1867 - December 19, 1908
In 1867, it became a statewide law to record deaths at the probate court of the county where the death occurred. Death records were one-line entries in ledger books listing additional information such as birthplace and cause of death. Records will have space to include the deceased'sparents names, but these fields were typically filled out only for the deaths of children. Some records may have indexes to direct you to the volume and page number on which a person’s record can be found.
There is no statewide index to these records before December 20, 1908. You need to know the county of death to find a record.If the county of death is not known, search the U.S. Census to identify possible counties.
The Archives & Library holds probate court death records for 29of the 88 Ohio counties. A list of probate courtrecord types we have for those 29 counties is available on pages 2–9 of the Indexed Vital Records Copy Requestform linked on the left side of this page. Additionally, one maysearchthe Library Catalogto find what probate court record types or published indexes are available in the Archives & Library. For example, search: Knox County Probate Court Death.
For death records not in our collection, contact the local Probate Court or county archives to find out where the records are housed.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints microfilmed Ohio county courthouse records. Many counties' vital records are available digitally on their website, www.familysearch.org. There is no charge to use FamilySearch, but they do require that you register for a free account to view the original documents.Those vital records collections can be searched by the person's name, county, andyear at Ohio, County Death Records, 1840-2001.Because the database is not entirely name indexed, your ancestor mightnot appear after a search.In that case,you can browse the records by county using the "browse images" link on the search page.
