Williams County, OhioEdit This Page

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

	Ohio Online Records

Williams County, Ohio
Map
Location of Ohio in the U.S.
Courthouse
Address	Williams County Courthouse 1 Courthouse Square Bryan, Ohio 43506 Williams County website

Historical Facts

• Parent Counties: Formed from Darke, Shelby, and Wood Counties in 1820 (1824).
  
• County Seat: Bryan
   
• Neighboring Counties: Williams County, Ohio residents may also have records in ^[1]Hillsdale County, Michigan (north) · Defiance (south) · Steuben County, Indiana (northwest) · DeKalb County, Indiana (southwest) · Henry (southeast) · Fulton (east)
  

Boundary Changes

See an interactive map of Williams County boundary changes.

Record Loss

Resources

Bible Records

Biography

Business Records and Commerce

Cemeteries

BillionGraves:

• Fountain Grove Cemetery, Bryan
• Lash Cemetery, Montpelier
• Shiffler Cemetery, Bryan

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.

Catholic

• 1796–2004 Ohio, Diocese of Toledo, Catholic Parish Records, 1796-2004 at FamilySearch Historical Records – free. This collection includes images of parish registers recording the events of baptism, first communion, confirmation, marriage, and death in the Diocese of Toledo (Ohio), Roman Catholic Church. These records are accessed by browsing the images by county. In addition to traditional parish registers, this collection includes miscellaneous cemetery records, Books of the Elect, Professions of Faith, Sick Call registers, etc.

Finding Church Records at Other Repositories

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

• WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).

Court Records

Emigration and Immigration

Ethnic, Political, or Religious Groups

Gazetteers

Genealogy

History

Local histories are available for Williams 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.

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.

Finding Land Records at Other Repositories

Additional land records can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Williams County, Ohio Land and Property Records in online catalogs like:

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

Maps

Military

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

- 100th Regiment, Ohio Infantry, Company C

- 111th Regiment, Ohio Infantry, Company C

Naturalization and Citizenship

Newspapers

{{OHnewspapers|Williams}
Online Newspapers
The Bryan Times 11,650 issues  Jan 23, 1800 - Dec 31, 2007 is online for free through news.google.com/newspapers.
Online Newspaper Abstracts
Newspaper Extracts and Abstracts in Book Form

The Williams County Public Library has an online obit index [1] to the local Williams County newspapers. Email them your index information and your snail mail address to obtain a copy of the obit.

Obituaries

Periodicals

Probate

Probate records created after 1852 are held by the Williams 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 Williams 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). ^[2] 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).

• 1790–1967 - Ohio, Probate Records, 1790-1967 at FamilySearch Historical Records – free. This collection consists of probate records and estate files from county courthouses in Ohio. The content and time period varies by county, with more records being added as they become available. This Collection will include records from 1789 to 1996. Currently, (September 2012) the collection is only searchable by browsing the images. A list of Fires that have destroyed records in the courthouses of several counties are listed on the Record Description page.
  

Finding Probate Records at Other Repositories

Additional probate records can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Williams County, Ohio Probate Records in online catalogs like:

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

Public Records

Repositories

Courthouse

Williams County Courthouse
107 W Butler Street
Bryan, OH 43506
Phone: 419.636.8253 

County Record Center has birth and death records 1867-1908,
marriage and probate records 1824-1984, divorce and court
records 1824-1977 and naturalization records 1860-1926;
County Health Department has birth and death records from 1909^[3]

Family History Centers

• Introduction to LDS Family History Centers

Libraries

William County Public Library 107 E. High Street Bryan, OH 43506

Museums

Societies

Taxation

Ohio tax records complement land records and can be used in place of censuses before 1820 or to supplement the years between censuses. Because only persons who owned taxable property were listed, many residents were not included in tax lists. There may also be gaps of several years in the tax records of some counties. For more information see the wiki page Ohio Taxation.

Finding Tax Records at Other Repositories

Additional tax records can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Williams 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 counties 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 Williams 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 Williams County, Ohio Probate Court with divorce records located with the Williams County, Ohio Clerk of Courts.

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. Finding Tax Records at Other Repositories

Additional tax records can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Williams 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).

Web Sites

• USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.
• Family History Library Catalog

Places

Populated Places

Neighboring Counties

• DeKalb County, Indiana
• Defiance
• Fulton
• Henry
• Hillsdale County, Michigan
• Steuben County, Indiana

References

1. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Williams County, Ohio" in Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williams_County,_Ohio (accessed 10 May 2012).
2. ↑ Carol Willsey Bell, Ohio Wills and Estates to 1850: An Index (Columbus, Ohio: the author, 1981). FamilySearch Books Online - Free online copy.
3. ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), Williams County, Ohio. Page 546 At various libraries (WorldCat); FHL Book 973 D27e 2002.

• This page was last modified on 14 June 2013, at 02:30.
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