Lawrence County, OhioEdit This Page

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Guide to Lawrence County Ohio genealogy. Birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

	Ohio Online Records

Lawrence County, Ohio
Map
Location of Ohio in the U.S.
Courthouse
Address	Lawrence County Courthouse 1 Veterans Square Ironton, Ohio 45638 Lawrence County Website

Historical Facts

• Parent Counties: Formed from Gallia and Sciota Counties 21 December 1815.^[1]
• County Seat: Ironton
• Neighboring Counties: Lawrence County, Ohio residents may also have records in ^[2]Jackson (north) · Cabell County, West Virginia (southeast) · Greenup County, Kentucky (southwest) · Gallia (northeast) · Scioto (west) · Wayne County, West Virginia and Boyd County, Kentucky (south)

Boundary Changes

See an interactive map of Lawrence County boundary changes.

Record Loss

Resources

Bible Records

Biography

Business Records and Commerce

Cemeteries

LDS Cemetery Records
Vol. 21
page 10 - Ironton
page 37 - Sugar Creek

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

See Ohio Cemeteries for more information.

Census

Church Records

Church records and the information they provide vary significantly depending on the denomination and the record keeper. They may contain information about members of the congregation, such as age, date of baptism, christening, or birth; marriage information and maiden names; and death date. For general information about Ohio denominations, view the Ohio Church Records wiki page.

Finding Church Records at Other Repositories

Additional church records can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Lawrence County, Ohio Church Records in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
• Family History Library Catalog (For instructions see FHL Catalog Place-name Search).

Court Records

Emigration and Immigration

Ethnic, Political, or Religious Groups

Gazetteers

Genealogy

History

Local histories are available for Lawrence County, Ohio. County histories may include biographies, church, school and government history, and military information. For more information about local histories see the wiki page section Ohio Local Histories.

This county was named for Captain James Lawrence, commander of the frigate Chesapeake during the War of 1812 who said "Do not give up the ship".

Land and Property

Land and property records can place an ancestor in a particular location, provide economic information, and reveal family relationships. Land records include: deeds, abstracts and indexes, mortgages, leases, grants and land patents.

See Ohio Land and Property for additional information about early Ohio land grants. After land was transferred to private ownership, subsequent transactions were usually recorded at the county courthouse and where records are currently housed.

Maps

Military

Civil War

• Civil War service men from Lawrence County served in various regiments. Men often joined a company (within a regiment)that originated in their county. Listed below are companies that had many men from Lawrence County.
  

- 4th Regiment, Ohio Cavalry, Companies G and I

- George's Independent Company, Ohio Cavalry

Naturalization and Citizenship

Newspapers

Lawrence County, Ohio newspapers may contain genealogical value including obituaries, births, marriages, deaths, anniversaries, family gatherings, family travel, achievements, business notices, engagement information, and probate court proceedings.

To access newspapers, contact public libraries, Ohio Genealogical Society chapters, college or university libraries, the Library of Congress, Google News, or the Ohio Historical Society. The Ohio Genealogical Society Obituary Database is another source of newspaper information.

For more Ohio newspaper information see the Newspaper Guides on the wiki page Ohio Newspapers.

Obituaries

Periodicals

Probate

Probate records created after 1852 are held by the Lawrence County, Ohio Probate Court. From 1797 or the creation of the county, probate records were held by the Court of Common Pleas. Most counties transferred all records to the Probate Court, but in some circumstances, Court of Common Pleas records should be searched for records prior to 1852. Most records are housed at the Lawrence County, Ohio Courthouse. Some records are on microfilm at the Ohio Genealogical Society and the Family History Library. For more complete information about the location of county probate records see:

• Carol Willsey Bell, Ohio Wills and Estates to 1850: An Index (1981). ^[3] FamilySearch Books Online - Free online copy.
  

See the wiki page Ohio Probate Records for information about how to use probate records.

Content: Probate Records may give the decedent's date of death, names of his or her spouse, children, parents, siblings, in-laws, neighbors, associates, relatives, and their place of residence.

Record types: Wills, estates, guardianships, naturalizations, marriage, adoption, and birth and death records (1867-1908 only).

Public Records

Repositories

Lawrence County Health Department

2120 South 8th Street
Ironton, OH 45638
PHONE: 740-532-2172
HOURS: M-F 8:00 – 4:00

•  The Health Department has county births and deaths certificates from 1909-present. The indexes are at Briggs Lawrence County Public Library, Hamner Room.
•  You must obtain copies of certificates at the Health Dept.
• Copies are $18.00

Give staff the name of the person and the year of death/birth. You do not have to know the month and day.

Courthouse

Lawrence County Courthouse
111 North 4th Street
Ironton, OH 45638
Phone: 740.533.4300 

Probate Court has birth records 1864-1908, marriage records
from 1900, death records1868-1933 and probate records from 1817;
County Health Department has birth and death records from 1908;
Clerk Court has court records from 1817 and divorce records from 1819;
County Recorder has land records from 1817^[1]

Family History Centers

• Introduction to LDS Family History Centers

Libraries

Briggs Lawrence County Public Library- Hamner Room
Local History and Genealogy Department
321 South Fourth Street
Ironton, OH 45638
PHONE: 740.532.1124
FAX: 740.532.4948
genealogy@briggslibrary.org
www.briggslibrary.com/hamner/aboutus.htm  

Hours: Mon-Thurs 9am – 8:30pm; Fri & Sat 9am – 5:30pm

Summer Hours: Mon-Thurs 9am – 8:30pm; Fri 9am – 5:30pm Saturday 10am-3pm

Closed Sundays

Area Records on Microfilm

• Federal Census 1820-1880 (surrounding counties)
• Wills 1847 – present
• 1890 Special Census (surrounding counties)
• Births & Deaths1868 – 1938
• Federal Census 1900-1930 (surrounding counties)
• Marriages1817 – present
• Early Court Records (Incomplete)
• Newspapers 1850 – present
• Sanborn Insurance Maps
• Some Early Furnace Records
• Some Early Court Records
• Tax Duplicate Records 1817 & 1822
• Death Indexes from Ohio Department of Health 1908-1944, excluding 1933-1937

Special Collections

• First Families of Lawrence County
• Woodland Cemetery Records
• Tombstone readings from area cemeteries
• Family History Center
• Some early Church Records
• Vertical Files of area History
• Ironton City Directories (Incomplete)
• Yearbooks (incomplete)
• Birth Indexes 1909-present
• Death Indexes 1909-present

Briggs Lawrence County Public Library does not perform genealogical research, which is requested by phone, letter or e-mail. We will return all such requests to the sender, and will respond with a list of the names of local researchers obtained from the Lawrence County Genealogical Society, who can perform those services.

The staff at Briggs Lawrence County Public Library will continue to assist all persons who visit the Phyllis Hamner Local History and Genealogy Room located at the Main Library in Ironton, Ohio.

Museums

The Lawrence County Museum has certification by the Ohio Association of Historical Societies Museums. It is operated by the Lawrence County Historical Society, a corporation since 1925. The building in which the Museum is housed is referred to, in the Registry of Historical Homes of the Rankin District, as the Colonel George N. Gray House. In 1988, the Lawrence County Historical Society acquired the property, using funds raised through contributions of community-minded individuals, members, and businesses.

The Museum features several permanent exhibits, while some areas have exhibits that change four or five times a year. Annual events are:

Ice Cream Social                       First Sunday of July
Apple Butter Day                       First Saturday of October
Christmas Exhibit Opens            First Sunday of December

A very special event in Ironton is the Museum's Candlelight Church Walk on the first Saturday evening of December.
Victorian Teas are being added to the schedule.

Societies

Lawrence County Genealogical Society
P.O. Box 1035
Proctorville, Ohio 45669-1035
Contact person:

Donald R.Clark
740-886-7230   10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Lawcoloreman@aol.com

The following organizations are under the umbrella of the Ohio Genealogical Society:

• First Families of Lawrence County
• Civil War Veterans of Lawrence County
• Settlers and Builders of Lawrence County
• Lineage Society

Application forms for these organizations are at the following URL: http://www.lawrencecountyohio.com/gensoc/gensoc.htm

Lawrence County Historical Society
506 South 6th St
Ironton, Ohio 45638
740-532-1222

Taxation

Finding Tax Records at Other Repositories

Additional tax records can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Lawrence County, Ohio Tax Records in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
• Family History Library Catalog (For instructions see FHL Catalog Place-name Search).

Vital Records

Vital records consist of birth, death, marriage and divorce records. Although Ohio enacted a statute in 1856 -1857 requiring registration of births, deaths and marriages, many did not comply. A second law was written in 1867 but, again, was not always followed. By 1908, the law was more clearly defined and kept. Any existing birth and death records from 1867 through December 19, 1908 are located at the Lawrence County, Ohio Probate Court. The Ohio Department of Health has birth records filed after December 20, 1908 and death records filed after January 1, 1954 while the Ohio Historical Society houses death records from December 20, 1908 through December 31, 1953.

Original marriage records are held at the office of the Lawrence County, Ohio Probate Court with divorce records located with the Lawrence County, Ohio Clerk of Courts.

View birth, marriage, and death indexes and more online at The Lawrence Register.

Birth

Marriage

Death

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.

Web Sites

• The Lawrence County OH GenWeb Project, a member of The OHGenWeb Project, an affiliate of The USGenWeb Project.

• Family History Library Catalog.

Places

Populated Places

References

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), [FHL book 973 D27e 2002].
2. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Lawrence County, Ohio" in Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_County,_Ohio (accessed 10 May 2012).
3. ↑ Carol Willsey Bell, Ohio Wills and Estates to 1850: An Index (Columbus, Ohio: the author, 1981). FamilySearch Books Online - Free online copy.

• This page was last modified on 17 May 2013, at 02:22.
• This page has been accessed 3,363 times.