Allen County, Ohio Genealogy

United States

Ohio

Allen County

Guide to Allen County, Ohio ancestry, family history, and genealogy birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

Ohio Online Genealogy Records

Allen County, Ohio
Map
Location of Ohio in the U.S.
Courthouse
Address	Allen County Courthouse 301 N. Main St. Lima, Ohio 45801-4456 Allen County Website Phone: 419.223.8513

Allen County, Ohio Record Dates

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1867	1831	1867	1831	1831	1835	1820
Statewide registration for births and deaths started in 1908. General compliance year is unknown.

• Parent Counties: Formed from Shelby, Logan, and Mercer counties 12 February 1820.
• County Seat: Lima

Description

The county was named for Colonel Allen. It's county seat is Lima and was organized in 1831. It is located in the Western area of the state.

Places/Localities

Populated Places

For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit Hometown Locator. Hometown Locator The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:

Cities
Delphos	Lima(county seat)
Villages
Beaverdam Bluffton Cairo	Elida Harrod	Lafayette Spencerville
Unincorporated communities
Allentown Conant Gomer Hume Kemp Landeck	Maysville Needmore Oakview Rockport Rousculp Scotts Crossing	Slabtown South Warsaw Southworth West Newton Westminster Yoder
Census-designated places
Fort Shawnee
Townships
Amanda American Auglaize Bath	Jackson Marion Monroe Perry	Richland Shawnee Spencer Sugar Creek

Neighboring Counties

Putnam County  • Van Wert County  • Auglaize County  • Hardin County  • Hancock County

Boundary Changes

• 14 February 1848: Auglaize County was set off from the southern half of original Allen County.
• 1848: Monroe, Richland and southern half of Sugar Creek Townships were transferred from Putnam County.
• 1848: Parts of VanWert and Mercer counties were transferred to Allen County form Spencer Township and part of Marion Township.
• May 1853: Cash settlement was agreed upon by Allen and Putnam counties for Putnam's loss.

For animated maps illustrating Ohio county boundary changes, "Rotating Formation Ohio County Boundary Maps" (1788-1888) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Record Loss

1929 Allen County Courthouse was destroyed by fire on January 7, 1929. Many county records destroyed.

For suggestions about research in places that suffered historic record losses, see:

• Burned Counties. By Michael John Neill at 24-7 Family History Circle.
• When the Records are Gone. By Arlene Eakle at Arlene Eakle's Tennessee Blog.
• Burned Counties Research in the FamilySearch Research Wiki.

Resources

Bible Records

For an extensive list of resources for Bible Records see Ohio Bible Records.

Cemeteries

Online Grave Transcripts	Published Grave Transcripts	County Cemetery Directories
Findagrave.com	Family History Library	Findagrave.com
Interment.net	WorldCat	Names in Stone
Tombstone Project		Billion Graves
Billion Graves
OHGenWeb
Ohio Gravestones
See Ohio Cemeteries for more information

Cemeteries of Lima, Allen County, Ohio

• Gethsemani Cemetery, 2001 Spencerville Road, Lima, Ohio 45805, 419-223-1651
• Memorial Park Cemetery, 3000 Harding Highway, Lima, Ohio 45804, 419-223-3811
• Woodlawn Cemetery, 1751 Spencerville Road, Lima Ohio 45805, 419-223-9831

Census

Historical populations
Census	Pop.	%±
1830	578	—
1840	9,079	1470.8%
1850	12,109	33.4%
1860	19,185	58.4%
1870	23,623	23.1%
1880	31,314	32.6%
1890	40,644	29.8%
1900	47,976	18.0%
1910	56,580	17.9%
1920	68,223	20.6%
1930	69,419	1.8%
1940	73,303	5.6%
1950	88,183	20.3%
1960	103,691	17.6%
1970	111,144	7.2%
1980	112,241	1.0%
1990	109,755	−2.2%
2000	108,743	−0.9%
2010	106,331	−2.2%
Source: "Wikipedia.org".

1785
1850--Federal Census transcription and images
1920--index for surnames beginning with the letter "E" and "F"

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, see Ohio Church Records.

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.
  

History

• The Shawnees (tribe) were removed to Kansas in 1832 from the Hog Creek Reservation (now Shawnee Township.)

Local histories are available for Allen County, Ohio Genealogy. 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.

Local Histories

• Leeson, M.A., History of Allen County, Ohio; containing a history of the county, its townships, towns, villages, schools, churches… (Chicago : Warner, Beers & Co., 1885) Digital version at Internet Archives; Google Books; FamilySearch Digital Library. Also available on microfilm at FHL film 934874 Item 1.
• Rusler, William, A Standard history of Allen County, Ohio: an authentic narrative of the past… (Chicago: American Historical Society, 1921) Digital version at Internet Archives; Google Books; FamilySearch Digital Library - Vol 1; FamilySearch Digital Library - Vol 2. Also available on microfilm at FHL film 934874 Item 1.

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.

• 1790-1907 - Bureau of Land Management Database Original purchasers of land from the Federal government. Courtesy of OhioGenWeb Archives
• 1898, 1900 - Real Estate Records various surnames Courtesy of OhioGenWeb Archives

Maps

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

• Maps of Ohio (1788-1940)
• Township maps of Allen County in 1880
  

• Family Maps of Allen County, Ohio Genealogy (land patent maps) at HistoryGeo.com ($). Free surname search.

Migration

• Migrations Through Allen County, Ohio
  

Military

• 1888-1919 - Ohio Soldier Home Records, 1888-1919 at FamilySearch — index and images

Revolutionary War

• Pensioners Living in Ohio in 1818-1819
• 1840 Census of Pensioners Revolutionary and Military Services

War of 1812

• Roster of Ohio Soldiers at The Ohio Historical Society

Civil War

• Civil War service men from Van Wert 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 Van Wert County.

-4th Regiment, Ohio Cavalry, Companies F and I

-99th Regiment, Ohio Infantry, Companies B and E

• Civil War Rosters
• Men In the Civil War Allen County, Ohio
• Civil War Casualties from Allen County, Ohio (this site contains burials from many states)
  A Virtual Cemetery created by: Brent Reidenbach.Description: Thanks to previous research by Ronald Kunz, this is a listing of Civil War casualties that were from Allen County, OH. (189 Records)
• A Roster of Captains, First Lieutenants, Second Lieutenants, and Non-commissioned Officers and Privates from Allen County can be found in History of Allen County p. 325 - 372.
  
• Allen County War Casualties  (Includes Persian Gulf, Vietnamese, Korean, WWI, WWII, CIVIL War & Spanish Mexican Casualties)

World War I

• 1914-1919 - Ohio, World War I Statement of Service Cards, 1914-1919 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1914-1918 - Ohio, World War I, Enrollment Cards, 1914-1918 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1916-1920 - Ohio, WWI Index and Return Cards, 1916-1920 at FamilySearch — index
• The Unreturning Brave (from WWI) published in 1925
• List of Dead Heroes Whose Bodies Rest in Allen County
  

Miscellaneous

• The names of the soldiers buried in different cemeteries of Allen county whose graves were decorated May 30, 1907

Naturalization and Citizenship

• 1800-1977 - Ohio, County Naturalization Records, 1800-1977 at FamilySearch — index and images

County Museum has naturalizations 1851-1929.

Newspapers

Allen County, Ohio Genealogy newspapers may contain genealogical value including obituaries, births, marriages, deaths, anniversaries, family gatherings, family travel, achievements, business notices, engagement information, and probate court proceedings.

To access newspapers, contact public libraries, Ohio Genealogical Society chapters, college or university libraries, the Library of Congress, Google News, or the Ohio Memory. The Ohio Genealogical Society Obituary Database is another source of newspaper information.

For more Ohio newspaper information see the Newspaper Guides on the wiki page Ohio Newspapers.

Online Newspapers
Online Newspaper Abstracts
Newspaper Extracts and Abstracts in Book Form

• 1847-1910 - Newspaper Articles Courtesy of OhioGenWeb Archives

Finding More Ohio Newspapers
Additional newspapers abstracts can sometimes be found using search phrases such as {{{1}}} County Ohio newspapers in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
• Do a {{{1}}} County, Ohio Place-name search for these and other records in the FamilySearch Catalog (For instructions see FamilySearch Catalog Place-name Search).

Obituaries

• Search Engine for the Obituary Index to the Lima News

Probate

From 1797 or the creation of the county, probate records were held by the Court of Common Pleas. After 1852, records are held by the {{{1}}} County Probate Court. Records include wills, estates, guardianships, naturalizations, marriage, adoption, and birth and death records (1867-1908 only). The records may give the decedent's date of death, name of spouse, children, parents, siblings, in-laws, neighbors, associates, relatives, and their place of residence.

See Ohio Probate Records for information about how to use probate records. Online Probate Records

• 1786 - 1998 Ohio Wills and Probate Records 1786-1998 at Ancestry.com — index and images $

• 1789 - 1996 Ohio Probate Records 1789-1996 at FamilySearch.org — images

• 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.
  

• 1857-1878 - Allen County Probate Courtesy of OhioGenWeb Archives

Finding More Probate Records

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

• WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
• FamilySearch Catalog (For instructions see FamilySearch Catalog Place-name Search).

Repositories

County Courthouse

Allen County Courthouse
301 N Main Street
Lima, OH 45801-4456

Allen County Website
Phone: 419.223.8513

Probate Court  has births and deaths from 1867, marriages from 1831, and probate records.

Court Clerk  has divorces and court records from 1831.

County Museum  has naturalizations 1851-1929.

Family History Centers

Family History Centers provide one-on-one assistance, free access to center-only databases, and to premium genealogical websites.
FamilySearch Affiliate Libraries have access to most center-only databases, but may not always have full services normally provided by a family history center.

• Family History Center and Affiliate Library Locator

Local Centers and Libraries

FamilySearch Centers are branches of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, and are located all over the world. Their goal is to provide resources for family history research.

The main FamilySearch Center for Allen County, Ohio Genealogy is the Lima Ohio Family History Center. For additional nearby Family History Centers, search online in the FHC directory.

• St Mary Ohio Family History Center

Libraries

• Lima Public Library

Societies

• Allen County Ohio Genealogy Society
  P. O. Box 1104
  Lima, Ohio.
  [ldcarder2@woh.rr.com]
  
• Allen County Museum and Historical Society
  620 W. Market St.
  Lima, Ohio 45801
  419-222-9426
  acmuseum@wcoil.com

Including the Elizabeth M. MacDonell Memorial Library for genealogical and historical research

Online Genealogy Research Groups

• 
  
• U.S. Midwest Genealogy Research Community - FamilySearch Facebook Research Group
• Ohio Ancestors - FamilySearch Community group, must have a free FamilySearch account to join
• U.S. and Canada Genealogy Research - FamilySearch Community group, must have a free FamilySearch account to join

 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.

1834 Tax Lists

• Amanda and Auglaize Townships
• Bath and Deuchoquette Townships
• German and Jackson Townships
• Marion, Perry and Wayne Townships

Taxpayers--Personal Property

• 1800-1850 - Ohio Tax Records, 1800-1850 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1800-1850 Ohio Tax Records, 1800-1850 at MyHeritage ($) — index
• 1881 - Allen County Tax List August 25, 1881 Taken from the Allen County Democrat. Courtesy of OhioGenWeb Archives

Finding More Tax Records

Additional tax records can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Allen County, Ohio Genealogy Tax Records in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
• FamilySearch Catalog (For instructions see FamilySearch Catalog Place-name Search).

Vital Records

Birth

Online Birth Indexes and Records

• 1800-1962 - Ohio, Births and Christenings Index, 1800-1962 at ancestry.com ($)
• 1821–1962 - Ohio, Births and Christenings, 1821-1962 at FamilySearch Historical Records – free. This is an incomplete index of extractions of original records and of patron-submitted records. This index is not complete for any particular place or region. Information may have been previously published in the International Genealogical Index or Vital Records Index collections.
• 1841-2003 - Ohio, County Births, 1841-2003 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1908-1964 - Ohio, Birth Index, 1908-1964 at ancestry.com ($)
  Original Birth Records on Microfilm
• 1908-1998 Ohio, Birth Index, 1908-1998 at Ancestry.com ($) — index

Marriage

Online Marriage Indexes and Records

• 1789-2013 - Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2013 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1800–1958 - Ohio, Marriages, 1800-1958 at FamilySearch Historical Records – free; Index. Name index to marriage records from the state of Ohio. Microfilm copies of these records are available at the Family History Library and some FamilySearch Centers. Due to privacy laws, recent records may not be displayed. The year range represents most of the records. A few records may be earlier or later
• 1803-1900 - Ohio Marriages, 1803-1900 at ancestry.com ($)
• 1836-1852 - 1836-1852 Pioneer marriages, Not all inclusive
  
• 1836-1893 - Allen County Marriages Courtesy of OhioGenWeb Archives
• 1854 - 1854 Taken from Lima Democratic News
  
• 1852-1860 - 1852-1860 Marriages from the Lima Dailey News
  
• 1860 - 1860 Marriages from the Lima Democratic News
  
• 1861-1862 - 1861-1862 Marriage Books and Partial book B
  
• 1889-1893 - 1889-1893 Marriage Licenses
  
• 1898-1912 - Ohio Marriages at ancestry.com ($)
• 1970-2003 Ohio, Marriages, 1970 - 2003 at MyHeritage ($) — index
• 1970-2007 - Ohio Marriage Index, 1970, 1972-2007 at ancestry.com ($)
• 1900 - 1900 Allen County Republican Gazette Marriages
  
• Marriages with no date
  

Original Marriage Records on Microfilm

Death

Online Death Indexes and Records

• 1840-2001 - Ohio, County Death Records, 1840-2001 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1854–1997 - Ohio, Deaths and Burials, 1854-1997 at FamilySearch Historical Records – free; Index. Name index to death and burial records from the state of Ohio. Microfilm copies of these records are available at the Family History Library and Family History Centers. This set contains 2,535,556 records. Due to privacy laws, recent records may not be displayed. The year range represents most of the records. A few records may be earlier or later.
• 1908–1953 - Ohio, Deaths, 1908-1953 at FamilySearch Historical Records – free. Name index and images of Ohio statewide death certificates.
• 1908–1932, 1938–1944, and 1958–2007 - Ohio, Death Index, 1908-1932, 1938-1944, and 1958-2007 at FamilySearch Historical Records – free. Index of deaths from the Ohio Department of Health in Columbus. Index provided by Ancestry.com.
• Transcribed from Allen County newspapers of those who died in Allen and surrounding counties.
• 1908-1959 - Ohio Death Records Courtesy of OhioGenWeb
• 1908-1932, 1938-2018 Ohio, Death Records, 1908-1932, 1938-2018 at Ancestry.com ($) — index and images
• 1913-1944, 1954-1963 Ohio Death Index, 1913-1944, 1954-1963 at MyHeritage ($) — index
• 1915-1986 - Ohio Deaths Courtesy of OhioGenWeb Archives

Original Death Records on Microfilm

Divorce

• Divorce Petitions and Decrees

1876 | 1878 | 1879 | 1880 | 1881 | 1882 | 1883 | 1884 | 1885 | 1886 | 1887 | 1888 | 1889 | 1890 | 1891 | 1892 | 1893 | 1894 | 1895 | 1896 | 1897 | 1898-1899 |

• Divorce Petitions and Decrees for Allen and Van Wert Counties, and Surrounding Areas, 1898-1900

1898-1900 | 1901 | 1902 | 1903 | 1904 | 1905 | 1906 | 1905-1906 | 1907 | 1908 | 1909 | 1900 | 1910 | 1911 | 1912 | 1913 | 1914 | 1915 | 1916 | 1917 | 1918 | 1919 |

• 1962-2007 - Divorce Index, 1962-1963, 1967-1971, 1973-2007 at ancestry.com ($)
  
• 1876-1919 - Additional Divorce Records Courtesy of OhioGenWeb Archives

Finding More Vital Records

Additional vital records can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Allen County, Ohio Genealogy Vital Records in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
• FamilySearch Catalog (For instructions see FamilySearch Catalog Place-name Search).

Websites

• Allen County, OH History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
• Ohio Genealogy Network Group on Facebook
• The [ 1880 Business Patron’s References] is divided by town and township, each section has a unique set of information about their patrons.
• Allen County OH Genealogy
• FamilySearch Catalog 
• The Allen County OHGenWeb Project, a member of The OHGenWeb Project, an affiliate of The USGenWeb Project.
• The USGenWeb Archives Project for Allen County

This website requires a paid subscription for full access.