Hancock County, Ohio Genealogy

United States

Ohio

Hancock County

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

Ohio Online Genealogy Records

County Facts County seat: Findlay Organized: February 12,1820 Parent County(s): Logan Neighboring Counties Henry  • Wood  • Seneca  • Wyandot  • Hardin  • Allen  • Putnam See County Maps Courthouse Location Map Adoption Adopt-a-wiki page This page adopted by: GoAncestry who welcome you to contribute. Adopt a page today

County Information

Description

The county was named for John Hancock, the first signer of the Declaration of Independence. It is located in the Northwestern area of the state.

County Courthouse

Hancock County Courthouse
300 S Main St
Findlay, OH 45840-3345
Phone: 419-424-7008
Hancock County Website

County Recorder has land records;
Probate Judge has birth, marriage, death and probate

Hancock County, Ohio Record Dates

Information for this chart was taken from various sources, often containing conflicting dates. This information should be taken as a guide and should be verified by contacting the county and/or the state government agency.

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1867	1828	1867	1828	1820	1828	1820
Statewide registration for births and deaths started in 1908. General compliance year is unknown.

Record Loss

There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

Boundary Changes

Parent Counties: Formed from Logan County 12 February 1820. County Seat: Findlay Interactive Map of Ohio County Formation History (1790-1897) - animated maps illustrating Ohio county boundary changes Ohio Historical Boundary Changes - list of all boundary changes by county provided by Newberry Library

Populated Places

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
Findlay (county seat)	Fostoria
Villages
Arcadia Arlington Benton Ridge Bluffton	Jenera McComb Mount Blanchard Mount Cory	Rawson Van Buren Vanlue
Unincorporated communities
Cannonsburg Cordelia Deweyville Houcktown	Mortimer New Stark Portage Center	Shawtown West Independence Williamstown
Townships
Allen Amanda Biglick Blanchard Cass Delaware	Eagle Jackson Liberty Madison Marion Orange	Pleasant Portage Union Van Buren Washington

Resources

Bible Records

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

Cemeteries

Cemeteries of Hancock County, Ohio online and in print
Tombstone Transcriptions Online	Find A Grave Interment.net OH Tombstone Transcription Project Billion Graves OHGenWeb Tombstone Photos Ohio Gravestones
Tombstone Transcriptions in Print (Often more complete)	Family History Library WorldCat
List of Cemeteries in the County	Find A Grave
See Ohio Cemeteries for more information.

 

Census Records

Historical populations
Census	Pop.	%±
1830	813	—
1840	9,986	1128.3%
1850	16,751	67.7%
1860	22,886	36.6%
1870	23,847	4.2%
1880	27,784	16.5%
1890	42,563	53.2%
1900	41,993	−1.3%
1910	37,860	−9.8%
1920	38,394	1.4%
1930	40,404	5.2%
1940	40,793	1.0%
1950	44,280	8.5%
1960	53,686	21.2%
1970	61,217	14.0%
1980	64,581	5.5%
1990	65,536	1.5%
2000	71,295	8.8%
2010	74,782	4.9%
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.

Catholic

• 1796-2004 Ohio, Diocese of Toledo, Catholic Parish Records, 1796-2004 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.

Land and Property Records

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.

Online Land Indexes and Records

• 1790-1907 Bureau of Land Management Records at OHGenWeb - scroll down for the index.

Local Histories

Local histories are available for this county. County histories may include biographies, church, school and government history, and military information. For more information about local histories, see Ohio Local Histories.

• Spaythe, Jacob A.; History of Hancock County, Ohio: geographical and statistical (Toledo: The B.F. Wade Printing Co., 1903) Online at FamilySearch Digital Library
• Beardsley, D.B.; History of Hancock County, Ohio: from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time Together with Remeiniscenses of Pioneer Life Incidents, Statistical tables and Biographical Sketches (Springfield, Ohio: Republic Print Co., 1881). Online at: FamilySearch Digital Library; Google Books Internet Archive, Ancestry ($)
• Brown, Robert C.; History of Hancock County, Ohio : Containing a history of the county, its townships, towns, villages, schools, churches, industries, etc.; portraits of early settlers and prominent men, biographies, history of the northwest territory, history of Ohio, statistical and miscellaneous matter, etc., etc (Chicago, Illinois: Warner, Beers and Co., 1886). Online at: FamilySearch Digital Library; Google Books Internet Archive Ancestry ($)(Indexed)
• Kimmell, J.A.; Twentieth Century History of Findlay and Hancock County and Representative Citizens, (Chicago, Illinois: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, 1910). Online at: FamilySearch Digital Library; Google Books
• Ohio Indexes at EveryNameIndex.com — Select the county.

Maps and Gazetteers

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

• Maps of Ohio (1788-1940) at MapofUS.org

Military Records

• 1888-1919 Ohio Soldier Home Records, 1888-1919 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection..

Civil War
Civil War service men from Hancock 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 Hancock County.

-99th Regiment, Ohio Infantry, Companies D and G

World War I

• 1914-1918 Ohio, World War I, Enrollment Cards, 1914-1918 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection..
• 1914-1919 Ohio, World War I Statement of Service Cards, 1914-1919 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.
• 1916-1920 Ohio, WWI Index and Return Cards, 1916-1920 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.

Naturalization and Citizenship

Online Naturalization Indexes and Records

• 1800-1977 Ohio, County Naturalization Records, 1800-1977 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.

Newspapers

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

For more Ohio newspaper information see Ohio Newspapers and Obituaries.

• 1793-late 1900s Newspapers at Ohio History Connection — Select county.
• Early-late 1900s Newspapers at Ohio Memory — sort by County, City, Time Period, and more.
• Newspaper Obituaries at USGenWeb

Probate Records

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 Hancock 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 Indexes and Records

• 1786-1998 Ohio Wills and Probate Records 1786-1998 at Ancestry ($) — index and images.
• 1789-1996 Ohio Probate Records 1789-1996 at FamilySearch.org — How to Use this Collection.
• Wills at OHGenWeb Archives

Social Security Records

• 1935-2014 United States Social Security Death Index at FamilySearch — How to use this collection; index. Also at Ancestry, findmypast, Fold3, GenealogyBank, MyHeritage, and Steve Morse. Click here for more information.
• 1936-2007 U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 at Ancestry ($) — index, click here for more information.

Tax Records

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.

Online Tax Indexes and Records

• 1800-1850 Ohio Tax Records, 1800-1850 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.
• 1800-1850 Ohio Tax Records, 1800-1850 at MyHeritage ($) — index

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

• 1841-2003 Ohio, County Births, 1841-2003 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.
• 1908-1998 Ohio, Birth Index, 1908-1998 at Ancestry ($) — Index

Marriage

• 1789-2013 Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2013 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.
• 1800-1942 Ohio Marriages, 1800-1942 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.
• 1800-1958 Ohio Marriages, 1800-1958 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.
• 1970-2003 Ohio, Marriages, 1970 - 2003 at MyHeritage ($) — index

Death

• 1840-2001 Ohio, County Death Records, 1840-2001 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.
• 1908–1953 Ohio, Deaths, 1908-1953 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection.
• 1908-1932, 1938–1944, and 1958–2007 Ohio Death Index, 1908-1932, 1938-1944, and 1958-2007 at FamilySearch – How to Use this Collection
• 1908-1932, 1938-2018 Ohio, Death Records, 1908-1932, 1938-2018 at Ancestry ($) — index and images
• 1913-1944, 1954-1963 Ohio Death Index, 1913-1944, 1954-1963 at MyHeritage ($) — index

Divorce

• 1962-2007 Ohio, Divorce Abstracts, 1962-1963, 1967-1971, 1973-2007 at Ancestry ($)

Research Facilities

Archives

Listed below are archives in Hancock County. For state-wide archival repositories, see Ohio Archives and Libraries.

Family History Centers

Family History Center and Affiliate Library Locator map - search for local Family History Centers or Affiliate Libraries

• 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.
  

Local Centers and Affiliate Libraries

• Findlay Ohio Family History Center
• Findlay-Hancock County Public Library - an affiliate library

Libraries

Listed below are libraries in Hancock County. For state-wide library facilities, see Ohio Archives and Libraries.

Findlay Hancock County Public Library
206 Broadway St
Findlay, OH 45840
419-422-1712
Email: askgenealogy@findlaylibrary.org
Website

McComb Public Library
113 S Todd St
McComb, OH 45858
419-293-2425
Website

Museums

Hancock Historical Museum
422 W Sandusky St
Findlay, OH 45840
419-423-4433
Website

Societies

Listed below are societies in Hancock County. For state-wide genealogical societies, see Ohio Societies.

Hancock County Chapter, OGS
P.O.Box 672
Findlay, OH 45839-0672
Facebook
Website

Websites

• Local Gov't Records by County at Ohio History Connection — Browse their list; records are not online.
• Custom Browse of Historical Collections at Ohio Memory — Use map or alpha bar to select county or place, then browse search options in left sidebar.
• Ohio Genealogical Society ($) — online databases
• Hancock OHGenWeb May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county.
• Hancock OHGenWeb Archives
• Hancock County OH Genealogy at LDS Genealogy
• FamilySearch Catalog – The FamilySearch catalog contains descriptions and access information for all genealogical materials (including books, online materials, microfilm, microfiche, and publications) in their collection.  Use Historical Records to search for specific individuals in genealogical records.

This website requires a paid subscription for full access.

FamilySearch affiliate libraries may have access to center-only databases, but do not always have all services normally provided by a family history center.