Clark County was formed in 1818 from Greene and Champaign Counties. It was named for George Rogers Clark. There have been no courthouse fires that we are aware of.

Birth and death records start in 1867, marriages, wills, deeds, and probate records in 1818.

The basics:

• Start with yourself and work backward. Don’t start out trying to connect yourself with someone in the past that has your last name –it’s extremely hard to prove lineage this way.
  
  
• Get as many documents as you can; copies of birth and death records, marriage records, wills, deeds, census, obituaries from newspapers, and family papers will often have valuable information, and may have clues you can piece together later.
  
  
• Document your findings – you may find more information in that book you found Grandma’s parents in. You want to be able to go back to it. Get the title, author, and page numbers, at the least.
  
  
• Don’t just go to the county courthouse; check the public and college library, historical society, genealogical society, county archives, and town museums if any.
  
  
• Ask your older relatives for help, if any are living, but take their stories with a skeptical mind. Family stories are often garbled or downright wrong, but sometimes there’s vital information. Internet searches are OK, but don’t take them as gospel either. It’s very rare to be able to find all your relatives on both sides on one website, unless your sibling has created it. Many websites are indexes or abstracts of original records; there is almost always more information on the original document than the abstract shows.
  
  
• Don’t overwhelm the staff of whatever research facility you use. They can have contact with hundreds of people a month, and generally haven’t had time to research entire families that were in their county from its founding. Many staff people are part-time, volunteers, or doing more jobs than one.

E 185.96 .L83 1995
Lucas, Ernestine Garrett. Wider windows to the past: African-American history from a family perspective. [Decorah IA]: E.G. Lucas, 1995.

REF F 480 .M37 1982
Marzulli, Lawrence J. The development of Ohio’s counties and their historic courthouses. Columbus OH: County Commissioners Association of Ohio, c1982.

REF F 486 .C6 1875
L.H. Everts & Co. Illustrated historical atlas of Clark County, Ohio, with an atlas of Ohio, and general … Philadelphia: L.H. Everts & Co., 1875.

REF F 489 .O37 1985
Ohio gazetteer. Wilmington DE: American Historical Publications, 1985.

REF F 491.3 .B86 1987
Burke, Thomas Aquinas. Ohio lands: a short history. Columbus OH: Ohio Auditor of State, c1987.

REF F 497 .C5 E27 1985
Friends of the Library Genealogical Research Group, Warder Public Library. Early Clark County Ohio, families: vital statistics. Springfield OH: The Library, 1985.

REF F 497 .C5 H5
History of Clark County, Ohio: containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc.; general and local statistics; portraits of early settlers … Evansville IN: Unigraphic, 1972 (reprint of Chicago IL: Beers & Co., 1881).

REF F 497 .C5 S73 1997
Updating the dream: Springfield looks at 2000 and beyond. Springfield OH: Wittenberg University, 1997.

REF F 499 .S7 A43 1983
The American dream/Newsweek. New York: Newsweek, Inc., 1983.

F 499 .S7 K56 1985
Kinnison, William A. Springfield and Clark County: an illustrated history. Northridge CA: Windsor Publications, 1985.

F 499 .S7 L39 1998
Laybourne, Harry. Springfield. Charleston SC: Arcadia Publishing, 1998.

F 499 .S7 L392 2000
Laybourne, Harry. Springfield, Ohio, revisited. Charleston SC: Arcadia, c2000.

F 499 .S7 T8
Turner, Edith Ide. It happened in Springfield. Springfield OH: Springfield Tribune Printing Co., 1958.

REF F 499 .S7 W5 1976
Williams, Ida L. One hundred seventy-five years of struggle: history of Black people in Springfield, Ohio. Springfield OH: Springfield Program in Inter-Cultural Education, 1976.

F 517 .K37 1985
Kenton, Edna. Simon Kenton, his life and period, 1755-1836. Salem NH: Ayer
Co., 1985 (reprint of Garden City NY: Doubleday, Doran, c1930).

Books in the OhioLINK catalog: not all holdings are on this list; check for other libraries that own these. Those listed are the closest. Many are “in library use only”.

WU = Wittenberg Univ. WSU = Wright State Univ.

Clark County Historical Society (Ohio). An architectural guide to the houses of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio. Springfield OH: The Society, 1976. [WU]

Robinson, Elisha. Atlas of the city of Springfield, Ohio. From actual surveys and official records … New York: E. Robinson, 1882. [Kent State U.]

The book of Springfield. Springfield OH: Publ. for Flourishing Springfield by the Commercial Club, 1906? [Ohio U.]

Prince, Benjamin F., ed. The centennial celebration of Springfield, Ohio, held August 4th to 10th, 1901. Springfield OH: Springfield Publishing Co., 1901? [WU, WSU]

Rerick Brothers, Topographers and Publishers. The county of Clark, Ohio. An imperial atlas and art folio … {Richmond IN?}: Rerick Bros., 1894. [WU]

Directory of the city of Springfield: containing the city charter and ordinances, a brief history … Springfield OH: Clark County Historical Society, c1969 (reprint of Springfield OH: John W. Kees, 1852). [WSU]

Major, Mike. Drawings of Springfield, Ohio, and vicinity. Urbana OH: M. Major, c1981. [Edison CC]

Ludlow, John. The early settlement of Springfield, Ohio (the Ludlow papers). Springfield OH: Clark County Historical Society, 1963. [Bowling Green]

Miller, Samuel S. Early settlers and early times on Donnels Creek and vicinity, Clark County, Ohio. Clark Co. OH: H.S. Limbocker, printer, 1887. [WSU]

Kummerow, Burton K. Heartland: an exhibition from the collection of the Heritage Center of Clark County. Springfield OH: Clark County Historical Society, Heritage Center of Clark Co., 2001. [WU]

Rufener, Edna H. Rioting in Springfield, Ohio, 1904 and 1906. Oxford OH: Miami University thesis, 1972. [WSU]

Skinner, Herbert K. A scrapbook of newspaper articles on Springfield history (1967, Springfield News-Sun). Springfield OH: Springfield History Committee, 1971. [State Lib of Ohio]

Sketches of Springfield: containing an account of the early settlement, together with an outline … by a citizen. Springfield OH: T.A. Wicks, 1852. [State Lib of Ohio]

Sketches of Springfield in 1856: presenting views of its social, literary …
Springfield OH: Printed at the Daily Nonpareil office, 1856. [State Lib of Ohio]

Springfield Illustrated: a brief record of the transformation … Springfield OH: Springfield Publishing Co., 1900. [WSU]

Allbeck, Willard Dow. Springfield in the 1870s. Springfield OH: Clark County Historical Society, 1977. [WU]

Springfield, the champion city. Dayton OH: Gem City Savings Association, 1975. [Univ. of Dayton]

Prince, Benjamin F. A standard history of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio: and authentic narrative of the past, with particular attention to the modern era … Chicago & New York: The American Historical Society, 1922. [WU]

Rockel, William M. 20th century history of Springfield, and Clark County, Ohio, and representative citizens. Evansville IN: Unigraphic, 1976 (reprint). [WU, WSU, Cedarville Univ.]

Yester Year in Clark County, Ohio. Springfield OH: Clark County Historical Society, (various dates). Periodical. [WU, WSU]

Also available through OhioLINK’s home page, by clicking the Digital Media Center button, are the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, searchable by keyword or city. These can help you find out about the town in which your ancestors lived.

Updated: 02 July 2003