Support for this project was provided by a Library Services and Technology Act grant awarded by the State Library of Ohio.

An example of a death record:

Death record for Louis Birkenbusch, August 27, 1891

An example of a birth record:

Birth record for Esther Abbott, November 20, 1888

The 524,360 records, part of the Local Government Records Collection of the University of Cincinnati’s Archives and Rare Books Library, are of great historical and genealogical importance. Each “birth record” contains the name of the individual along with birth date, race, gender, name and birthplace of father and mother, occupation of father, name of doctor or midwife, and hospital. For each “death record” the following information is available: name, age, date and cause of death, address, occupation, race, gender, attending physician, funeral home, and place of burial.

Visitors to the collection can click on the full display of each entry to see the complete catalog record or the image of the original record. They can also search by a person’s name, date of birth or death, occupation, and cause of death. To assist researchers in using the collection, there is a Frequently Asked Questions page that gives more information on using the collection and a glossary of 19^th-century medical terms such as Catarrhal Fever (common cold), Dropsy (accumulation of water), and Parturition (process of giving birth).

According to Kevin Grace, project director and UC archivist, “these records are a tremendous resource not only for Cincinnatians, but for Ohioans and researchers across the country as well.  The free Internet access will allow a variety of research strategies that have not been previously available.”

In addition to being a resource for genealogists and the general public looking for information about an ancestor, the Cincinnati  birth and death records hold significant research value to historians, sociologists, epidemiologists, public health researchers, and other researchers worldwide.  For instance, researchers can identify residence patterns, occupational health issues, ethnic diversity, and general health practices.

“From a teaching perspective, I can attest that electronic access to historical birth and death records has incredible value in teaching epidemiologic concepts to our public health students. As just one example, instructors can use the data to illustrate the transition in causes of death from infectious to chronic diseases,” said Ronnie D. Horner, UC professor and chair, Department of Public Health Sciences. He went on to say, “from a research perspective, my faculty would have access to important data for numerous investigations into public health issues where a historical context is essential.”

With a few exceptions, the official death records for the City of Cincinnati begin in 1865 and those for birth in 1874. As a result of a government records program of the Ohio Network of American History Research Centers, over 500,000 card files from the Cincinnati Health Department were transferred to the UC Libraries’ Archives and Rare Books Library in 2003. These cards were sometimes typed and many times handwritten, and were created by the Cincinnati Health Department several decades ago to preserve the data, which were originally entered in ledger books. The ledger books are also preserved in the UC Libraries, but are of such fragility that any turning of the pages results in flaking and tears. The informational cards are considered the official and legal records of births and deaths for this time period.

“It is part of our mission to make unique research collections available to UC students and faculty. The digitization of these historical records and their accessibility via the Internet provides a tremendous resource for researchers throughout the world,” said Victoria A. Montavon, dean and university librarian.

Support for the digitization of these records was provided by a Library Services and Technology Act grant awarded by the State Library of Ohio. The collection is housed on the University of Cincinnati Digital Resource Commons, part of the OhioLINK Digital Resource Commons, a network of digital repositories.

The University of Cincinnati Libraries was awarded a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant from the State Library of Ohio to digitize the records. Read more about the project online.

- By Janice Schulz

The Confirmation class of 1903 with Rev. H.G. Eisenlohr

The Archives and Rare Books Library holds the records of a few local churches, including St. John’s Unitarian Church, one of Cincinnati’s oldest houses of worship.  This church’s rich history began in 1814 when Joseph Zaeslin (also spelled Zaeslein), a Moravian minister, organized a church for German immigrants in Cincinnati under the name The German Evangelical and Reformed Church.   The history of this church is important to both Cincinnati’s religious history and to the history of Cincinnati’s German-American community.

At its beginning, the church was diverse and included both Protestants and Catholics since there was no Catholic church in Cincinnati at the time.  The beliefs of the congregation also ranged from liberal to conservative elements, but Zaeslin was successful in keeping everyone together until his death in either 1817 or 1818.  When Ludwig Heinrich Meyer became pastor in 1820, however, things were not as peaceful and the congregation endured a number of splits throughout the 1830s.  Yet, the original congregation maintained a liberal character, and in 1839 was incorporated as German St. John’s Church.

The church on the corner of 12th and Elm in Over-the-Rhine, 1916

The congregation’s first church building was built in 1824 on Arch Street, but in 1868 St. John’s moved to the corner of 12^th and Elm Streets in Over-the-Rhine, the heart of Cincinnati’s German community.  More changes came to the church in the early 20^th century.  Under the leadership of Rev. H.G. Eisenlohr, the congregation slowly stopped using the German language, and by 1918 the church was keeping records and holding all services in English.  Also while Eisenlohr was pastor, the congregation joined the American Unitarian Association and changed their name to St. John’s Unitarian Church.  The mid-20^th century brought a new church on Resor Avenue in the Clifton neighborhood of Cincinnati.  The church is still located there and is now known as St. John’s Unitarian Universalist Church.

The records of the church in the Archives and Rare Books Library are on microfilm.  These records include church minutes (1822-1916), and lists of baptisms, marriages, funerals, and confirmations (1839-1935).  The records are primarily in German, but the church minutes have been translated into English.  The microfilm also contains a history of the church written by H.G. Eisenlohr, and the Archives and Rare Books Library holds several pamphlets relating to the history of the church.  The microfilm of the church records is part of the German-Americana Collection and is Microfilm Number 10 in the ARB’s holdings.  Various pamphlets on the church can also be found in the German-Americana Collection under the call number SpecCol Fick BX 9861.C5 S346.

- Suzanne Maggard

Judge Cissell’s future plans include considering the digitization of some Probate Court records housed in the Archives & Rare Books Library. As part of the Ohio Network of American History Research Centers, ARB currently holds a number of probate collections, including original wills, citizenship records and estate records for Hamilton County. Indexes for the wills and citizenship records can be found on ARB’s website at http://www.libraries.uc.edu/libraries/arb/archives/collections/ohionetwork_coll.html.

- Janice Schulz