Ohio Newspapers and Obituaries

Newspapers provide valuable genealogical information, including obituaries, marriage announcements, biographical sketches, divorce notices, and so forth. Other personal information may be included in various sections of a newspaper. There are many English and foreign-language newspapers from the early days of Ohio. Although these publications were often related to political or religious causes, they contain valuable genealogical information.

The Ohio Historical Society has a centralized collection of newspapers gathered by the Ohio State Library, Ohio State University Library, the Historical Records Survey, and other institutions. Detailed guides that will help you locate these publications are:

Green, Karen Mauer. Pioneer Ohio Newspapers, 1793- 1810. Galveston, Texas: The Frontier Press, 1986. (FHL book 977.1 B38g.) Contains genealogical and historical abstracts from various newspapers.

Green, Karen Mauer. Pioneer Ohio Newspapers, 1802-1818: Genealogical and Historical Abstracts. Galveston, Texas: The Frontier Press, 1988. Contains abstracts of items mentioning local persons from several state newspapers.

Gutgesell, Stephen, ed. Guide to Ohio Newspapers, 1793-1973. Columbus: Ohio Historical Society, 1974. (FHL book 977.1 A3g; fiche 6049903.) This is a complete bibliography of all extant newspapers published in Ohio.

Levinson, Marilyn, ed. Guide to Newspaper Holdings at the Center for Archival Collections. 3rd ed. Bowling Green, Ohio: Center for Archival Collections, Bowling Green State University, 1991. (FHL book 977.1 B33g 1991.) Contains an inventory of the newspapers at the Bowling Green State University, which come from 19 northwest Ohio counties.

Many periodicals publish obituary records. These are referenced in the PERiodical Source Index (PERSI), which is described in the "Periodicals" section of this outline.

The Family History Library acquires published newspaper abstracts and obituary lists for Ohio. Obituary records are also listed in the Place Search of the Family History Library Catalog under:

OHIO - OBITUARIES

OHIO - NEWSPAPERS

OHIO, [COUNTY] - OBITUARIES

OHIO, [COUNTY] - NEWSPAPERS

Web Sites

The Ohio Historical Society newspaper collection: http://web2.ohiohistory.org/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=Q084DL2930353.47&profile=newspap&menu=search&ts=1084562930625#focus

http://www.ancestorhunt.com/obituary-search-engines-4.htm scroll down to Ohio

http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/obits/oh/obitsoh.htm

http://www.daddezio.com/obituary/depot/OB-OH-NDX.html

There is a large collection of Ohio Historical Newspapers online at: www.ancestry.com ($)

Family History Library (FHL); now called, FamilySearch Library (FSL)

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