Ohio, Cuyahoga County Probate Files, 1813-1932

What is in This Collection?

The collection consists of case files to the Probate Dockets from the Cuyahoga County courthouse in Cleveland for the years 1813 to 1932. The files are arranged by docket number and case number. The earliest records are designated Common Plea (before the formation of the Probate Court).

The Probate Dockets began alphabetically, A through P, and changed to numeric listing beginning with 17 (replacing Q, the 17th letter). Docket folders marked with a "C" or "No Docket Specified" are miscellaneous files. ;They contain out of order documents from several dockets. Dockets 62, 69, 80, 87, 94, 105, 110, 111, 112, 115, 120 and 125 in their entirety are not available for public use and were not imaged.

This collection is being published as images become available.

For more information about these records see the section "General Information About These Records" below.

Additional records and/or images may be added to this collection in the future.

To Browse This Collection

What Can These Records Tell Me?

The following information may be found in these records:

Probate

• Name of the testator or deceased
• Names of heirs, such as spouse, children, other relatives, or friends
• Name of the executor, administrator, or guardian
• Names of witnesses
• Dates the documents were written and recorded (used to approximate event dates since a will was usually written near the time of death)
• Description and value of personal property or land owned by the deceased

Collection Content

Sample Images

• Ohio Cuyahoga County Probate Records
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  1913 Probate Record Example 1

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  1910 Probate Record Example 2

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  1913 Probate Record Example 3

Probate records were used to legally dispose of a person’s estate after his or her death. If the deceased had made a will, the probate process transferred the following from the deceased to an executor or executrix: the legal responsibility for payment of taxes, care and custody of dependent family members, liquidation of debts, and transfer of property title to heirs. If there was no will, the transfer went to an administrator or administratrix. A guardian or conservator was appointed if the deceased had heirs younger than 21 or if the heirs were incompetent due to disability or disease. Other cases reflect the variety of issues that were solved in the Probate Court system.

The death date, residence, and other facts that were current at the time of the probate proceedings are reliable, but realize that there is still a chance of misinformation. The records may omit the names of deceased family members or those who had previously received an inheritance. In some cases, the spouse mentioned in the will was not the parent of the children mentioned. Also, some wills do not name family members.

Probate Dockets contain many different types of cases.

• Estates - Three types of cases have been indexed as Estate. There may be several estate cases for one individual
  

• Minor - establishing guardianship for juveniles of deceased, or as otherwise needed
• Name Change - Legal name changes, indexed by both the new and the old legal names
• Assignment - Before Bankruptcy Court was established, trustees were assigned to individuals or companies with financial difficulties
• Appropriation - Cases of eminent domain for parks, roadways, etc. Only the first defendant has been indexed as cases may have dozens of defendants
• Consent to Marry - Parent or Guardians permission for underage marriage
• License to Marry - Clergy license
• House of Refuge, Industrial Home, Industrial School, Reform Farm, Reform School - assignments of delinquent