Ohio Death Records

About Death Records in Ohio
source: http://www.ohiohistory.org/resource/archlib/death1.html

Before 1867 Ohio did not make it a law to keep death records until
1867.

1867 through December 19, 1908

Ohio made it a law to record deaths in 1867. County probate courts kept
death
records between 1867 and December 19, 1908. There is no statewide index
to
death records from 1867 through December 19, 1908. Go to the list
of county
probate court death records held at the Ohio Historical Society. If
the Ohio
Historical Society does not hold a county's death records, please
contact the
county's probate court. A list of county courthouse contacts is
available at
Ohio County Courthouse Addresses.

December 20, 1908 through December 31, 1944

The state of Ohio began issuing certificates for deaths on December 20,
1908.
The Ohio Historical Society holds death certificates for the entire
state of
Ohio from December 20, 1908 through December 31, 1944. You may wish to
visit
our online Ohio Death
Certificate Index for 1913-1937.

January 1, 1945 to the present

Death certificates from 1945 to the present are held by the Ohio
Department
of Health. You should contact the Ohio Department of Health at the
address
below for information concerning their request procedures.

> Ohio Department of Health
> Division of Vital Statistics
> PO Box 15098
> Columbus, OH 43215-0098
> (614) 466-2531

Guidelines for requesting death certificates

When making a request for an Ohio death certificate between December
20,
1908 through December 31, 1944, please see the instructions for death
certificate requests.

Guidelines for requesting death records

Before making a request for a death record that occurred between 1867
through
December 19, 1908, please confirm that we hold records for the county
and
time period by reviewing County Death
Records Held at the Ohio Historical
Society. Death record requests that are submitted with a county,
name of
deceased, and exact year of death are processed by our staff as COPY
REQUESTS
. The county where the death was registered and the name of the
deceased must
be provided, but our staff will search a 10 year time frame if the
exact year
of death is unknown. Death record requests that are submitted with a
county,
name of deceased, and a time frame within the 10 year span are
processed by
our staff as RESEARCH
REQUESTS. A complete description of all request
policies can be reviewed at Guidelines
for Offsite Copy and Research Requests