Searching at Ohio Historical Center

[364581]

My father was born early August, 1908 at the family home in Mifflin Township, Franklin County (NW corner of today's Port Columbus Airport), OH and the city of Columbus tells me the records are now at the Ohio Historical Center on the State Expo (Fair) Grounds.

Ah! but therein lies a problem. Several times I have wasted time searching under his adopted name "Roberts" since he was adopted within four days of birth. Problem #1 is that to date I have only found one (1) of the cousins' names that were born earlier "just across the road" from where my dad was born. Seems odd as there should have been several listings.

Problem #2, since my dad was born out of wedlock would his birth certificate be filed under his mother's surname???

I have/or had his birth certificate in my hands 30 years back, can't remember where I put it "to know where it was at". His mother's full name was listed but she was born in Germany and on her own here n the U.S. so it's not a simple matter of looking at the names on the neighbor's daughters on the census.

And, I have been told she had been run off by the Roberts after the adoption (she was their milk maid) so her name is not on the 1810 census at that address. I have no idea how long she was at the address as she is not listed on the 1900 census.

I've addresses these questions to the employees of the Historical Center and they admit they don't know how the records were "handled" at the time. When one gets to the townships the records are broken down in alphabetical order, but at the end of the page they were carried over to where ever there was space with out noting their location.

When I return this year to the center I'd like a better idea of where I should be looking for my father's and his cousin-through-adoption's birth records.
Thanks!

[travers]

Try looking at the FamilySearch website under the "Ohio, County Births, 1841-2003" then you can search the index or it might be better to click on "Browse through 1,434,177 images" in that database if you are not sure what name he is listed under (there are County listings there or the "All Counties" birth index there to look through). There are indexes and the birth registers there for many counties in Ohio. Some of large cities might have had their own books so in that case you might find your father in the "All Counties" index. I would probably search under his mother's maiden name and try looking first at the Franklin County birth register index to get the volume and page number of the record and the access the corresponding book there on the website. There is a "Ohio, Births and Christenings, 1821-1962" database there too, but no images are available online for those.

[hazel_ion]

My father was born early August, 1908 at the family home in Mifflin Township, Franklin County (NW corner of today's Port Columbus Airport), OH and the city of Columbus tells me the records are now at the Ohio Historical Center on the State Expo (Fair) Grounds.

Ah! but therein lies a problem. Several times I have wasted time searching under his adopted name "Roberts" since he was adopted within four days of birth. Problem #1 is that to date I have only found one (1) of the cousins' names that were born earlier "just across the road" from where my dad was born. Seems odd as there should have been several listings.





Problem #2, since my dad was born out of wedlock would his birth certificate be filed under his mother's surname???

I have/or had his birth certificate in my hands 30 years back, can't remember where I put it "to know where it was at". His mother's full name was listed but she was born in Germany and on her own here n the U.S. so it's not a simple matter of looking at the names on the neighbor's daughters on the census.

And, I have been told she had been run off by the Roberts after the adoption (she was their milk maid) so her name is not on the 1810 census at that address. I have no idea how long she was at the address as she is not listed on the 1900 census.

I've addresses these questions to the employees of the Historical Center and they admit they don't know how the records were "handled" at the time. When one gets to the townships the records are broken down in alphabetical order, but at the end of the page they were carried over to where ever there was space with out noting their location.

When I return this year to the center I'd like a better idea of where I should be looking for my father's and his cousin-through-adoption's birth records.
Thanks!

If you father's mother was not married at the time of his birth his mother's last name would be his last name on the birth cert.

My grandmother and grandfather were not married at time of my mother's birth and her last name on cert. was her mother's last name. He was listed as father but their were not married.

[jedikatie]

Except it doesn't always work out that way, hazel_ion... My great-uncle was born on 7 June 1897 in Highland Co., Ohio. His parents were not married until 17 Oct 1897 in the same county. He's listed in the county birth records under his father's last name, not his mother's, despite them not yet being married.

But yes, I agree that you should try using the Family Search site. If nothing else, you can always limit it down to his first name, the year born, Franklin County, and add in his mother's name (or part of her name) to narrow it down a bit to see how his record might have been listed in the records.

[364581]

Reply

Thanks for the Family Search tip as I have never explored there. I sort of figured out, too late, that I should have been looking under his mother's maiden name. Which now leaves the problem of where did I put the birth certificate! Wish I would have written down her name when I had the certificate in hand.

But, don't know how others feel but when I found his birth certificate, on the day he died, I felt guilty to have it in my hands. My parents never mentioned that he was born out of wed lock, even thought my younger relatives knew. I was in my 30's...

It will be interesting if I can find the birth records for the other children in the family who were born in the same house as my dad, or across the street. Maybe my past beliefs are true, they are all aliens to this planet?