HISTORY ENTHUSIASTS — Sandy Day, right, remains involved with the Jefferson County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society that she was the organizing president of 35 years ago. Flora VerStraten-Merrin has served as president since 2002. -- Contributed

(EDITOR’S NOTE: This month marks the 35th anniversary of the movement to establish the Jefferson County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society, which today has an office presence at the Stratton Municipal Building, located at 501 Fifth St. in Stratton. Organizing President Sandy Day, local historian and genealogist at the Schiappa Branch of the Public Library of Steubenville and Jefferson County before her retirement, shares a historical perspective of how that came to fruition and projects it has undertaken.)

In 1982, I became interested in genealogy when my mother-in-law, Luana Day, presented the Day family Bible to Greg Day, her son and my husband. This Bible dates to 1881. About 1984, I became a member of the Harrison County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society in Cadiz. Several members of that chapter began to encourage me to establish a chapter in Jefferson County.

They stated that since Jefferson County was established in Ohio in 1797, there should be a chapter in Jefferson County. At first, I didn’t pay much attention because I had no idea how to start a chapter. However, the Harrison County Chapter president, Eleanor Birney, kept “suggesting” that I should have a meeting to see if there was an interest in forming one.

In early 1986, I took a basic genealogy class with the National Genealogical Society. This was before the Internet. I was sent research tasks to perform and mail back to the society. On Feb. 9, 1987, I received a certificate that stated I had successfully completed the basic course class. This was the only instruction I ever received on genealogy. The rest was self-taught. In addition to telling the history of this chapter, information is included to explain how important this genealogy chapter was and still is in Jefferson County. My other intent is to tell the importance of other genealogy resources in this county.

I placed a notice in the Herald-Star stating the day, time and place of the first meeting to determine if there was an interest in forming a Jefferson County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society. The meeting was held on Dec. 12, 1986, in a meeting room in the Ohio Valley Towers building on Market Street in downtown Steubenville. I invited Mary and Bill Hanlin from the Jefferson County Historical Association in Steubenville to speak at this first meeting.

Mary informed those in attendance about the genealogical holdings in the library of the association. I met Mary and Bill about 1984 when I volunteered to work at that library. I really didn’t expect anyone to show up at this first meeting. We had about a dozen people in attendance. All of those people in attendance stated that they wanted to see a chapter formed in this county. In 1986, the Jefferson County Historical Association was basically the only place in Jefferson County where you could find published family histories and many genealogy resources on Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

This library contains many Jefferson County resources. The resources at this association were and still are quite impressive. Research could be performed in the Jefferson County Courthouse in Steubenville for original records. The county courthouse houses a multitude of original county records. In 1986, there were a few genealogy- related books at the Main Library of the Public Library of Steubenville and Jefferson County. However, it wasn’t a well organized collection and not easily accessible.

This changed in 1987 when the Schiappa Memorial Library opened. I invited Alan Hall to be a speaker for the second meeting still being held in the Towers building. Hall, director of the Public Library of Steubenville and Jefferson County, knew of the importance of genealogy resources in public libraries.

Alan told those in attendance that a new branch of the library was being built in the West End of Steubenville near the Fort Steuben Mall. It was to be named the Schiappa Memorial Library. He asked library employee Judy Dobzynski to visit nearby public libraries to determine how their genealogy collections were organized.

When the Schiappa Memorial Library opened on Feb. 2, 1987, there was a dedicated local history room that was called the Ohio Room. It contained a great collection of genealogy resources. The collection has grown through the years and is well worth a visit. Judy was the local historian/genealogist. In 1994 she passed away. Judy did an excellent job of selecting and organizing the collection.

As an aside, I must mention here that in 1994, I was hired by Hall as the second local historian/genealogist for the library system. I held that position until 2014, when I retired. Erika Grubbs is the current local historian/genealogist at the Schiappa Memorial Library.

At the February 1987 meeting, bylaws to become an official chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society were acceptedwith 52 charter members. The official charter was received in March 1987 as the 82nd chapter. Ohio has 88 counties. Charter membership was accepted for a limited time. I was elected president.

In 2021, there are 95 chapters of the Ohio Genealogical Society. Some counties have multiple chapters.

The first officers of this chapter, in addition to myself as president, were: Vice president, Martha Sisler; recording secretary, Betty Hoffman; corresponding secretary, Pam Cost; treasurer, Jackie Williamson; and chapter historian, Luana Day. Hoffman, Williamson and Luana Day have passed away. It was decided that this chapter needed to produce a newsletter to inform the members of all of the meetings and other genealogy related news.

The newsletter was called Jefferson County Lines and I was the first editor. During the past decades, there have been several scrapbooks produced to preserve the history of this chapter. All of the chapter scrapbooks are located in the chapter library in Stratton.

The chapter website at www.jeffcochapter.com offers a current list of Jefferson County publications and provides the address of the chapter library, located at 501 Fifth St., Stratton in the Stratton Muicipal Building.

The chapter did have many ongoing projects through the years, including:

– A survey of all Jefferson County churches and to locate information on those that had cemeteries connected to their churches.

– Beginning in 1990, the chapter sold glass Christmas ornaments showing historic places in Jefferson County. They were produced from 1990 through 1997. The last one celebrated the Steubenville Bicentennial 1797-1997.

– In 1991, one of the judges at the Jefferson County Courthouse asked members of this chapter to aid in reorganizing the probate records in the courthouse. Bridgette Osz, Opal Conn and Ray Dossett of the chapter were made deputy probate clerks and provided this much-needed service. This is not a complete listing of the individuals who helped in this project. There were more than 46,000 files in the county courthouse to be organized that year. The courthouse began microfilming probate records in the early 1970s. The previous files had not been microfilmed due to the high cost involved.

– Also in 1991, First Families of Jefferson County, Ohio, was formed. To be accepted, you had to show documentation that your ancestor lived in Jefferson County prior to Dec. 31, 1820. Currently, 130 descendants have made 276 entries on their First Families. Pioneer Families of Jefferson County also was formed that year. To be accepted, you had to show documentation that your ancestor lived in Jefferson County prior to Dec. 31, 1850.

There also is a Society of Civil War Families of Jefferson County, Ohio. On the chapterwebsite, you can see all of these ancestors and their descendants who provided the required documentation.

– In 1995, the chapter published “Index to Early Marriages of Jefferson County, Ohio 1798-1820.” This book contains 1,875 marriages for this county. A copy was donated to the Schiappa Memorial Library.

– Richard Roe, a Steubenville resident and honorary member of this chapter, researched and prepared several historic books on this county and donated them to the chapter to sell. His compilations were donated to the Schiappa Branch of the Public Library of Steubenville and Jefferson County.

His first book was “Jefferson County Ohio Births 1867-1879.” The first year that county births were recorded was in 1867. Richard obtained the data for this book by reading the microfilmed records held at the Schiappa Library. This project was very labor intensive.

Richard donated that first book to the local history room at the Schiappa Memorial Library. He donated a copy of this book to the Jefferson County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society.

Richard once asked me what microfilmed records would be most in need in print form at the library. When I mentioned county birth records, he saw this as his mission to aid genealogy researchers. Any books that Richard prepared either for the chapter or for the library had every name indexed.

Richard has since passed away. His time and effort provided many much needed resources for the Schiappa Library. Richard did not ask for payment for all of the books that he compiled. All of those books are still in high demand at the Schiappa Library.

Without his dedicated work, neither the Schiappa Library nor the Jefferson County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society would have any of these printed resources on hand for the general public.

The chapter’s other publications for sale are:

– Index to Early Wills and Estates of Jefferson County, Ohio up to 1853;

– 1890 Veterans and Widows Census of Jefferson County, Ohio;

– Every Name Index to the 1900 Jefferson County, Ohio, Census;

– Every Name Index to the 1910 Jefferson County, Ohio, Census;

– Every Name Index to the 1920 Jefferson County, Ohio, Census. Roe prepared the indexes for all of mentioned census records and gave copies to the Schiappa Library and to the genealogy society.

– Index to Early Marriages of Jefferson County, Ohio, 1798-1820.

Reprints made by the chapter were:

– Tombstone Inscriptions and Family Records of Jefferson County, Ohio, by Esther Weygandt Powell.

– Every Name Index to Esther Weygandt Powell’s Tombstone Inscriptions and Family Records of Jefferson County, Ohio. This book was indexed by Judith Stephenson Dobzynski.

The Western Herald newspaper name index 1806-1819 was compiled by chapter member Cindy Stock. This important book contains references to all families living in Jefferson County in this time period. 1806 was the first year of publication for this newspaper. This book is at the Schiappa Library and is for sale at the chapter office in Stratton.

Many of these publications are now out of print. Contact the chapter library to see what publications are still available for purchase. All of the books listed are available for viewing at the Schiappa Library on Mall Drive in Steubenville.

The chapter at one time donated a combined $1,000 worth of genealogy books to the Schiappa Memorial Library and to the Jefferson County Historical Association.

Other presidents and officers of this chapter include Bridgette Osz, Julia Krutilla, Linda Stewart, Charlie Green, Opal Conn, David Cost, Pam Cost and many others. Cindy Stock held the office of newsletter editor at one time. An attempt was made to include individuals who were part of this chapter. The list herein is unfortunately not a complete listing.

The officers in 2001 were: Charlie Green, president; Julia Krutilla, vice president; me, recording secretary; Bridgette Osz, corresponding secretary; Opal Conn, treasurer; and Cindy Stock, newsletter editor. In 2002, the then-Flora VerStraten became president of the chapter, a position Flora VerStraten-Merrin continues to hold.

In some respects, it seems odd to me that I know so much detailed information on Ohio history. Most people don’t realize that I wasn’t born in Ohio. I was actually born in Alabama and moved to Ohio in 1961 with my family when I was 11.