Hamilton County
Genealogical Society

Record Index - Data Base

 

 

Restored Hamilton County, Ohio Marriages 1808-1849

Title: Restored Hamilton County, Ohio Marriages 1808-1849

Indexed by Jeffrey G. Herbert, Hamilton County Chapter, Ohio Genealogical Society, Cincinnati, Ohio 1998.
Description: 2v, (viii, 644 p. ); 28 cm.  ISBN 0788410393
Cataloging Information:
  Topical subject: Marriage records--Ohio--Cincinnati--Indexes.
  Topical subject: German American newspapers--Ohio--Cincinnati--Indexes.
  Geographic term: Cincinnati (Ohio)--Genealogy--Indexes.
Public Library of Cincinnati & Hamilton co. Call #: 977.177 qH536r, 1998a
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Salt Lake City Family History Library Information: Language English
FHL US/CAN Call Number: 977.177 V2hj 1808-1849 pt. 1-2
FHL US/CAN Film 2111363
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Includes: an alphabetic index of Grooms (p. 1-___) and alphabetic index to Brides (p. ___- ___).
Example:
      Abrams, John      Kremling, Mary      18 Jan. 1883      RRR      
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Introduction from published book:

Important Note to Researchers
It is important that the user of this index take a few minutes to read this introduction in order to get the most from this index, and to understand why a name may not be found, or if it is found, where to find additional information.

On 24, March 1884 a great tragedy struck Cincinnati. A riot started that evening in the downtown area and resulted in the burning of the Hamilton County Courthouse. This fire destroyed many of the records that had been kept previously in the courthouse, one of which was marriage license applications and returns. Apparently many of the 'older' records (before 1860) were stored in another part of the courthouse and did not sustain as extensive damage as those from the period 1860 until March 1884, however, the license returns before 1860 have entire month gaps where there are no records surviving, and some records are missing first or last names.

Since this index is concerned with the time period before 1850, it is important to note that there were several previous fires that completely or partially destroyed the courthouse. In 1812 the first brick courthouse on 5th Street between Walnut and Main was accidentally burnt by soldiers. In 1819 a new building was constructed on 10th Street, now known as Court Street. This building was completely destroyed in July 1849 when a neighboring slaughter house caught on fire and the flames spread to the roof of the courthouse. For several years county business was conducted on the upper floors of a nearby slaughter house nicknamed the 'Pork House Court House'. Construction on a new building was started in 1851, which served the county until the March 1884 fire completely destroyed that building.

The reconstructed licenses at the courthouse today for the period before 1850 comprise approximately 50% of the total licenses applied for during this time period. This index is an attempt to reconstruct and supplement as much of that data as possible for the time period before December 1849. This index contains almost 23,000 marriages which occurred in Hamilton County before 1850.

The primary base of information for this index is the restored marriage license applications and returns that are still available at the Hamilton County Courthouse. To try to compensate for some gaps in the restored marriage licenses available, and also to help the researcher locate additional sources of information, church records were checked, when available and permitted, and these are so indicated in the code column. In the cases where the code indicates a church, this is the actual date when the marriage occurred.

During these early days, however, many churches did not keep records of marriages. These were recorded by the individual minister who performed the marriage, and kept as his private records, all of which have been subsequently lost. During the 1820's and 1830's time period, there are entire months and years where gaps exist in the surviving marriage records at the courthouse. Also, to date no publication of marriage licenses in newspapers have been found to supplement the gaps in the courthouse records as was the case in the 1870's and 1880's. Unfortunately this information about early inhabitants of Hamilton County may be lost to us forever.

There may be a great deal of spelling variations in the way a first or last name may be spelled. This might be due to the 'Americanization' of a name after the immigrant lived here for a few years. Also most of the church names where not written in English during this time. All of the German protestant churches kept their records in German and used the old German script style of handwriting, which makes interpretation very difficult. Almost all of the Catholic churches kept their records in Latin, which can make translation to an equivalent English name difficult. For example, the name 'Jacob' in Latin can be translated into English as either 'James' or 'Jacob', also the name 'Joanna' in Latin can be translated into English as "Johanna', 'Joanne', 'Joan' or 'Jane'. In addition, some common spelling variations to watch for, are the frequent interchangeability of the letters 'C' and 'K' (e.g. Carl/Karl)

The unique German letters and their usual English equivalents are listed below as an aid to the reader. Any unique German letter that was recorded, would be translated as found below.

' ä ' translated into English as 'ae'

' ö ' translated into English as 'oe'

' ü ' translated into English as 'ue'

' ß ' translated into English as 'sz' or 'ss'

Some examples are as follows: (Schäfer = Schaefer), (Schröder = Schroeder) , (Müller = Mueller) , (Bußmann = Bussmann).

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