Butler County, Ohio Genealogy

United States

Ohio

Butler County

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

Ohio Online Genealogy Records

Butler County, Ohio
Map
Location of Ohio in the U.S.
Courthouse
Address	Butler County Courthouse 101 High St. Hamilton, Ohio 45011-2732 Butler County Website Phone: 513.887.3278

Butler County, Ohio Record Dates

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1856	1803	1856	1803	1803	1851	1820
Statewide registration for births and deaths started in 1908. General compliance year is unknown.

• Parent Counties: Formed from Hamilton County 24 March 1803.
• County Seat: Hamilton

Places/Localities

Populated Places

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

Cities
Fairfield Hamilton (county seat) Middletown	Monroe Oxford	Trenton Sharonville
Villages
College Corner Jacksonburg	Millville New Miami	Seven Mile
Unincorporated communities
Alert Bethany Blue Ball Collinsville Excello Gano Layhigh Maud	McGonigle Miltonville Okeana Oneida Overpeck Pisgah Poast Town	Port Union Princeton Scipio Shandon Tylersville West Middletown Woodsdale
Census-designated places
Beckett Ridge Darrtown Four Bridges	Olde West Chester Ross Somerville	Wetherington Williamsdale
Townships
Fairfield Hanover Lemon Liberty Madison	Milford Morgan Oxford Reily	Ross St. Clair Wayne West Chester(formerly Union)

Neighboring Counties

Hamilton County  • Warren County  • Montgomery County  • Preble County  • Union County, Indiana  • Franklin County, Indiana  • Dearborn County, Indiana

Description

The county was named for General Richard Butler, who died in 1791 fighting Indians in northern Ohio. It's county seat is Hamilton and was founded 1803. It is located in the Western area of the state.

Boundary Changes

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

1912 Although the Butler County Courthouse was reported to have been destroyed by fire on March 14, 1912, it was really only the original, four-tiered, domed tower which was capped with a statue of Justice that was destroyed. The courthouse still stands and is being used today by the Probate Court. County records were saved by spectators and courthouse employees who carried them out of the building.

Resources

Bible Records

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

Cemeteries

Cemetery records often reveal birth, marriage, death, relationship, military, and religious information.

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

Census

Historical populations
Census	Pop.	%±
1810	11,150	—
1820	21,746	95.0%
1830	27,142	24.8%
1840	28,173	3.8%
1850	30,789	9.3%
1860	35,840	16.4%
1870	39,912	11.4%
1880	42,579	6.7%
1890	48,597	14.1%
1900	56,870	17.0%
1910	70,271	23.6%
1920	87,025	23.8%
1930	114,084	31.1%
1940	120,249	5.4%
1950	147,203	22.4%
1960	199,076	35.2%
1970	226,207	13.6%
1980	258,787	14.4%
1990	291,479	12.6%
2000	332,807	14.2%
2010	368,130	10.6%
Source: "Wikipedia.org".

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.

Ward and Branch Records of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

• Hamilton

Directories

• Rural Directory, Butler County, 1932-1934

Genealogy

• Miami Valley Genealogy Index is an Index to more than a half million pointers to records all over Miami Valley including Butler County.

History

Local History

Local histories are available for Butler 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.

• A History and biographical cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio: with illustrations and sketches of its representative men and pioneers (Cincinnati, Ohio: Western Biographical Pub. Co., 1882) Digital version at FamilySearch Digital Library; FHL book 977.175 H2h
• Bartlow, Bert S., Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio ([Indianapolis, Ind.] : B. F. Bowen & Co., 1905) Digital version at FamilySearch Digital Library; FHL film 934879 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.

• 1836 - Butler County 1836 land ownership maps Courtesy of OhioGenWeb
• 1790-1907 - Bureau of Land Management index Courtesy of OhioGenWeb Archives

Maps

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

• Maps of Ohio (1788-1940)

Military

• 1888-1919 - Ohio Soldier Home Records, 1888-1919 at FamilySearch — index and images
• Butler County, Ohio War Veteran Database search
• Soldiers, Sailors & Pioneers Monument on the site of Fort Hamilton in Hamilton
  
• Veteran Searches: Military Discharge Search

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

Naturalization and Citizenship

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

Newspapers

Butler 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.

• various years - community contributed newspaper articles Courtesy of OhioGenWeb Archives

The following is a list of newspapers published in Butler County through 1900.

Butler County Democrat. (Middletown, Ohio) 185?-185?
Butler County Democrat. (Hamilton, Ohio) 187?-1923
Butler County Democrat. (Hamilton, Ohio) 1870-1870
Butler County Democrat. (Hamilton, Ohio) 1874-19??
Butler County Democrat. And True Telegraph. (Hamilton, Ohio) 1870-1874
The Butler County Press. (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946
The Butler County Signal. (Middletown, Ohio) 19??-19??
The College Corner Chronicle. (West College Corner, Ind.) 1891-190?
The Corner Stone. (College Corner [i.e. West College Corner], Ind.) 1872-187?
The Daily Journal. (Middletown, Ohio) 18??-18??
The Daily Press. (Rossville, Butler County, O. [Ohio]) 1851-1851
The Daily Republican-news. (Hamilton, Ohio) 1898-1919
The Daily Signal. (Middletown, Ohio) 1891-1907
Daily Telegraph. (Hamilton, Ohio) 1860-18??
Democracy Untrammeled, and Butler County Investigator. (Rossville, Ohio) 1849-1849
The Free Soil banner. (Hamilton, Ohio) 1848-1848
Hamilton Advertiser. (Hamilton, Butler County, Ohio) 1825-1826
Hamilton Daily Democrat. (Hamilton, Ohio) 1886-1897
Hamilton Daily Herald. (Hamilton, Ohio) 1885-1887
Hamilton Daily News. (Hamilton, [Ohio]) 1879-1898
The Hamilton Daily Republican. (Hamilton, Ohio) 1892-1898
Hamilton Evening Democrat. (Hamilton, Ohio) 1897-1907
The Hamilton Gazette & Miami Register. (Hamilton, Ohio) 1819-1821
The Hamilton Gooroo. (Hamilton, Ohio) 1876-19??
Hamilton Intelligencer. (Hamilton, Ohio) 1828-1837
Hamilton Intelligencer. (Hamilton, Ohio) 1840-1862
Hamilton Intelligencer & Advertiser. (Hamilton, Ohio) 1821-1825
The Hamilton Ohio Advertiser. (Hamilton, Ohio) 1826-1827
Hamilton Ohio Intelligencer. (Hamilton, Ohio) 1838-1840
Hamilton Register. (Hamilton, Ohio) 18??-????
Hamilton Socialist. (Hamilton, Ohio) 19??-19??
Hamilton Telegraph. (Hamilton, Ohio) 1847-1851
Hamilton Telegraph. (Hamilton, Ohio) 1853-1857
Hamilton Telegraph. (Hamilton, Ohio) 1861-19??
Hamilton True Telegraph. (Hamilton, Ohio) 1861-1870
Hamilton Weekly Telegraph. (Hamilton, Ohio) 1851-1853
Harrison Democrat. (Hamilton, Ohio) 1840-1840
The Hickory Club. (Rossville, Ohio) 1838-1838
The Hickory Club. (Hamilton, Ohio) 1840-1840
The Investigator. (Oxford, Ohio) 1886-18??
The Miami Democrat. (Rossville, Ohio) 1850-1851
Miami Echo, and the Hamilton and Rossville Advertiser. (Hamilton, Ohio ;) 1842-1842
The Miami Herald. (Hamilton, Ohio) 1817-1819
Miami Intelligencer. (Hamilton, Ohio) 1814-1816
The Miami Journal. (Miami University, Oxford, Ohio) 1886-18??
Miami Student. (Oxford, Ohio) 1867-current
The Middletown Daily Signal. (Middletown, Ohio) 18??-1891
Middletown Farmer. (Middletown, Ohio) 1840-1841
Middletown Herald. (Middletown, Butler County, Ohio) 1853-1855
The Middletown Journal. (Middletown, Ohio) 1891-current
Middletown Emblem. (Middletown, Butler County, Ohio) 1851-1853
The Middletown Journal. (Middletown, Ohio) 1857-1912
The Middletown Mail. (Middletown, [Ohio]) 1839-1840
The Middletown Signal. (Middletown, Ohio) 18??-19??
Murray's Weekly Volunteer. (Hamilton, Ohio) 1822-1825
The Ohio Independent Press. (Rossville, Butler County, Ohio) 1830-18??
The Oxford Advertiser. ([Oxford, Ohio]) 19??-19??
Oxford Chronicle. (Oxford, [Ohio]) 1834-18??
The Oxford Citizen. (Oxford, Ohio) 1854-1892
The Oxford Enterprise. (Oxford, Ohio) 1881-18??
The Oxford Leader. (Oxford, Ohio) 1882-18??
Oxford Lyceum and Journal of Literature and Science. (Oxford, Ohio) 1833-1834
The Oxford News. (Oxford, Ohio) 1886-1892
The Oxford News. (Oxford, Ohio) 1893-1909
Oxford News-Citizen. (Oxford, Ohio) 1892-1893
The Philanthropist. (Hamilton, Ohio) 1816-1817
The Reily Courier. (Reily, Ohio) 18??-19??
The Rossville Advertiser. (Rossville, Ohio) 1849-1849
The Scott battery. (Hamilton, Ohio) 1852-1852
The True Gazette. (Hamilton, O.) 187?-1???
The Volunteer. (Hamilton, Ohio) 1821-1822
Weekly Hamilton Telegraph. (Hamilton, [Ohio]) 1858-1861
The Western Telegraph. (Rossville [Hamilton], Ohio) 1836-1847

Western Round-Up (Western College, Oxford, Ohio) 1930-1971
Western Telegraph and Butler County Ohio Advertiser. (Rossville, [Ohio]) 1833-1836
Western Telegraph, and Hamilton Ohio Advertiser. (Hamilton, Ohio) 1827-1831 <br>

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

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

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.
  
• 1811-1869 - community contributed wills Courtesy of OhioGenWeb Archives

Finding More Probate Records

Additional probate records can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Butler 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

• Butler County, Ohio Records Center and Archives 123 North Third St . Hamilton, Ohio 45011 . (513) 887-3437

Courthouse

Butler County Courthouse
315 High Street
Hamilton, OH 45011-2756
Phone: 513.887.3278 

County Health Department has birth and death records.
Probate Judge has marriage and probate records.
Court Clerk has divorce and court records.
County Auditor has land records.

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 Butler County, Ohio Genealogy is the Fariefield/Hamilton Ohio Family History Center. For additional nearby Family History Centers, search online in the FHC directory.

Libraries

• Hamilton Lane Library 300 North Third Street . Hamilton, Ohio 45011 . (513) 894-7156
• Lane Libraries serving Hamilton . Fairfield . Oxford Locations
• Middletown, West Chester, Trenton Public Libraries Middletown Branch . 125 South Broad Street . Middletown, Ohio 45044 . (513) 424-1251
• Midpointe Library System Genealogy Collection
• Smith Library of Regional History A Department of the Oxford Lane Public Library, 441 S. Locust Street Oxford, Ohio 45056 . (513) 523-3035

Societies

• Butler County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society
• Butler County Historical Society
• Butler-Warren County African American Historical Society] 4521 Poppy Drive (P.O. Box 715) . Middletown, Ohio . (513) 424-1791
• Southwest Butler County Genealogical Society

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.

• 1800-1950 - Ohio Tax Records, 1800-1850 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1800-1850 Ohio Tax Records, 1800-1850 at MyHeritage ($) — index

Finding More Tax Records

Additional tax records can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Butler 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

Vital records consist of birth, death, marriage and divorce records. Marriages were usually recorded from the formation of the county and are held at the office of the County Probate Court. Divorce records are located with the county Clerk of Courts.

Any existing birth and death records from 1867 through December 19, 1908 are located at the County Probate Court. The Ohio Department of Health has birth records filed after December 20, 1908 and death records filed after January 1, 1954, while the Ohio History Connection houses death records from December 20, 1908 through December 31, 1953.

Birth

Online Birth Indexes and Records

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

Original Birth Records on Microfilm

Marriage

Online Marriage Indexes and Records

• 1789-2013 - Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2013 at FamilySearch — index and images. Name index and images of county marriage records acquired from local courthouses.
• 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.
• 1800-1942 Ohio, Marriages, 1800-1942 at FamilySearch — index
• 1908-1964 - Ohio, Birth Index, 1908-1964 at ancestry.com ($)
• 1970-2003 Ohio, Marriages, 1970 - 2003 at MyHeritage ($) — index
• various years - community contributed births Courtesy of OhioGenWeb

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 Free name indexes and images at FamilySearch. Records include such information as birth date of deceased, city, county, and state of death, name of spouse if married, names of parents, maiden name of mother, name of informant, if deceased was single, married, windowed or divorced, occupation of deceased.
  
• 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.
• 1908-2007 - Ohio, Deaths, 1908-1932, 1938-1944, and 1958-2007 at ancestry.com ($)
• 1908-1932, 1938-2018 Ohio, Death Records, 1908-1932, 1938-2018 at Ancestry.com ($) — index and images
• 1913-1944, 1954-1963 Ohio Death Index, 1913-1944, 1954-1963 at MyHeritage ($) — index
• various years - Ohio Death Index searchable database courtesy of OhioGenWeb

Original Death Records on Microfilm

Divorce

• 1962-2007 - Ohio Divorce Index, 1962-1963, 1967-1971, 1973-2007 at ancestry.com ($)
  

Finding More Vital Records

Additional vital records can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Butler 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

• Butler County, OH History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
• Butler County OH Genealogy
• Ohio Genealogy Network Group on Facebook*Butler County Ohio Resources Links
• Butler County Rootsweb site

This website requires a paid subscription for full access.