Search Delaware County Genealogy

Delaware County genealogy records reach back to 1808 when the county was formed from Franklin County. The county seat is Delaware, a small city just north of Columbus. You can search birth, death, marriage, probate, and land records through the Delaware County Records Center, Probate Court, and several local history groups. The Delaware County Historical Society and Genealogical Society both provide research help and digitized materials. This page covers the offices and tools you need to trace your family in Delaware County, Ohio.

Delaware County Genealogy Record Sources

The Delaware County Courthouse is at 91 N. Sandusky Street, Delaware, OH 43015. The Probate Court holds birth and death records, marriage records, and probate files. The Clerk of Courts keeps divorce records from 1825 and court records from the same year. The Delaware County Recorder has land records going back to 1807, which is a year before the county was even officially formed.

The Delaware County Recorder's office lets you search property records online.

Use the Recorder's site to look up deeds, mortgages, and other land records tied to Delaware County families.

The Delaware County Records Center and Archives sits at 2079 US Route 23 North, Delaware, OH 43015. Phone is 740-833-2140. Marriage records from 1996 to the present are at the Probate Court. Marriage records before 1996 are at the Records Center. An E-Copy Estate Name Search costs $25.00 per name. This is a good option if you cannot visit in person and need to look up a specific probate file.

Delaware County Probate Court Records

The Delaware County Probate Court website offers online access to some records.

Check the Probate Court site for marriage records, estate files, and other probate documents.

Birth records in Delaware County start in 1867. Death records begin the same year. The Probate Court holds these records up through 1908. After that date, the state took over. The Ohio Department of Health now manages birth records from December 20, 1908 forward and death records from 1954 onward. Death records from 1908 to 1953 sit with the Ohio History Connection Archives in Columbus. Under Ohio Revised Code Chapter 3705, all vital events must be filed with the local registrar.

Delaware County is one of the fastest-growing counties in Ohio today, but its record collections go back more than 200 years. Probate records start in 1812 and include wills, estate inventories, and guardianship papers. Court records from 1825 cover civil, criminal, and divorce filings at the Clerk of Courts. If your ancestors were in central Ohio before the Civil War, these early Delaware County files can hold key facts about their lives, their families, and how they made their way in the area. The county sits just north of Columbus, so families sometimes had ties to both Delaware and Franklin Counties.

Probate records in Delaware County go back to 1812. Wills, estate inventories, guardianship papers, and adoption records are all filed with the Probate Court. Court records from 1825 include civil, criminal, and divorce files at the Clerk of Courts office.

Delaware County Historical Society

The Delaware County Historical Society runs a research library with some useful digital tools. Their PastPerfect Online database has nearly 12,000 scanned pictures. The Delaware County Memory collection includes tax duplicates from 1827 to 1828, marriage records volume one covering 1835 to 1845, transcribed wills from 1812 to 1835, The Sunbury News from 1909 to 1931, and a Sunbury News obituary index. These digitized records make it possible to do some Delaware County genealogy research from home.

The Delaware County Historical Society holds research materials for family historians.

Their digitized collections include early wills, marriage records, and newspapers from the 1800s and 1900s.

Delaware County Genealogical Society

The Delaware County Genealogical Society is based at the Delaware County District Library, 84 East Winter Street, Delaware, OH 43015. The society keeps cemetery records, a Delaware County Pioneers pre-1850 list, and various publications for family researchers. They are a good resource if you are looking for early settlers in the county. Their pre-1850 pioneers list is a compiled roster of people who were in Delaware County before midcentury, which is helpful when you cannot find someone in the earliest census rolls.

For online research, FamilySearch provides free access to Ohio databases including births, deaths, marriages, and county records. The Ohio Genealogical Society publishes the Ohio Records Index, which covers census, tax, court, and vital records across the state. The Ohio History Connection Vital Records Guide helps you figure out which office holds the record you need based on date and type. The Ohio Memory digital library may also have digitized items tied to Delaware County, including photographs, maps, and manuscript pages. The Chronicling America newspaper archive is free and has Ohio papers that sometimes cover Delaware County communities. Old newspaper items like obituaries and legal notices can fill in details that courthouse records leave out.

Cities in Delaware County

Delaware County does not have cities that meet the population threshold for dedicated pages on this site. The city of Delaware serves as the county seat. Dublin straddles the Franklin and Delaware County line. Residents use the county offices above for genealogy record searches.

Nearby Counties

These counties border Delaware County. Your ancestors may have records in a neighboring county if they lived close to the line.