the county seat was Lorain County’s second largest city, with a population of 55,953 residents. Lorain was the county’s largest city, exceeding Elyria’s population by approximately thirteen thousand people. One of the primary reasons for this growth was Elyria’s and Lorain County’s proximity to Cleveland, Ohio, in neighboring Cuyahoga County. Many Cleveland residents have sought to escape the busyness of the larger city by moving to the less congested Lorain County. Numerous Elyria residents commute to Cleveland to work.

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