Online Genealogy Resources
Search the Index
The Research Library is pleased to present a search of its genealogical resources that have been indexed to date. Please note that while this index has a tremendous number of entries (more than 320,000), it does not represent all such data held by the library. Please consult the list of sources below for more information on what data is contained in the search.
Researchers can access and make copies from the collections at the Western Reserve Historical Society Research Center Reading Room. Reference staff can provide copies for researchers unable to schedule a visit. For information about the WRHS Research Center location, hours, admission fees, and research fees, contact the reference staff at 216-721-5722, x1509, or via email at reference@wrhs.org.
Sources
Church Records
- Methodist Episcopal Church, Charlestown, Ohio, Records
The Methodist Episcopal church was located in Charlestown, Portage County, Ohio. The collection consists primarily of attendance, subscription, and marital status records of members, and superintendents’ reports of Sunday School classes. Read more…
- First Presbyterian Church of Lafayette, Chippewa Lake, Medina County, Ohio, Records
Presbyterian church located in Chippewa Lake, Lafayette Township, Medina County, Ohio. The collection consists of minutes of meetings, baptisms, dismissals, and the church register. Includes records of the Union Sabbath School, 1877-1881. Read more…
- First Congregational Church, Parma, Ohio, Records
The First Congregational Church was founded in 1835, in Parma, Ohio (now a suburb of Cleveland). The collection consists of minutes of church meetings, confession of faith, and lists of members. Includes minutes of meetings and other records of the First Congregational Church and Society of Parma. Read more…
- United Presbyterian and Congregational Church, Farmington, Ohio, Records
The United Presbyterian Church was apparently formed from the union of the Congregational Church of Christ (founded 1817) and the Centre Presbyterian Church. Farmington is located in Trumbull County, Ohio. The collection consists of a confession of faith, covenant, list of members, baptisms, and minutes of meetings. Read more…
- Brecksville Congregational Church Records
The Brecksville Congregational Church was founded in 1816, in Brecksville, Ohio, as the Church of Christ. It was also known as the First Congregational Society of Brecksville, before it became the Brecksville Congregational Church. The collection consists of a confession of faith, covenant, minutes of church committee and trustee meetings, and registers of members of the church and of its predecessors, the Church of Christ and the First Congregational Society of Brecksville. Read more…
- First Congregational Church, Randolph, Ohio, Records
The First Congregational Church was founded in 1812 in Randolph, Portage County, Ohio. The collection consists of constitution, minutes (1855-1887), financial records, membership lists, admission procedures, creed and covenant, rules and regulations, baptisms, and a history of the church from 1802-1891, written in 1899. Read more…
- First Congregational Church Records
The First Congregational Church was founded in 1814 in Kent, Ohio (located in Franklin Township, Portage County, Ohio). From 1819 to 1839 it was called the First Presbyterian Church, Franklin Township. In 1839 it became the First Congregational Church, Franklin Township. It later became the First Congregational Church, Kent, Ohio. The collection consists of confession of faith, covenant, articles of practice, minutes of meetings, and list of members (1838). Includes records of the First Congregational Society of Franklin, Ladies Aid Society of Franklin, and Ladies Benevolent Sewing Society of Franklin. Read more…
- Mt. Leigh Presbyterian Church Records
Mt. Leigh Presbyterian Church was located in West Union, Adams County, Ohio. The collection consists of minutes of session meetings, including reports of persons examined, certified, suspended, and baptized. Read more…
- Regular Baptist Church Records
The Regular Baptist Church was founded in 1831, in Chardon (Geauga County), Ohio. The collection consists of articles of faith, covenant, minutes of meetings, lists of members, records of deaths, 1831-1905, and certificates of recommendation, 1844-1903. Read more…
- Garrettsville Baptist Church Records
The Garrettsville Baptist Church was founded in 1808, in Garrettsville, Ohio. The collection consists of a covenant, declaration of faith, minutes of meetings, and list of members for 1839. Read more…
- First Universalist Church (Brimfield, Ohio) Records
The First Universalist Church was founded in 1839 in Brimfield, Ohio. The collection consists of a constitution, membership lists, minutes of regular, annual and business meetings, and other church and pastoral records. Read more…
- First New Jerusalem Society (Chillicothe, Ohio) Records
The First New Jerusalem Society was a church founded in 1838, in Chillicothe (Ross County), Ohio, whose members were followers of the doctrines of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), Swedish scientist, mystic and religious philosopher. The collection consists of minutes, lists of members, copies of agreements, and correspondence. Pre-1857 records recorded from memory by Amasa D. Sproat, secretary of the society, after the originals were destroyed by fire. Read more…
- Woodland Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church Record Book
The Woodland Avenue Methodist Episcopal was church founded in 1872 on Woodland Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio. The collection consists of lists of names of pastors, members and probationers; and quarterly conference records. Read more…
- Presbytery of the Western Reserve Records
The Presbytery of the Western Reserve formed in 1858 in northern Ohio. The first meeting was held in Sandusky. The collection consists of a roll of the presbytery and minutes of meetings. Read more…
Funeral Home & Cemetery Indexes
- Pease Funeral Home Index
Index to the funeral record books and other documents of this funeral home that served Bay Village, North Olmsted, and Westlake, Ohio in 1917-1955. Includes names of the deceased, year of death, place of burial, and location of original funeral record within the WRHS library. Read more…
- J. D. Deutsch Funeral Home Index
Index to the 1909-1960 funeral record books of this funeral home that primarily served the Jewish community on Cleveland’s east side. Includes names of the deceased, year of death, place of burial, and location of original funeral record within the WRHS library. Read more…
- McGorray Funeral Home Index
Index to the funeral record books of this prominent Irish Catholic funeral home on Cleveland’s West Side from 1910-1921. Includes names of deceased, year of death and age, and location of original funeral record within the WRHS library. Read more…
- Chambers Funeral Home Index
Index to the burial records of this funeral home that served the Irish community on Cleveland’s West Side from 1935-1955. Read more…
- Cuyahoga County Cemetery Inscriptions Index
An index to 39 published sources of Cuyahoga County Cemetery Inscriptions. Read more…
- E.F. Boyd & Son Funeral Home
E. F. Boyd & Son Funeral Home, founded by Elmer Franklin Boyd (1878-1944) in 1905, is one of the oldest African American funeral homes in Cleveland, Ohio. This collection provides the genealogical researcher with valuable information, particularly those interested in African American family history in Cleveland, Ohio, from 1906-1950. Read more…
- Lindhorst Funeral Home
This collection provides the genealogical researcher with valuable information, particularly those interested in German family history in Cleveland, Ohio in the first half of the twentieth century. Read more…
- Saxton Funeral Home Records
Index to the funeral record books for Saxton Funeral Home, Saxton and Son, Daniels Funeral Home, Daniels-Parker Funeral Home, Klanke Funeral Parlors, Inc. and Saxton-Parker- Daniels Funeral Chapels. Read more…
Jewish Marriages and Death Notices
25,000 marriage and death notices printed in the Jewish Independent and The Jewish
Review and Observer between 1889-1964. Read more…
Allen E. Cole Collection
A valuable source of Cleveland history is accessible to researchers and serves as a major collection documenting mid-twentieth century African American life, history, and culture. Read more…
1907 Voter Registration Index
Cleveland, Ohio, Board of Elections Registration Records, 1907-1908, contains duplicate sets of voter registration records for each precinct of Cleveland’s twenty-six wards for the years listed. Read more…
Cleveland Servicemen Photo Database
This collection consists of photographs of northeast Ohio men and woman who served in the armed services during WWII and the Korean Conflict. Read more…
Bible Records Index
The Bible Records Index is an index to Family Bibles and other records either in the possession of or loaned for copying to the Western Reserve Historical Society. The Index contains over 35,000 entries in which vital dates (births, baptisms and other sacraments, marriages and deaths) of family lineages have been written. Read more…
Biographical Sketch Name Index
The Biographical Name Index is an index to twenty-eight publications containing 26,720 articles in which biographical information about Clevelanders has been published between 1886 and 1998. This index will be of interest to persons researching Cleveland and northeastern Ohio biography, history, family history and genealogy. Read more…