Searching Death Records – Digital Images Database

To search for a death record, enter the “last name” or the “last name, first name” for that person in the Name Search box. Clicking on Advance Search allows you to narrow your search to a particular volume or browse through a volume.

Introduction to the Death Records and Probate Court

Death Records
The death records are arranged chronologically by the date the death was recorded. The record contains the decedent’s full name, date of death, place of death (city/township/county and/or institution), marital status, age at death, last residence, race, place of birth, occupation, parents, whether decedent suffered from any disease, and if so what and whether a direct or indirect cause of death. Maybe indexed in the front by the decedent’s last name or grouped together by the first letter in the last name. Record retention: Permanent. Legal. Historical. OhioRevisedCode2101.12.

The probate judge maintained a permanent record of deaths from 1869 to 1908. This database includes the following volumes:

• Volume 1       1869 – 1880
• Volume 2       1881 - 1893
• Volume 3       1893 - 1909

Barr Funeral 1881

In 1909, the Health Department began recording deaths. This transition created an overlap in the record and a number of deaths for 1909 were recorded at Probate Court and the Health Department.

History of the Probate Court
Probate courts existed in the Northwest Territory prior to Ohio’s statehood. They had authority in probate, testamentary, and guardianship cases, although the probate judge and two common pleas judges issued all final judgments. In 1802 Ohio’s first constitution abolished separate probate courts and transferred their authority to the common pleas courts. Separate probate courts reappeared in 1851, when Ohio drafted a new constitution. This gave the probate court the powers to grant marriages licenses and control land sales by appointed executors, administrators, and guardians. As a result of a 1912 constitutional amendment, county voters can decide by referendum whether or not to combine the probate court with the court of common pleas. In 1969, the probate court became a division of the court of common pleas.

Fortney Funeral 1881

The probate court has original jurisdiction in the settlement of estates. The court held limited jurisdiction in minor criminal offenses from 1851 to 1932. The probate judge maintained a permanent record of births and deaths from 1867 to 1908. Since the 1850s, the court has had jurisdiction over the appointment of guardians for minors and the mentally ill; the judge can also commit the mentally ill to institutional care. The probate court exercised jurisdiction in naturalization proceedings in the last half of the nineteenth century until 1906, when the federal government assumed this power. The probate judge serves a six-year term and must be licensed attorney who has practiced law for at least six years prior to election.

While most probate court records are open to the public, records pertaining to mental and medical examinations or adoption are closed by The Ohio Revised Code Section 149.43.

Source: Ohio County Records Manual. Archives-Manuscript Division, Ohio Historical Society. Columbus, Ohio. 1977.

Creating the Death Records – Digital Collection Database

The Greene County Room – Local History & Genealogy (GCR) department of the Greene County Public Library, Xenia, Ohio provided the funding, CONTENTdm software and staff time to complete this project.  Deanna Ulvestad, Head Archivist, was the project manager. Joe Hill, Joe Greer, Lisa Pasquinelli Rickey and Lauren Woodruff, Local History Associates, entered metadata and proofread the transcriptions for 11,908 decedent names. Jim Mann, Technology Coordinator, provided a dedicated server and dealt with storage and delivery issues. Larry Fischer, Web Coordinator, provided CONTENTdm software support and web page implementation.

But the GCR did not do it alone, this multi-phased project required detailed planning and close collaboration with the following organizations:

• Greene County Records Center & Archives, Xenia, OH
  – Gillian Hill, Records & Information Manager/Archivist, partnered with the GCR and was instrumental in providing the transcriptions for the decedent names. Using the original death ledgers, Barb Lindsey and Joan Donovan, Assistants to the Archivist, transcribed 11,908 decedent names.
• OCLC Preservation Resources
  This vendor, located in Bethlehem, PA, provided digitizing services.

Miller Funeral 1881