Ohio, Probate Records, 1789-1996

What is in This Collection?

This collection includes probate records from 1789 to 1996. 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 powers 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 power to 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.

Fires have destroyed some Ohio county courthouse records, including the following:

• Adams County. A courthouse fire in early 1910 destroyed most of the probate records up to that point. Will book abstracts from 1849 to 1860 and some pre-1860 guardianship papers survived
• Delaware County. A fire in 1835 destroyed most early records. Will records from 1812 survived
• Hamilton County. The courthouse has had three fires: one in 1814, the second on 9 July 1849, and the third on 30 March 1884. The 1884 fire resulted in the most lost records
• Licking County. A courthouse fire on 3 April 1875 destroyed many of the early probate court records
• Champaign County. A courthouse fire in 1948 destroyed the intestate records in the probate court
• Fulton County. The first courthouse was located in Ottokee. A fire broke out on the night of July 14, 1864, and destroyed many of the early records. It seems that a Judge Barber had made a personal record of the early wills. This old book is referred to as "Barber's Abstracts" and is available at the county records center
• Henry County. The courthouse was destroyed by fire on 17 April 1847. The court records were destroyed in the fire
• Seneca County. The courthouse was destroyed by fire on 29 May 1841. Probate records exist from 1828. Some of the records in this county have been reconstructed in part by using other documents such as deeds and early newspaper accounts of individuals’ deaths

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

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The following information may be found in these records:

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  1825 Probate Index