Can someone explain the types of marriage records available at the courthouse in Cincinnati? In various volumes of "Restored Hamilton County, Ohio Marriages" by Jeffrey G Herbert, I see that some of the records are from "Original Hamilton County Courthouse Marriage License Books" and some are from "Restored Hamilton County Courthouse Marriage License Books." What is the difference between these two types of books and what period of time is covered by them? When at the courthouse, is there a clear distinction between these two types of records? John Charles Tippet johntippet@cox.net

John, Not sure I have all the details straight but I'll do my best here. In the early 1890's there was a fire in the courthouse and some marriage records were destroyed. I have seen the books or similar to those you mentioned attempting to index those records that were lost, using newspaper announcements, church records or other available sources. These books I have found at various libraries and historical societies. I am not aware if an actual certificate or record exists from the courthouse for those in these indexes. At least I have not been able to find those that I wanted. At the Hamilton County courthouse they have marriage records as early as 1817 through present day. The earliest ones are in bound volumes and starting, I believe, about the 1920's they are either on microfilm or microfiche. There is also a set of books called "Marriage Bans". The information on these marriage records is very basic and limited.....groom, bride, date, place, and who performed the service. These records end about the 1930's or 1940's. I hope this answers your question. Maybe someone else can fill in the details I'm missing or correct the information I have. I do know they are in the process of filming all the records and making them available online.......sometime in the future. Being a government agency, that's probably the best you'll get to narrow it down when it will be finished. Bob ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Charles Tippet" <johntippet@cox.net> To: <OHHAMILT-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, June 12, 2005 6:34 PM Subject: [OH-HAMILT] Marriage Records of Hamilton County > Can someone explain the types of marriage records available at the > courthouse in Cincinnati? In various volumes of "Restored Hamilton > County, Ohio Marriages" by Jeffrey G Herbert, I see that some of the > records are from "Original Hamilton County Courthouse Marriage License > Books" and some are from "Restored Hamilton County Courthouse Marriage > License Books." > > What is the difference between these two types of books and what period of > time is covered by them? When at the courthouse, is there a clear > distinction between these two types of records? > > John Charles Tippet > johntippet@cox.net > > > > > ==== OHHAMILT Mailing List ==== > Tired of this List? Going on vacation, a business trip? Or, do you just > want off? Unsubscribing (and subscribing) are a snap from here! > http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/usa/OH/hamilton.html > > ============================== > Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the > last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: > http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx > >

John, I don't recall there being a distinction between the books at the courthouse. But, I have often wondered if there is a list of what was lost with each fire & what was able to be restored after. There were several fires, I don't recall exactly the years of all, but 4 in all, 1st b/f 1800, 2nd ca 1814 when the courthouse was used as a barracks during the war, 3rd 1848/49 & last in 1884. We are told that following each fire the county basically salvaged what they could into new books I presume & also advertised for people to resubmit info to be "restored" and/or I guess this was done if the need arose, say perhaps following a death & the need arose to prove a relationship. If people moved away, had died or had no other reason to have their marriage record re-recorded, it's likely they didn't bother. Hence the reason for so many gaps in our records up through the last fire in 1884. But, back to the distinction between the books. I don't know if this will help, but I have posted a page to the Hamilton Co. OHGenWeb site which refers to the microfilm that LDS has of Hamilton Co. Marriage records: http://www.rootsweb.com/~ohhamilt/marrbatch.html LDS description includes "Original", Restored A, Restored B, & Restored C. As I said, I don't recall their being a distinction between the books when I've been at the courthouse, but I also have to admit that I've mostly gone after copies for records say before 1850 which fall into the Restored A catagory & more recently for copies of later records after the 1884 fire. I will say that I've noticed by searching LDS with the batch #'s I've listed that is seemed with some of the restored records or maybe it was the single searchable batch under section C (1893-1903) that the marriages actually occured before the 1884 fire so perhaps were restored in 1893-1903 period. At some point I have thought about checking into this, I'd be curious if there was a record or something of when it was "restored", which who knows what valuable information one might glean from that if the courts required proof of some sort :-) Afraid this isn't much help, but if I find anything more conclusive I'll post it. If anyone else has something to add, please do. Linda Boorom Hamilton Co. OHGenWeb co-CC ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Charles Tippet" <johntippet@cox.net> To: <OHHAMILT-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, June 12, 2005 6:34 PM Subject: [OH-HAMILT] Marriage Records of Hamilton County > Can someone explain the types of marriage records available at the > courthouse in Cincinnati? In various volumes of "Restored Hamilton County, > Ohio Marriages" by Jeffrey G Herbert, I see that some of the records are > from "Original Hamilton County Courthouse Marriage License Books" and some > are from "Restored Hamilton County Courthouse Marriage License Books." > > What is the difference between these two types of books and what period of > time is covered by them? When at the courthouse, is there a clear > distinction between these two types of records? > > John Charles Tippet > johntippet@cox.net > > > > > ==== OHHAMILT Mailing List ==== > Tired of this List? Going on vacation, a business trip? Or, do you just want off? Unsubscribing (and subscribing) are a snap from here! > http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/usa/OH/hamilton.html > > ============================== > Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the > last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx > >