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This site will tell you just about everything that you need to know about doing genealogy research in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County. From where to find records, both online and in person, and how to go about getting them. For information on the history of Cleveland and its various neighborhoods, see my sister site here:

https://sites.google.com/site/clevelandanditsneighborhoods/

Topics: Scroll down

Births

Deaths

Suburbs that maintain their own Birth and Death Certificates

Obituaries

Funeral Homes

Marriages

Cemeteries

Catholic Church Records

Useful Cuyahoga County Websites

Other Cuyahoga County Genealogy Collections

Property Deeds - Recorder's Office

Cuyahoga County Auditor

Courts in Cuyahoga County

Cuyahoga County Probate Court Estate Case Files - Index and Images

Cuyahoga County Naturalization Records

Census

City Directories

Maps and Atlases

Military

Newspapers

Schools

Taxes

Voter Information

Q. Where can I find BIRTH records for Cuyahoga County?

Answer 1 - For births before December 20, 1908, contact the Cuyahoga County Archive by emailing them at: archive@cuyahogacounty.us

- Supply
  - - the name of the child,
    - approximate date, and
    - your mailing address.

There is no charge for less than 40 pages

*** FREE - If you have a Cuyahoga County Public Library Card you can access Fold 3 for free from home. Go to: https://www.cuyahogalibrary.org/Research/Genealogy.aspx, click on Fold 3, enter your library card number and password. Once you are on the Fold 3 page, click Browse and then choose Vital Records, then Cuyahoga County Birth Returns, then choose a year and then the letter of the last name you are interested in. These records cover 1849 and then 1871-1908.

THE BEST ROUTE:

For births before 1908, there is a wonderful records collection on the FamilySearch website. The website below includes birth indices, birth register indices, birth registers, and the actual birth returns. The heading shows 1841-2003, but I don't see anything past 1910. These are the birth records that are housed at the Cuyahoga County Archive. These are images, but these records are searchable as well. This record set would be the most original of all birth records.

You can search these records here:

https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1932106

Note for those researching adopted individuals - If you have a birth date for the individual that was put up for adoption, you can browse through the birth returns for that date and pay close attention to just click through the returns for that entire date. Sometimes, at the end of the returns that have names on them, there are birth returns that have no name at all. I found the birth record of one of my adopted out relatives using this method.

Answer 2 - For births from December 20, 1908 to the present, contact the Ohio Dept. of Health, Div. of Vital Records at:

Ohio Dept. of HealthRevenue Room246 North High StreetP.O. Box 15098Columbus, OH 43215-0098

Telephone: (614)466-2531 recording; (614)644-5635; fax (614)466-6604

Hours: Mon-Fri 7:45am-4:30pm ET

URL: http://www.odh.ohio.gov/vs

Allow 4-6 weeks upon receipt

Checks payable to "Treasury, State of Ohio"

Cost per birth cert. is now $21.50 each

UNCERTIFIED COPIES ARE NO LONGER AVAILABLE

SASE is STILL required

Provide them with the name of the child, county of birth and approx.

date of birth AND A SASE WITH SUFFICIENT POSTAGE FOR THE NUMBER OF CERTIFICATES REQUESTED..

Postage: Figure about 5 copies per postal ounce. $0.45 for first ounce,

and $0.24 for each additional oz. See Postal rates at:

http://www.usps.gov/

OTHER BIRTH RECORDS CAN BE FOUND HERE:

Ohio Births and Christenings 1821-1962 https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1680845

Cleveland Birth Affidavits and Corrections 1860-1908 http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohcdrt/

ANOTHER LOCATION FOR OHIO BIRTH CERTIFICATES 1909-PRESENT:

Ohio birth certificates 1909-PRESENT can be obtained from any health department in Ohio. Ask for the original, long, genealogy form rather than the transcribed computerized version. Some health departments charge lower cost than others, but none are less than $21.50 by law. Cleveland charges $25 plus an additional fee for credit card use. Cleveland also requires you to have the exact birth date, place, and name or they will not issue it. They also require a photo ID in person. You can make a research appointment at the location in City Hall in downtown Cleveland from 10 a.m. to 12:00 on weekdays and do the searching yourself.

Q. Where Can I find DEATH records for Cuyahoga County?

Answer #1 Family Search has all Ohio death certificates from December 20, 1908 - December 31, 1953 online at:

https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1307272

Alternately, you can also contact the Akron- Summit County Public Library

Akron-Summit County Public Library

Special Collections

60 South High Street

Akron, OH 44326-0001

330-642-9030

speccollections@akronlibrary.org

speccollections@ascpl.lib.oh.us

http://www.akronlibrary.org/

The Akron-Summit County Public Library sends out these request more quickly than the State Dept. of Health and is much cheaper. You cannot get an uncertified copy at the Dept. of Health such as that that you will get from Akron-Summit Library. So, it is recommended that you order your death certificates from here.

Answer #2 For deaths before Dec. 20, 1908, contact the Cuyahoga County Archive by emailing them at archive@cuyahogacounty.us

- Supply
  - - the name of the deceased,
    - approximate date,
    - and your mailing address.

There is no charge for less than 40 pages

Answer #3 For deaths between December 20, 1908 - December 31, 1963, contact the Ohio History Connection (formerly Ohio Historical Society)

You can also search their online index at http://resources.ohiohistory.org/death/

Ordering information is at the site above.

Contact them at: Ohio History Connection, Archive Library Division, 1982 Velma Avenue, Columbus, OH 43211-2497. Phone 614-297-2300.

Cost is $7.00 per death certificate. Send a check with your request.

You have to provide

1. THE FULL NAME OF THE DECEDENT,

2. THE YEAR OF DEATH

3. - AT LEAST ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:

- month/day of death or

- place of death or

- certificate number,

You can search their index at the link above and get the volume and certificate number.

Without the 3 items above, it's considered a Research Project there is an hourly charge.

Research orders for more than 2 names/certificates must be listed in chronological (date) order.

Answer #4 - For deaths between January 1, 1964 - present, contact the Ohio Dept. of Health, Div. of Vital Records at:

Ohio Department of Health Revenue Room 246 North High Street PO Box 15098 Columbus OH 43215-0098 614-466-2531 recording; 614-644-5635; fax 614-466-6604 Hours: Mon-Fri 7:45am-4:30pm ET URL: http://www.odh.ohio.gov/vs Allow 4-6 weeks upon receipt Checks payable to "Treasury, State of Ohio"

Cost per death cert. is $21.50 each and a self-addressed stamped envelope with enough postage for the number of certs. that you are requesting. UNCERTIFIED COPIES ARE NO LONGER AVAILABLE

Provide them with the name of the deceased, county of death and approximate or exact date of death.

Postage: Figure about 5 copies per postal ounce. $0.45 for first ounce,

and $0.24 for each additional oz. See Postal rates at:

http://www.usps.gov/

ADDITIONAL DEATH RECORDS CAN BE FOUND HERE:

Ohio Death Index 1908-1932, 1938-1944, and 1958-2007 https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1949341

Ohio Deaths and Burials 1854-1997 https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1681000

Cuyahoga County Probate Court Deaths 1867-1890

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohcuyah2/deaths/coarch/index.html

Cuyahoga County Coroner's Case Files 1833-1900

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohcuyah2/deaths/coroner/index.html

Additionally you can write or call the Cuyahoga County Coroner's Office at:

Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner

11001 Cedar Avenue

Cleveland, OH 44106

(216) 721-5610

http://medicalexaminer.cuyahogacounty.us/

Ask them to check their index for the individual you are looking for. They will check their files and let you know the cost to purchase a copy of the entire file.

Also, see the Coroner's page on the Cuyahoga County USGENWEB site:

http://usgenwebsites.org/OHCuyahoga/Coroner/index.html

NOTE: Suburbs which register their own births and deaths and whose certificates would NOT be available at Cleveland City Hall are the following. Contact the City Hall of these cities to get more information:

Bedford

East Cleveland

Euclid

Lakewood

Parma

Q. Where can I find obituaries?

For 1850 - the present, go to: https://cpl.org/newsindex/ You can then use the date of death to get birth and death records and information from cemeteries. For obits that do not have the entire text of the obituary, but just a date and page number, you can contact the following to get copies:

1. For three or less, please contact the Center for Local and Global History at the Cleveland Public Library Library, either by regular mail, e-mail or telephone at:

Center for Local & Global History

Cleveland Public Library

325 Superior Ave.

Cleveland, OH 44114-1271

216-623-2864

email: CLGH@cpl.org

Copies will be mailed to you free-of-charge. DON'T FORGET TO INCLUDE YOUR MAILING ADDRESS IF YOU MAKE ANY REQUESTS BY E-MAIL.

2. If you need more than three, contact the Photoduplication Dept. at the same mailing address provided above or via e-mail: <sci3@library.cpl.org>. They will give you an estimate of the charges involved.

3. If you live nearby, copies can be made by visiting the Microform Center at the Cleveland Public Library. The cost is 10 cents per page.

For obits from the past six months, go to:

http://www.cleveland.com/obits/

Q. Where can I find information on Funeral Homes?

See the Funeral Home page on the Cuyahoga County USGENWEB site:

http://usgenwebsites.org/OHCuyahoga/Funeral/index.html

Q. Where can I find Marriage records?

Answer:

The best route to go is to use FamilySearch.

Family Search has a few different marriage records databases with an index

AND IMAGES in most cases. Try these two sites directly below to see if an image of the record is

available before writing to the archive or marriage license bureau to get an actual copy.

Ohio Marriages 1800-1942

https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/2367319

Ohio Marriages 1800-1958 (Volumes 1-566)

https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1681001

Ohio County Marriages 1789-2016

https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1614804

SECOND BEST IS THE NEW MARRIAGE INDEX AT:

http://probate.cuyahogacounty.us/pa/CaseSearch.aspx

Use the Search by Person section. You can search by last name only, or first and last name. The last name field must contain at least two letters. If you wish to limit your search to females or males only, click on "party role" and choose bride or groom. Under "case category" choose Marriage.

When the results appear, you will have to click on each name to see more information about who that person married and the date. Disregard any dates that you see before 1998, as all records before 1998 appear to have the same date of 1900, and thus the date is not helpful or correct. However, the date of marriage for marriages after 1998 are correct. If you see a date of 1900 and want to learn the real date, make note of the VOLUME and PAGE NUMBER that appears in the individual record.

Once you have the volume and page number, go to:

https://sites.google.com/site/faqcuyahogactyresearch/home/marriage-index-years

and you can check my webpage to see a list of the volume numbers and what years that volume covers.

Copies of marriage for Volumes 1-200 are at the Cuyahoga County Archive. Email them at archive@cuyahogacounty.us and provide the names of the bride and groom, the volume and page number, and include your mailing address. There is no charge for 40 copies or less.

Copies of marriages for Volumes higher than 200 are at the Marriage License Bureau in the Old Courthouse on Lakeside Avenue.

Cuyahoga County - Probate Court

Marriage License Bureau

County Courthouse

1 Lakeside Ave., N.W., Rm. 146

Cleveland, OH 44114

216-443-8920

They also have an index there for 1810 to the present available on microfilm. There is one microfiche viewer for the marriage indexes (one by husband's name and the other by wife's name. Certified copies are $1 each for the short form and $2 each for the long form (preferred). Uncertified long form copies are 25 cents each. They do not accept checks so send a money order or go in person and pay cash. Include a SASE if ordering by mail.

Once you have the marriage record, you will see the name of the Pastor that performed the ceremony. Go here to look up the pastor's name and see which church he served at:

https://sites.google.com/site/faqcuyahogactyresearch/cleveland-pastors-and-their-churches

Western Reserve Historical Society has microfilm of marriages through 1960.

Fairview Park Library has microfilm of marriages for Volume 1-200. (through October 1949)

Q. Where can I find cemetery records?

Answer 1: The City of Cleveland maintains records for all City owned cemeteries.

Beginning November 11, 2011, all the record books for the City owned cemeteries are now located at:

Camp George Forbes

25440 Harvard Avenue

Highland Hills, OH

216-348-7210

To research the records at George Forbes you must first obtain a permit from the Legal Department of the City of Cleveland. The records are essentially closed due to supposed theft, but with a permit, one can research. It is good to check so that you can see the plot drawings.

The records at George Forbes are the record books that used to be at Highland Park Cemetery at:

21400 Chagrin Blvd.

Beachwood, OH 44122-5308

216-348-7210

The cemeteries covered by the record books at the Camp George Forbes office are:

Alger, Brookmere, Denison, Erie Street, Harvard Grove, Highland Park,

Monroe Street, Scranton Road, West Park, and Woodland.

BEST SITE FOR CITY OF CLEVELAND OWNED CEMETERIES - INDEX AND IMAGES!!

http://usgenwebsites.org/OHCuyahoga/Cemeteries/clecems/index.html

Note: On the above site you can click through and see the actual images of the cemetery records. Only Scranton Cemetery are the original handwritten records. All other cemeteries were typed from the handwritten images, so there may be misspellings there.

Private Cemeteries Index:

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohcuyah2/cems/trans.html

Cuyahoga County USGENWEB site for Cemeteries - a large spreadsheet of each and every cemetery in Cuyahoga County and where their records can be found

http://usgenwebsites.org/OHCuyahoga/Cemeteries/index.html

Answer 2: The Diocese of Cleveland maintains records for Catholic Cemeteries.

Contact them at:

Diocese of Cleveland

Catholic Cemeteries Association

10000 Miles Ave

P.O. Box 605310

Cleveland OH 44105-0310

216-641-7575

There are fees involved for these lookups!

Q. Where can I find church records for Catholic Churches?

Answer: Diocese of Cleveland

Archivist

Chancery Building

1031 Superior Ave

Cleveland OH 44114

216-696-6525

URL: http://dioceseofcleveland.org/

Fee: $10/hour of research.

- Closed parishes have sent their records to the diocese archives.
- Some older churches have sent all their records pre-1900 to the archives.
- There is no one central record-keeping place for Catholic Church records in the Diocese.
- There will usually be minimal records at every church, the least information required by cannon law: name, event, priest, witnesses.
- Might be additional information such as an address, country of emmigration or birth, village name.
- There was some form of registration at each church, if your ancestors actually "joined" and didn't just attend.

Q. What are some useful websites for research?

Answers:

See the link above on the left for "Helpful Websites" as well as those below.

https://familysearch.org Main page for resources provided by the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints (LDS)

http://www.CyndisList.com/ Major genealogical index site referencing over 120,000 genealogy links.

https://www.usgenweb.org/ US Genweb. Find a State that you want to look at and find webpages for counties in that state with lots of good info on how to search and what is online for that state.

http://www.ancestry.com/ Another great site to see what genealogies people have submitted on the web

http://genforum.genealogy.com/oh/cuyahoga/ Great message board for Cuyahoga County. On the top of this page, under forum finder, you can enter a surname, or another state. Let's say you enter Pennsylvania. That page will come up and then you can see the counties for PA. This is a great place to ask questions, such as whether anyone else is working on your surname, or to ask some kind soul for a lookup in that county etc. The surname pages are great too to see what other people are doing on your particular surname. I go to these surname pages and put my family there in a letter so that others can find it later.

https://www.statueofliberty.org/ellis-island/ This is the website that has the Ellis Island Passenger lists online. You can download actual pages to your computer or have them send you copies.

http://castlegarden.org/ Before Ellis Island opened, Castle Garden was the point of arrival at New York. This is a searchable site of those records.

Q. Is there another way to find a birth and death date?

Answer: Visit the Social Security Death Index at:

https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1202535

Q. What other genealogy collections are available in Cuyahoga County?

Answers

Go to the Repositories page at the Cuyahoga County USGENWEB site:

http://usgenwebsites.org/OHCuyahoga/Repositories/index.html

Cleveland Public Library

325 Superior Ave (NE corner of E 3rd & Superior)

Cleveland OH 44114-1271

216-623-2904 Newspaper (email: NEWS2@library.cpl.org)

216-623-2910 Microforms (email: microform.center@cpl.org)

216-623-2864 History & Geography

216-623-2800 General Information (email: info@cpl.org)

URL: http://www.cpl.org/

HOURS: 9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Monday - Saturday; 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Sunday (during school year)

PARKING: Street parking near the Library is limited. There are several commercial lots in the area.

NOTE: Materials useful to genealogical research are dispersed throughout the Main Library Complex, which covers a city block. The History & Geography Department on the 6th floor of the Louis Stokes Wing is a good starting point. The library does not collect individual family histories; the Western Reserve Historical Library does. Nor does the Library collect vital records. Sources of those records are listed elsewhere in this pamphlet. The following is a summary of the types of material to be found in the various Departments.

BUSINESS, ECONOMICS & LABOR: (2nd floor, Louis Stokes Wing) Who's who file of Cleveland businessmen. Criss-Cross by address for Cuyahoga County - current yeat only.

PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION: (4th floor North, Louis Stokes Wing) Photographs of prominent Clevelanders. Approximately 22,000 images of individual Cleveland residences.

HISTORY & GEOGRAPHY: (6th floor, Louis Stokes Wing) Genealogy how-to books. Cleveland city directories 1936-1980. Criss-Cross by address for Cuyahoga County 1960 to the present. Biographical clipping files on prominent Clevelanders. Ohio county histories. Printed indexes to Ohio Census 1820-1880 (1870 index Is for Cleveland only). Rosters of Ohio soldiers in the Civil War, Spanish-American War and WWI. "Pennsylvania Archives". "PERSI". Civil War regimental histories. British parish registers; with index. English county histories. Coats-of-arms index. "Morton Allan directory of European Passenger Steamship Arrivals" (1890-1930). Indexes to published passenger lists. Lists of immigrants from specific ethnic groups such as German, Irish, Italian and Russian. Meanings of names, often in English translation.

African Americans: "Black Loyalist Directory". "On the Trail of the Buffalo Soldier: Biographies of African Americans in the U.S. Army, 1866-1917". "United States Colored Troops" (Civil War).

"Records of Ante-Bellum Southern Plantations from the Revolution through the Civil War". "Slavery in Ante-Bellum Southern Industries

-printed indexes for these two microfilm sets are in History; actual sets are in the Microform Center.

Also "Changes in Cleveland street and house numbers, 1905-6: old and new street numbers" (OCoLC)30481303 and Call No. Ref F499.C675 O42 1905x.

MAP COLLECTION: (6th floor North, Louis Stokes Wing) Sanborn fire insurance maps of Cleveland 1886-1972/73. Atlases of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County from the later 19th century. Plat books of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County 1912-1966/68. Ward maps of Cleveland and some suburbs 1852 to the present. Historical atlases and pre-WWI maps of Europe. Reproductions of British Ordnance Survey Maps circa 1820-1850s.

MICROFORM CENTER: (1st floor West, Main Building) Necrology file of paid obituaries from Cleveland newspapers 1833, 1847-48, 1850 to the present. Cleveland city directories 1837-1960. Complete runs of suburban city directories (years vary with suburb). Cleveland telephone directories 1880 to the present. Complete runs of Cleveland newspapers, induding the "Call & Post". "Cleveland Blue Book" (social register) 1888 to the present. File of Cuyahoga County soldiers who served in WWII and Korea compiled from local newspaper columns during those wars; usually includes a small photo and 1 or 2 lines about the serviceman. Ohio Census 1820-1920 with Soundex index for 1880-1920. "Index" to the roster of Ohio soldiers in the Civil War. [Microform viewers all have printers.]

Also "Changes in Cleveland street and house numbers, 1905-6: old and new street numbers" (OCoLC)30481303 and Call No. F499.C675 O42 1905x (microfilm).

FOREIGN' LITERATURE: (4th floor South, Main Building) Meanings of names, usually in original language. Language dictionares. Foreign encyclopedias. Basic translation help.

SERVICES:

REFERENCE HELP: There are no trained genealogists on staff. Guidance in doing in-depth or time-consuming research is provided in-person at the Library. Present staffing levels do not permit librarians to do complete genealogical searches.

ELECTRONIC RESOURCES: Online and CD-ROM resources provide computer access to a world of information. For example: available on CD-ROM in History is the "Army Official Records" (Civil War) and on History's website - "Christine's Genealogy" (African-American genealogy sites and sources).

OFF-SITE STORAGE: Many older volumes are not housed in the Main Library Complex due to the size of the collection. Call ahead to have books retrieved from off-site and held on reserve.

COPY EQUIPMENT: Coin operated self-serve copiers are available in all departments, as are coin changers. [$0.10 / copy in 1999]

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Cuyahoga County Archive

3951 Perkins Avenue

Cleveland OH 44114

216-443-7250; Fax +1 (216) 443-3636

URL:

https://www.cuyahogacounty.us/publicworks/archives-hub

EMAIL: archive@cuyahogacounty.us

HOURS: Monday and Wednesday through Friday 8:30am-3:00pm ET

DIRECTIONS: From downtown Cleveland: take Superior West (becomes Detroit Ave) to W 25th St South (left) to Franklin Blvd West (right) to 2905 (left). Free parking in the Archives gravel lot west of the building.

FEES: Uncertified copies are $0.25/each.

COMMENTS: There is a collection of viewers, a couple of which have printers too. "The Cuyahoga County Archives, a department of the Board of County Commissioners, was organized in the summer of 1975 and serves as a repository for the historical records of Cuyahoga County, and for current records requiring temporary maintenance. A research library is available for the convenience of persons using the records in the County Archives and trained personnel are always available to provide advice on any specific research problem. The offices, storage facilities and the research library are all located in the Robert Russell Rhodes House, a Victorian Italianate mansion built in 1874."

RECORDS OF INTEREST IN THE ARCHIVES:

- Board of County Commissioners Journals, 1810-1985.
- List of Electors, 1893-1982 (not inclusive).
- Township and ward maps, 1860, 1870, 1880, and 1890.
- Atlases: Cuyahoga County 1852, 1874, 1892, and 1903; also City of Cleveland, 1881 and 1898.
- County Building Commission Journals, including Cuyahoga County Court House, Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, and certain other county buildings and bridges.
- Probate Court estate case files, 1813-1913; indexes, 1813-1941.
- Registrations and Charters of Religious and Other Societies, 1845-1924.
- Marriage records, 1810-1941, originals; and index, 1810 to the present, available on microfilm.
- Divorce case files, 1876-1882, Court of Common Pleas; also Ohio SUpreme Court records, 1811-1858, and Court of Common Pleas Special Docket files, 1876-1922.
- Naturalization records, 1818-1971, Court of Common Pleas; also Probate Court naturalization records, 1859-1901.
- Birth record, 1849-1908.
- Death records, 1840-1908.
- Abstract of Votes, 1893-1974, Board of Elections.
- Civil War Bounty Record, 1862.
- Road Records, 1802-1898.
- County Surveyor's Records, 1823-1893.
- Cleveland City Directories, 1837-1939 (not inclusive).
- Necrology File, 1850-1950; 1951-1975.
- Board of Elections Register of Naturalized Voters, 1836-1972.
- Justice of the Peace Records
- Court records - indexed in a book in the research room.
- Property cards and tax duplicates 1819-1986 (not inclusive)

RESEARCH POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

- Please request only one type of record at a time. Place requests on paper.
- Staff members will bring all research materials to the reference rooms.
- Archive staff make all desired photocopies. Photocopies are NOT MADE when the original records may be damaged or harmed in the process.
- There is a fee of twenty-five cents per page to photocopy a document or entry.
- The reference area closes promptly at 3:00 p.m. to give staff members the opportunity to re-shelve archival material, and to prepare for the next business day.
- Volunteers assist the staff and can answer most questions and help begin research.

Cuyahoga County Public Library - Fairview Park Regional Library

21255 Lorain Ave

Fairview Park OH 44070

440-333-4700

INFORMATION: City directories 1831-1930. Cleveland Necrology File (index of death notices and obituaries appearing in greater Cleveland newspapers). Cuyahoga County Marriage License Index, and many, many books on local history, histories of the States and Counties in the Western Reserve, and much more.

Their website is here:

https://www.cuyahogalibrary.org/Research/Genealogy.aspx

In order to make the jump to other countries, you need to know a town there. That is most likely found on the naturalization papers, church records, or death certificate. Once you have a town, you can look at the catalog for the Mormon Church (Latter Day Saints - LDS) library. https://familysearch.org/ This church has filmed records from all over the world. It is part of their religion, but you don't have to be a Mormon to order their films. There are two branches here in Cleveland that have a library. One is in Kirtland and the other is in Westlake. You can go to their library and order a film for just $3.50. The main library in Salt Lake City sends that film to the local branch in Westlake for instance, and you have one month to view the film at the Westlake library.

Family History Center

Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints

8854 Chillicothe Rd

Kirtland OH 44094

440-256-8808

Family History Center

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

25000 Westwood Rd

Westlake OH 44145

440-779-6195

HOURS: Tues-Sat 10am-2pm ET and Thu-Fri 7pm-9pm ET. Be sure to call ahead, because if there is no one there, they may leave.

DIRECTIONS: From Cleveland, take I-90 East, exit OH-306 Kirtland - Mentor. Turn right on OH-306. Go down into valley. When the road starts to bend right and goes up out of the valley, you can make a left turn onto Kirtland-Chardon Rd. At first stop sign turn left onto Chillicothe Rd, next left into parking lot for Newell K. Whitney General Store Visitor Center. On the left is the Visitor Center, on the right is the Family History Center, sign in front of the house.

Western Reserve Historical Society (WRHS)

Archives/Library

10825 East Blvd

Cleveland OH 44106

216-721-5722

URL: http://www.wrhs.org/

COMMENTS: Can be expensive, but good collection. Especially for early Cleveland and it's settlers.

DIRECTIONS: From downtown Cleveland, I-90 East to Martin Luther King Jr (MLK) Drive. Left onto Martin Luther King Jr (MLK) Drive, South about 2+ miles to traffic circle just past East 105th Street. About 60% around the circle to East Blvd (East or North?). East Blvd (East or North?) past the VA Hospital on left to East 108th St. Left onto East 108th St. 1 block to Magnolia Dr. Right onto Magnolia Dr. to 2nd WRHS driveway on right (1st is employees'). Take driveway to WRHS parking lot on left.

HOURS: Thursday - Saturday 10am-5pm

FEES: Admission $10/person. You must also pay for parking.

INFORMATION:

The library of the Western Reserve Historical Society is the largest American history research center in Northern Ohio. Its holdings consist of 235,000 books; 25,000 volumes of newspapers; 30,500 rolls of microfilm; 1,000,000 prints and photographs; and more than 3,000 collections of manuscripts and archives which comprise more than six million items. The library is the principal respository for histories, records, and papers relating to the growth and development of Cleveland and that portion of northeastern Ohio once known as the Western Reserve of Connecticut. ...

GENEALOGY COLLECTIONS:

The Society was one of the first institutions in America to collect genealogical materials and is, today, one of the largest family history research centers in the country. Although the focus of the collections is on source materials for the region east of the Mississippi River, major sources for other states are collected, especially through donation. The library's genealogical holdings include the following:

Family Histories - more than fifteen thousand genealogies (books, pamphlets, manuscripts, and microforms) and numerous publications of family associations.

Federal Records and Indexes - including all available federal census schedules on microfilm from 1790 through 1920; 1880 Soundex for all states; the 1900, 1910, and 1920 Soundex for Ohio and some surrounding states; and the passenger lists for New York City, 1820-1841 (index for 1820-1846), and for Baltimore, 1820-1879.

Local Records (microform) - New England marriages prior to 1700. Connecticut State vital records compiled by Charles R. Hale, vital records for several Ohio counties, Cleveland necrology file 1850-1975, and the Ohio Surname index to county histories.

Military Records - Revolutionary War Pension Applications and Bounty Land Files and index to War of 1812 pension applications on microfilm, Revolutionary War and War of 1812 rosters for most states, numerous Civil War state rosters and regimental histories, rosters of Ohio soldiers in the Spanish-American War and World War I, and compiled records of more than 50,000 World War veterans in Cuyahoga County."

Q. Where can I find property deeds?

Answer:

Cuyahoga County Recorder

County Administration Bldg.

1219 Ontario Street

Cleveland, OH 44113

This site currently has all deeds from the founding of Cuyahoga County!!

http://recorder.cuyahogacounty.us/searchs/generalsearchs.aspx

To do a complete search at this site, enter the dates 01/01/1810 - (the present date).

Enter a last name. The first name needs to be supplied as well, but a wildcard search under the first name works as well, so just enter * in the first name location.

You then hit enter and a page comes up asking you to confirm the search. Hit yes and then the list of deeds comes up.

Then click on a particular deed and more detailed information appears. At that point click on "View" to view the deed while online or download the deed to your computer for further use.

Q. How do I use the County Auditors site to find information about my property?

https://myplace.cuyahogacounty.us/

This site is useful if you have an address that you want to know more about and dovetails well with the previous site.

Type in an address following the directions on the screen. All addresses have to have five digits. So, for instance, if you are searching for 2064 W. 55th, you would enter "02064" for the address.

In the street box you enter "55".

In the direction box you would enter "W" and Hit search.

If the address still exists today, you will get information about it. You can then click on the parcel ID and more information will appear.

If you then click on "Transfer History" at the top of the page, a new page will appear. Just above the transfer date is the word "previous". If you click on that and keep clicking on that you will see the ownership of the property working back through time. If you click on "Residential Building Sketch" you can even see a drawing of the house.

Q. What are the addresses for the various Courts in Cleveland?

Answers:

See the Courts page at the Cuyahoga County USGENWEB site:

http://usgenwebsites.org/OHCuyahoga/Courts/index.html

Justice Center - Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court

1200 Ontario St.

Cleveland, OH 44113

216-443-7950

The Justice Center is on the south side of Lakeside Avenue, across from the Old Courthouse. It holds the Clerk of Courts for both Civil and Criminal cases.

http://coc.cuyahogacounty.us/ Here you can search criminal and civil court case dockets.

Civil Division - 216-443-7966 Cases before 1912 are at the archive. Cases after 1912 are at the Justice Center.

Criminal Division - 216-443-7985

Cuyahoga County Courthouse - Probate Court

1 W. Lakeside Avenue

Cleveland, OH 44113

The old Courthouse on the north side of Lakeside Avenue holds the Probate Court. The Probate Court handles issuance of marriage licenses, adoptions, guardianship proceedings, involuntary commitment of the mentally ill, land appropriation, wills and estates, living trusts, and name changes. Probate Court has birth records 1859-1901 and death records 1868-1908. (also at the Cuyahoga County Archive). The Marriage License Bureau has marriage records from 1810. County Courthouse has naturalization records 1818-1906 and probate records from 1810 (there are others at the Cuyahoga County Archive). They also have estate case files for after 1913. Those before 1913 are at the Cuyahoga County Archives.

Also housed in this building are divorce records 1882- present. These were handled through the Common Pleas court, but the records are housed at the old courthouse. Call 443-7966 for the index department to see if they have a divorce that you are interested in. If they do, ask for the Case Number and then call the microfilm room at 443-7939 to arrange to have copies mailed to you.

Marriage Division - 216-443-8922

Adoption Division - 443-8988 or 443-8989

Microfilm Room - 440-443-7939

U.S. District Court Northern District of Ohio

https://www.ohnd.uscourts.gov/

Carl B. Stokes U.S. Court House

801 West Superior Avenue

Cleveland, Ohio 44113

(216) 357-7000

This court hears cases regarding Federal law. They have Index of naturalization petitions (1855-present): name, address, birthdate, naturalization date, country or origin, specific place of origin. Those who did not complete naturalization may also be included. There is a charge for copies. Some may come directly from the Cleveland court but others may come from the National Archives depending on the date of naturalization. They will bill you when they pull the copies. You pay and then they send the copies.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Northern District of Ohio

Howard M. Metzenbaum U.S. Courthouse

201 Superior Avenue

Cleveland, Ohio 44114

216-615-4300

https://www.ohnb.uscourts.gov/

Q. Where can I find Probate Court Estate Case Files?

Answer: The images for Cuyahoga County Probate Estate Case Files are now on Family Search. These are images only, but there is an index on another site that will help you find who you are looking for.

Cuyahoga County Probate Estate Case Files 1813-1932

https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1837736

Ohio Probate Records 1789-1996

https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1992421

What a nice gift to the genealogists who are interested in Cuyahoga County!!

Q. Where Can I find Naturalization Papers for Cuyahoga County?

For U.S. District Court Naturalizations -

*** FREE - If you have a Cuyahoga County Public Library Card you can access these records for free from home on Fold3.

Go to: https://www.cuyahogalibrary.org/Research/Genealogy.aspx, click on Fold 3, enter your library card number and password. Once you are on the Fold 3 page, click Browse and then choose Naturalizations, then Naturalizations OH Northern, and then choose a letter for the last name you are interested in.

For Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas naturalizations -

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohcuyah2/nats/coarch/index.html

For Cuyahoga County Probate Court Naturalizations -

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohcuyah2/nats/aliendkt/index.html

Additional naturalizations can be found here:

Ohio County Naturalizations 1800-1977 https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1987615

Q. Where Can I Find Census Records?

See the census page from the Cuyahoga County USGENWEB site:

http://usgenwebsites.org/OHCuyahoga/Census/index.html

Q. Where Can I Find City Directories:

See the city directory page on the Cuyahoga County USGENWEB site:

http://usgenwebsites.org/OHCuyahoga/Directories/index.html