I have been following, with some interest, this thread of conversation since these documents are official Butler County records and, as such, are subject to the Open Records Law and are in the public domain. The original plat maps are in the custody of the Butler County Engineer's Office, as are all of the township plat maps that still exist. Copies have been made over the years and can be found in various libraries such as the Smith Library of Regional History in Oxford (a division of the Lane Public Library) and the Cummins Room of the Lane Public Library in downtown Hamilton. The various maps have been published in book format over the years by several organizations. The book that most of us are the most familiar with is entitled "The County of Butler, Ohio, McBride's Map of 1836 Combined With The Atlases Of 1875 and 1895." It is a large format book, 11" x 14" in size. My copy was printed in 1989 by Whipporill Publications, Evansville, Indiana. It was sponsored by the Butler County Historical Society. The last time I checked, they no longer had copies available. This book also contains an index to the names of the property owners shown on each of the 1836 township maps and what section of the township the property was located in. Each township has its own index and, unless you know what township your ancestors lived in, you must go through each township to locate them. This index was donated by Shirley Baker and is probably still under her copyright. The Butler County Records Center and Archives has a set of high quality, large format copies of the maps (11" x 17") that were made from the original plats. When they are reduced to "11 x 14" some of the names listed on them become very difficult to read. When we reduce them further, many of the names are no longer readable. We recently analyzed our copies and determined that some can be enhanced and are arranging to get new copies to see what we can do with the ones that need work on them. We will let the list know when this project is completed and the procedure for ordering them. Please keep in mind that we cannot furnish copies of the entire index due to copyright restrictions. The Records Center and Archives also has online digitized copies of James McBride's original 1834 appraisals that were the basis for the maps. To view them go to: http://www.butlercountyohio.org/records and click on "Archives" and then "McBride Collection." We also have a number of the re-appraisals from the mid 1800s. These books contain drawings of each of the sections in the township and often show the location of buildings, names of the owners and property valuations. There are no indexes for these books and we need to know the section of the township in order to locate the drawing. This is not a complete collection and there are a number of missing townships. I will pull all of the books together, make a list of what is available, and post it to this list. If you have any questions regarding the maps, the other resources cited or other record availability, please direct them to: bcarchives@butlercountyohio.org When ordering records, make sure you include your full name, e-mail address, regular mailing address (we do not transmit records as attachments), the name of the person being researched, type of record desired, e.g., birth, marriage, death, estate, etc. and an approximation of the date of the event. The copying costs are five cents per page, with the first five copies free. To this will be added mailing costs where appropriate. Bob McMaken Volunteer Genealogist Butler County Records Center and Archives 123 North Third St. Hamilton, OH 45011

Hi Bob, Nice to see you are still with us and as always, being very helpful to others. The best to you! Chuck Counceller Connersville, Indiana

Thank You Robert!!! I opened it up as you said and right there in the first township listed (Fairfield) was my husbands GGG-Grandpa James McCrea and two of his brothers,John and Charles, WOW!! what a surprise, Have a Wonderful Weekend, Bettie and Duane Davenport ----- Original Message ----- From: Robert McMaken<mailto:rmcmaken@gmail.com> To: OHBUTLER-L@rootsweb.com<mailto:OHBUTLER-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, June 25, 2006 5:07 AM Subject: [OHBUTLER-L] Re: 1836 Plat Maps I have been following, with some interest, this thread of conversation since these documents are official Butler County records and, as such, are subject to the Open Records Law and are in the public domain. The original plat maps are in the custody of the Butler County Engineer's Office, as are all of the township plat maps that still exist. Copies have been made over the years and can be found in various libraries such as the Smith Library of Regional History in Oxford (a division of the Lane Public Library) and the Cummins Room of the Lane Public Library in downtown Hamilton. The various maps have been published in book format over the years by several organizations. The book that most of us are the most familiar with is entitled "The County of Butler, Ohio, McBride's Map of 1836 Combined With The Atlases Of 1875 and 1895." It is a large format book, 11" x 14" in size. My copy was printed in 1989 by Whipporill Publications, Evansville, Indiana. It was sponsored by the Butler County Historical Society. The last time I checked, they no longer had copies available. This book also contains an index to the names of the property owners shown on each of the 1836 township maps and what section of the township the property was located in. Each township has its own index and, unless you know what township your ancestors lived in, you must go through each township to locate them. This index was donated by Shirley Baker and is probably still under her copyright. The Butler County Records Center and Archives has a set of high quality, large format copies of the maps (11" x 17") that were made from the original plats. When they are reduced to "11 x 14" some of the names listed on them become very difficult to read. When we reduce them further, many of the names are no longer readable. We recently analyzed our copies and determined that some can be enhanced and are arranging to get new copies to see what we can do with the ones that need work on them. We will let the list know when this project is completed and the procedure for ordering them. Please keep in mind that we cannot furnish copies of the entire index due to copyright restrictions. The Records Center and Archives also has online digitized copies of James McBride's original 1834 appraisals that were the basis for the maps. To view them go to: http://www.butlercountyohio.org/records<http://www.butlercountyohio.org/records> and click on "Archives" and then "McBride Collection." We also have a number of the re-appraisals from the mid 1800s. These books contain drawings of each of the sections in the township and often show the location of buildings, names of the owners and property valuations. There are no indexes for these books and we need to know the section of the township in order to locate the drawing. This is not a complete collection and there are a number of missing townships. I will pull all of the books together, make a list of what is available, and post it to this list. If you have any questions regarding the maps, the other resources cited or other record availability, please direct them to: bcarchives@butlercountyohio.org<mailto:bcarchives@butlercountyohio.org> When ordering records, make sure you include your full name, e-mail address, regular mailing address (we do not transmit records as attachments), the name of the person being researched, type of record desired, e.g., birth, marriage, death, estate, etc. and an approximation of the date of the event. The copying costs are five cents per page, with the first five copies free. To this will be added mailing costs where appropriate. Bob McMaken Volunteer Genealogist Butler County Records Center and Archives 123 North Third St. Hamilton, OH 45011 ==== OHBUTLER Mailing List ==== To SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE: Send a message to: OHBUTLER-L-request@rootsweb.com<mailto:OHBUTLER-L-request@rootsweb.com> or OHBUTLER-D-request@rootsweb.com<mailto:OHBUTLER-D-request@rootsweb.com> Put SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE (whichever you want to do)