Genealogical society preserves Jefferson County records dating to 1797
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STEUBENVILLE -- Learning more about the dash that separates the years between a person’s birth and death is becoming easier thanks to the work of the Jefferson County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society.
“Have you heard of that dash in between?” Flora VerStraten-Merrin explained. “Those are the things that you want to know about your ancestors. You want to know the dash -- what they did with their life while they were living. What did they accomplish? What did they do?”
A local historian and president of the Jefferson County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society, VerStraten-Merrin discussed the work of the organization with members of the Steubenville Kiwanis Club during Tuesday’s meeting.
She shared how much information about local ancestors can be found by nearly anyone while also discussing the chapter’s new home.
“We’re in the Jefferson County Job and Family Services Building,” VerStraten-Merrin said while speaking at the Sycamore Center. “We have three offices and a huge room that has big filing cabinets that roll and open. And we have five of them filled already.”
The Fifth Street location is the third home for the society, she said. Previous locations included Wintersville and an old church in Stratton. Members of the public had a chance to learn more about the new office during an open house June 25.
Inside the office are materials dating back as far as 1797, the year Jefferson County was formed -- six years before Ohio became a state.
Many of the county records held by the society have been digitized and are available for free through FamilySearch. VerStraten-Merrin said the society gained access to many of those records more than 15 years ago with the help of the late Sam Kerr, who served as Jefferson County probate and juvenile judge for 25 years before retiring in 2015.
Kerr, who died in 2021, and Common Pleas Judge Joseph Bruzzese worked with her to obtain records from the clerk of courts and probate offices, she said.
“Most of those records were stored, believe it or not, in outbuildings, in the heat and cold, which is not good for records dating back to 1797,” VerStraten-Merrin said. “The other ones we found were housed in the basement, and guess what was right above them where they were being stored? Hot water pipes and plumbing. They were exposed, and they were brittle.”
After contacting Utah-based FamilySearch, the project to digitize the records began. The effort included scanning 1.2 million pieces of paper, she said.
“So, anybody who’s searching anywhere in the world and who has ancestors in Jefferson County can access a lot of the information,” VerStraten-Merrin said.
Some records cannot be digitized, she explained. Those include adoptions, records involving mental health cases and other sensitive matters.
“We do have those in our office and they predate 1900,” VerStraten-Merrin said. “When people are researching their ancestors, they want to know that.”
She added that terms used in historical records have changed over time. The word “lunatics,” for example, could have referred in the early 1900s to someone who had epilepsy or struggled with alcoholism.
“If I had to pick one topic that I help more people with when they are researching their ancestors, it’s naturalization,” VerStraten-Merrin said. “They want to see where their ancestors came from. Some of the records actually will have your ancestor’s photo in them, and the ones that don’t have a photo might say that he was 5 feet tall and had brown hair.”
Though some area residents might confuse the genealogical society with the Jefferson County Historical Society, VerStraten-Merrin said the organizations have different missions.
“We are not the historical society,” VerStraten-Merrin said. “The historical society is on Franklin Avenue. They have museum-like articles. People try to give us museum-like articles, and I tell them to go down to the museum, and they try to give them old books, so they send them up to us.”
The groups are part of a collaboration involving the museum, the Schiappa Branch of the Public Library of Steubenville and Jefferson County, the courthouse and the genealogical society to preserve the area’s history.
“We have things that no one else has in Jefferson County,” VerStraten-Merrin said. “We try to tell people if you want to go to the museum, they have things that we don’t have. If you want to go to the library, they have things that we don’t have. And, of course, the courthouse has all of the land and deed records that we don’t have.”
The genealogical society also has Freedmen’s records, which were digitized through the work of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Ancestry and FamilySearch. The records include information on people who were freed during and after slavery, she said.
The society also has planned two events to celebrate America’s 250th birthday before the end of the year.
The first event will be held Sept. 13 at Beatty Park and will feature a performance by the Friends Community Choir, which will offer patriotic music. A bagpiper and the Sycamore Classical Choir also will perform. VerStraten-Merrin will offer a brief presentation between performances.
On Nov. 14, the society will present John Boilegh, an archaeologist with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Mineral Resources Management, who will discuss the history of the Ohio River.
Following that presentation, VerStraten-Merrin will share a slideshow featuring 70 rarely seen photographs from the Steubenville Centennial Parade held in 1897. The photos were taken throughout Steubenville and Jefferson County and include images of encampments, a replica of Fort Steuben built on the courthouse lawn, Civil War veterans and students who attended the Steubenville Female Seminary.
The event will run from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and will be held at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Powells Lane in Wintersville. A $10 donation would be appreciated, she said.
The genealogical society office is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Thursday.
For information, contact the chapter at (740) 283-8567, email jeffersoncounty1@att.net or visit jeffcochapter.com.