Sandusky County, Ohio Genealogy

United States Genealogy

Ohio

Sandusky County

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

Ohio Online Genealogy Records

Sandusky County, Ohio
Map
Location of Ohio in the U.S.
Courthouse
Address	Sandusky County Courthouse 100 N. Park Fremont, Ohio 43420 Sandusky County Website

Sandusky County, Ohio Record Dates

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1867	1820	1867	1820	1822	1820	1820
Statewide registration for births and deaths started in 1908. General compliance year is unknown.

• Parent Counties: Formed from Huron County in 1820.
  
• County Seat: Fremont
  

Description

The county was named for a native word meaning "water" (Wyandot: saundustee). It's county seat is Fremont and was founded February 12, 1820. It is located in the Northcentral area of the state.

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
Bellevue Clyde	Fremont (county seat)
Villages
Burgoon Elmore Gibsonburg	Green Springs Helena	Lindsey Woodville
Unincorporated communities
Colby Erlin Galetown Green Creek Havens	Kingsway Millersville Millerstown Rollersville	Tinney Whitmore Winters Station York
Census-designated places
Ballville Hessville	Stony Prairie Vickery	Whites Landing Wightmans Grove
Townships
Ballville Green Creek Jackson Madison	Rice Riley Sandusky Scott	Townsend Washington Woodville York

Neighboring Counties

Ottawa County  • Erie County  • Huron County  • Seneca County  • Wood County

Boundary Changes

For animated maps illustrating Ohio county boundary changes, "Rotating Formation Ohio County Boundary Maps" (1788-1940) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Record Loss

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

Resources

Biography

Many histories of individuals can be found at the Sandusky History website.

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
OHGenWeb Tombstone Photos
Ohio Gravestones
See Ohio Cemeteries for more information.

Census

Historical populations
Census	Pop.	%±
1820	852	—
1830	2,851	234.6%
1840	10,182	257.1%
1850	14,305	40.5%
1860	21,429	49.8%
1870	25,503	19.0%
1880	32,057	25.7%
1890	30,617	−4.5%
1900	34,311	12.1%
1910	35,171	2.5%
1920	37,109	5.5%
1930	39,731	7.1%
1940	41,014	3.2%
1950	46,114	12.4%
1960	56,486	22.5%
1970	60,983	8.0%
1980	63,267	3.7%
1990	61,963	−2.1%
2000	61,792	−0.3%
2010	60,944	−1.4%
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 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.
  

Lutheran

• Records of the American Lutheran Church, Sandusky County, in Evangelical Lutheran Church in America database at Archives.com ($).

History

Local histories are available for Sandusky 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

• History of Sandusky County, Ohio: With Portraits and Biographies of Prominent Citizens and Pioneers,
  
• Twentieth Century of History of Sandusky County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens,
  
• A History of Sandusky and Erie County,
  
• Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Sandusky and Ottawa, Ohio: Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens,

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.

Maps

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

• Maps of Ohio (1788-1940)
• Family Maps of Sandusky County, Ohio Genealogy (land patent maps) at HistoryGeo.com ($). Free surname search.

Military

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

Civil War

Civil War service men from Sandusky 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 Sandusky County.

- 100th Regiment, Ohio Infantry, Company K

- 111th Regiment, Ohio Infantry, Companies A and G

• Manion, Richard L. Sandusky County, Ohio, Civil War Soldiers. (Fremont, Ohio : Sandusky County Kin Hunters, 1992). Libraries with book. FHL book 977.1214 M2m, Online Roster  of Soldiers from Sandusky County.

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

Sandusky 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 and Obituaries. Online Newspapers
Online Newspaper Abstracts
Newspaper Extracts and Abstracts in Book Form

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.
  

Finding More Probate Records

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

• WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
• FamilySearch Catalog (For instructions see FamilySearch Catalog Places Search).

Repositories

Courthouse

Sandusky County Courthouse
100 N Park Avenue
Fremont, OH 43420-2473
Phone: 419.334.6100

County Health Department has burial, death and burial records;
Probate Judge has marriage and probate records; Clerk Court
has divorce records from 1820 and court records; County Recorder
has land records from 1822

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

• Sandusky Ohio Family History Center

For additional nearby Family History Centers, search online in the FHC directory. Put your town name in the top search box.

Libraries

The finest source for Sandusky County, Ohio genealogical and historical research is the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library, Spiegel Grove, Fremont, Ohio. The libraey has an obituary search link to the Hayes Presidential Center’s Obituary Index. This index is being expanded to cover many areas of Ohio, not just Sandusky and surrounding counties. The center holds the older probate packets, biographical files, local business records, and has many rolls of microfilm covering most area newspapers. It is available free to researchers and has a small fee for sending obituaries or doing other limited work.

Societies

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 Sandusky County, Ohio Genealogy Tax Records in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
• FamilySearch Catalog (For instructions see FamilySearch Catalog Places Search).

Vital Records

Birth

Online Birth Indexes and Records

• 1841-2003 - Ohio, County Births, 1841-2003 at FamilySearch — index and images

Original Birth Records on Microfilm

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 — free; Index.
• 1800-1942 - Ohio, Marriages, 1800-1942 at FamilySearch — index
• 1970-2003 Ohio, Marriages, 1970 - 2003 at MyHeritage ($) — index

Original Marriage Records on Microfilm

Death

Online Death Indexes and Records

• 1840-2001 - Ohio, County Death Records, 1840-2001 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1908-1953 - Ohio Deaths, 1908-1953. 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, 2002 - Ohio Deaths, 1908-1932, 1938-1944, and 2002 $
• 1913-1944, 1954-1963 Ohio Death Index, 1913-1944, 1954-1963 at MyHeritage ($) — index

Finding More Vital Records

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

• WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
• FamilySearch Catalog (For instructions see FamilySearch Catalog Places Search).

Original Death Records on Microfilm

Websites

• Sandusky County, OH History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
• Sandusky County OH Genealogy
• Ohio Genealogy Network Group on Facebook
• USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.
• FamilySearch Catalog

This website requires a paid subscription for full access.