Cuyahoga County OHGenWeb


Courts


A Unique Multi-Court Index on FamilySearch

Cuyahoga Abstract Title and Trust Company (Cleveland, Ohio) Card File

This wonderful set of cards can be found under the title, “Cuyahoga County Probate Records Case File Index 1896-1967,” but it is so much more.

"This material was donated to the Ohio Genealogical Society by the late John Grecol, Fairview Park, Ohio in 1999 through OGS Cleveland District trustees Dianne Young and Jean Barnes. The cards were produced by Cuyahoga Abstract Title and Trust Company and its successors, the last being LandAmerica... . These served as an access point to court records for the title company and represented documents that named heirs where property could be transferred. The cards gave the case number so that the original papers and eventually the proper microfilm roll could be pulled while doing title abstract work. The cards contain all federal court items that affected real property from approximately 1898 to 1971, all probate case items (except land sales), and all divorces from 1904 to 1954."--Finding Aid (from FamilySearch)

CUYAHOGA COUNTY PROBATE RECORDS CASE FILE INDEX 1896-1967:
Go to the link below and scroll down to a somewhat alphabetical list. There are 8 pages to this list on the website. When you find your alphabetical area of interest, click the camera symbol to the right under “Format.”
https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/2574306?availability=Family%20History%20Library
Browse those images above for the name you’re interested in and write down the case number. Then go to the appropriate repository for the records. There is a key to the abreviations, thanks to Ohio Genealogical Society, Linda Swanson, Tom Neel, and Sherri Minn. It is online here. <https://www.ogs.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Cuyahoga-County-Ohio-Case-File-Index-Key.pdf It includes the following items:

  • A key to what the case numbers are from, thanks to Sherry Minn.
  • A list of standardization of names.
  • A listing of Common Pleas dates for docket numbers 1882-1967
  • Dates for Probate cases, 1811-1927.
  • Listing of Insanity and Adoption case numbers with years from 1898 to 1967
  • A further listing of Probate cases 1889-1997

DIVORCE RECORDS – You can find divorce records in this index. Search the husband’s first and last names, and the wife’s first and last married name (you are doing two separate searches.) If you find a common case number on both of their cards and it is labelled DIV (for Divorce), you now have the case number for the divorce and can look for it at the link below, or email the Clerk of Courts Civil File Requests Department at coccfr@cuyahogacounty.us. In the email say that you’d like a divorce file for case # (insert case number), the name of the husband and wife, and the year if you have it. They will send you the file.

ADOPTION RECORDS – You can also search adoptions in the above index if you know both the birth name of the child and the parent’s adopted surname. You’ll find an index card under both names, with a matching case number and the words Adoption, Adop, or Adp. You can use that case number to search the case numbers in the Docket List below and at least you would know when the adoption took place. But, that is all that you will get. Unless you are a direct descendant, you won’t be allowed to view the adoption file, and it won’t be in the Probate Court files digitized below either, as they were not filmed. If you can find both names, you can then use other records to search for further information.

IN ADDITION to Estate, Divorce, and Adoption Records, one might find the following and more:

  • Guardianships
  • Insanity
  • Change of Name
  • Divorce with minor
  • Maiden names from marriages and other records
  • Affidavits
  • Agreements, Partnerships
  • Misc. Land Sales
  • Bankruptcy
  • Trusteeship
  • Prenups
  • Limited partnerships
  • Mechanic's and other Liens
  • Mortgages
  • Also includes companies

Another Unique Multi-Court Offering

Annals of Cleveland, court record series of Cuyahoga County, 1869-1870 on FamilySearch. Entitled, Abstracts of the Records of Court Cases in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, 1870, This WPA series of books contains court records told in story form without the legalese. Only two years are covered. The volumes here are numbers 5 and 7. Obviously the collection here is incomplete, but a fascinating look at life during those two years in District 4.


Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court

Cuyahoga County Justice Center
1200 Ontario St.
Cleveland, OH 44113
216-443-7950

The Justice Center is on the south side of Lakeside Avenue, across from the Old Courthouse. It holds the Clerk of Courts for both Civil and Criminal cases. Here you can search criminal and civil court case dockets.
Civil Division - 216-443-7966 Cases before 1912 are at the archive. Cases after 1912 are at the Justice Center.
Criminal Division - 216-443-7985


Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Journals 1823-1852 on FamilySearch (has images)


Domestic Relations Court - Division of Common Pleas Court

Cuyahoga County Courthouse
1 W. Lakeside Avenue, Room 35
Cleveland, OH 44113
Divorce records 1882- present should be here after the move in June 2013. These are handled through the Common Pleas court, and the records are housed at here at the old courthouse. Call 443-7966 (first floor Justice Center) for the index department to see if they have a divorce that you are interested in. If they do, ask for the Case Number and then call the microfilm room at 443-7939 to arrange to have copies mailed to you.

Cuyahoga County Supreme Court

Cuyahoga County Supreme Court records 1831-1842 on FamilySearch. (has images)


U.S. District Court Northern District of Ohio

Carl B. Stokes U.S. Court House
801 West Superior Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44113
(216) 357-7000
https://www.gsa.gov/about-us/regions/welcome-to-the-great-lakes-region-5/buildings-and-facilities/ohio/carl-b-stokes-us-courthouse
This court hears cases regarding Federal law. They have Index of naturalization petitions (1855-present): name, address, birthdate, naturalization date, country of origin, specific place of origin. Those who did not complete naturalization may also be included. There is a charge for copies. Some may come directly from the Cleveland court but others may come from the National Archives depending on the date of naturalization. They will bill you when they pull the copies. You pay and then they send the copies. Check Fold3 for naturalizations.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Northern District of Ohio

Howard M. Metzenbaum U.S. Courthouse
201 Superior Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44114
216-615-4300
https://www.ohnb.uscourts.gov/

Justice of the Peace Courts

Cuyahoga County Archives holds many boxes of Justice of the Peace records. Interesting cases with in depth case information from various locations can be found there. An index is in the reading room near the microfilm cabinet. Filed by the J.P. and the location, they can be tricky to find at first, but well worth the look.

Municipal Courts

MUNICIPAL COURTS have jurisdiction over traffic or parking violations, housing code citations, misdemeanor cases involving municipal ordinances and small claims cases. These cases can be a treasure trove of information, from landlord issues, property issues, city complaints, civil and criminal cases, and those interesting small claims cases too.

Cleveland Municipal Court -
http://clevelandmunicipalcourt.org/

Bedford Municipal Court - serves Bedford, Bedford Hts., Bentleyville, Chagrin FAlls, Glenwillow, Highland Hills, Moreland Hills, North Randall, Oakwood Village, Orange, Solon, Warrensville Heights, Woodmere, Chagrin Falls Twp. and the MetroParks.
http://www.bedfordmuni.org/

Berea Municipal Court - serves Berea, Brookpark, Middleburg Heights, Olmsted Falls, Olmsted Township, Strongsville and the MetroParks, as well as the Ohi State Patrol on the Ohio Turnpike and Interstates 71 and 480.
http://www.bereamunicipalcourt.org/

Cleveland Heights Municipal Court - serves Cleveland Heights,
http://www.clevelandheightscourt.com/main.html

Garfield Heights Municipal Court - serves Brecksville, Cuyahoga Heights, Garfield Heights, Independence, Maple Heights, Metro Parks, Newburgh Heights, Valley View and Walton Hills.
http://www.ghmc.org

Lakewood Municipal Court - serves Lakewood, parts of the Cleveland Metroparks, I-90, and Lake Erie waters to the Canadian Border.
http://www.lakewoodcourtoh.com

Lyndhurst Municipal Court - serves Lyndhurst.
http://www.lyndhurstmunicipalcourt.org/

Parma Municipal Court - serves Broadview Hts., Brooklyn, Brooklyn Hts., Linndale, North Royalton, Parma, Parma Heights, Seven Hills and the Metroparks.
http://www.parmamunicourt.org/

Rocky River Municipal Court - serves Rocky River
https://rrcourt.net/pa/pa.htm

Shaker Heights Municipal Court - serves Beachwood, Hunting Valley, Pepper Pike, Shaker Heights, and University Heights.
http://www.shakerheightscourt.org/home/

South Euclid Municipal Court - Serves South Euclid, the part of Cleveland Metroparks within South Euclid, and Notre Dame College.
http://www.southeuclidcourt.com/record_search.php


Cuyahoga County Probate Court

Cuyahoga County Courthouse
1 W. Lakeside Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44113
Marriage Division - 216-443-8922
Adoption Division - 443-8988 or 443-8989
Microfilm Room - 440-443-7939
The old Courthouse on the north side of Lakeside Avenue holds the Probate Court. The Probate Court handles issuance of marriage licenses, adoptions, guardianship proceedings, involuntary commitment of the mentally ill, land appropriation, wills and estates, living trusts, and name changes. Probate Court has birth records 1859-1901 and death records 1867-1908. (also at the Cuyahoga County Archive). The Marriage License Bureau has marriage records from 1810. County Courthouse has naturalization records 1818-1906 and probate records from 1810 (there are others at the Cuyahoga County Archives). They also have estate case files for after 1913. Those before 1913 are at the Cuyahoga County Archives.

INDEX OPTION 1: Here you can search the Marriage Index and recent Probate cases.

INDEX OPTION 2: For an index of Probate packets, Dockets Pre-A to 70 (1826-1904),
For an index of Probate files, select a letter:
A-C, D-G, H-K, L-O, P-S, T-Z.
Collect the name, year, case number, and first image number from the index. We thank Sara McGuire for this wonderful nearly-every-name index.

INDEX OPTION 3: "Probate Docket, 1811-1868" is another good Probate index. https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/261319?availability=Family%20History%20Library. The docket gives page numbers for the wills, and several other volumes, and a case number. This should be more inclusive than the Title Company index for Estates.

INDEX OPTION 4: Cuyahoga Abstract Title and Trust Company card file, 1898-1971, mentioned at the top of this page. Many records other than estates are listed there, and it has the more recent cases available.

INDEX OPTION 5: Searchable images on Ancestry to about 1912, are here. https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/8801/.

INDEX OPTION 6: Another one, done by the clerk is here, 1811-1896. https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/267777?availability=Family%20History%20Library It must be viewed at a Family History Center or Affiliate library. This one has been reproduced by Higginson Books for $25. It should be at the Archives as well as Cleveland Public Library and a few others.

INDEX OPTION 7: East Cuyahoga County Genealogical Society did an index available at several local libraries. It includes some volumes that may not be in the probate court.

IMAGES OF ESTATE PACKETS

After you find the person in the docket book, a sort of minutes book of the court procedings, or one of the indexes, then find the probate packets for the documents which are filed according to the docket book number.

Additionally FamilySearch has some other Probate records at FamilySearch.org/ - Ohio Probate Records 1789-1996. These include:

  • Index to Dockets Vol. 1-2 (1888-1901)
  • Common Pleas records 1811-1833
  • Will books vol A-Z (1852-1893)
  • Guardianship Dockets index vol. A-B (1888-1904)
  • Then, Cuyahoga County Probate Court – Journal of Proceedings, 1852-1886 on FamilySearch. These records include guardians for mentally incompetent and adoptions. (has images)
  • Cuyahoga County Probate Court – Probate Docket 1811-1868 on FamilySearch. (has images) Docket vols. (1811-1834) and Docket vols. A-P (1852-1888)
  • Cuyahoga County Probate Court – Indexes to administration and guardian dockets 1888-1904 on FamilySearch. (has images)

OHIO, CUYAHOGA COUNTY, PROBATE FILES, 1813-1932 -- Finding Aid from Laura

Once you have a case number from an index, go https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1837736 to find the actual case file with images of the documents in it.

Click on “Browse All 2,xxx,xxx Images,” and it takes you to a list of the dockets. Below is a list of the dockets in order and the case numbers each docket covers. Find your case number in the list and see what docket it is in, then click on that docket at the link directly above. Then click on the appropriate span of case numbers where your case number would appear. This will bring up the actual images. Page through the images until you come to the case you are interested in.

There is also a “How to Use the Collection”for the Ohio, Cuyahoga County Probate Files, 1813-1932 on the Wiki.

Dockets A-P (and the A-L and M-O) were the first dockets beginning in 1813. They switched to numbered dockets beginning with Docket 17 (Q is the 17th letter in the alphabet). I did not spell out dockets A-P as they are a jumbled mess and better viewed by you.

Docket files marked with a “C” or “No Docket specified” are miscellaneous files. They contain out-of-order documents from several dockets.

Dockets 62, 69, 80, 87, 94, 105,110, 111, 112, 115, 120, and 125 in their entirety are not available for public use and were not imaged. They contain insanity cases, adoptions, sensitive material, which was removed before filming. The Probate Court will only release Adoption records to direct descendants.

DOCKET LIST WITH CASE NUMBERS AND YEARS COVERED

DOCKET CASE NUMBERS YEARS COVERED
A-P
A-L
M-O
NOT SPECIFIED
17 2-517 1888
18 518-988 1888
19 1001-1630 1888-1889
20 1631-2030 1886-1889
20-21 1665-2045 1889
21 2046-2524 1889-1900
22 2511-4067 1890-1891
24 4010-4599 1890-1891
25 4600-5413 1890-1891
26 5143-5671 1891-1892
27 5503-6000 1891-1892
28 6001-6500 1891-1892
29 6501-6669 1892
30 7001-7500 1892
31 7501-8000 1892
32 8001-8500 1892-1893
33 8501-9000 1893-1894
34 9001-9500 1893
35 9501-10000 1894
35-53c 9967-18983 1894-1898
37 11001-11500 1894
38 11501-11976 1894
39 12001-12500 1895
40 12501-13000 1895
41 13001-13500 1895
42 13501-14000 1895-1897
43 14001-14500 1895-1897
44 14501-15000 1896
45 15001-15500 1896
46 15501-16000 1896-1898
47 16001-16500 1897
48 16501-17000 1897
49 17001-17500 1897-1898
50 17501-18000 1898 Plus Docket 126 (1898-1917)
52 18001-18500 1898
53 18501-19000 1898
54 20001-20410 1898-1899
57-128 21521-91844 1899-1918 (missed documents)
57 21501-21549 1890-1900
60 23880-23989 1900-1901
61 24012-25000 1900-1901
63 26001-26853 1901-1902
63C 26649-27000 1901-1915
64C 27001-27096 1900-1935
64 27002-28000 1901-1902
65C 28632-28661 1902
65 28001-29000 1902
66 26451-30000 1902-1904
67 30001-31000 1903
68 31001-32000 1903-1904
70 33001-34000 1904
71 34001-35000 1904
72 35001-36000 1904-1905
73 36001-37000 1905
74 37001-38000 1905
75 38001-39000 1905-1906
76 39001-40000 1906
77 40001-41000 1906
78 41001-42000 1906-1907
79 42001-43000 1907
81 44001-45000 1907
82 45001-46000 1907-1908
83 46001-47000 1908
84 47001-48000 1908-1909
85 48001-49000 1909
86 49001-50000 1909
88 51001-52000 1909-1910
89 52001-53000 1910
90 53001-54000 1910
91 54001-55000 1910-1911
92 55001-56000 1911
93 56001-57000 1911
95 58001-59000 1911
96 59001-60000 1912
97 60001-61000 1912
98 61001-62000 1912
98C 61300-61808 1912
99 62001-63000 1912-1913
100 63001-64000 1913
100-107 Missed documents
101 64001-65000 1913
102 65001-66000 1913
103 66001-67000 1913-1914
104 67001-68000 1914
106 69001-70000 1914
107 70001-71000 1914
108 71001-72000 1914-1915
109 72001-72959 1915
109C 72484-72978 1915-1938
113 76017-77000 1915
113C 76001-76705 1915-1920
114 77001-78000 1915
116 79001-80000 1915-1916
117 80001-81000 1916
118 81001-82000 1916
119 82001-83000 1916
121 84001-85000 1916-1917
122 85001-86000 1916-1917
123 86001-87000 1917
124 87001-88000 1917
126 89001-90000 1917
127 90001-91000 1917
128 91001-92000 1918
129 92001-93000 1918-1919
131 94001-94988 1918-1919
132 95005-96000 1918-1919
133 96001-97000 1918-1919
134 97001-98000 1918-1919
136 98001-100000 1919
137 100001-101000 1919
138 101001-102000 1919
139 102001-103000 1919
140 103001-104000 1919
141 104000-105000 1919
142 105001-106000 1919-1920
143 106001-107000 1920
144 107001-108000 1920
146 109001-109980 1920
146-147 109981-110019 1920
147 110020-110977 1920
147-148 110978-111001 1920
148 111002-111990 1920
148-149 111991-112017 1920
149 111270-113000 1920-1921
150 113001-114000 1921
151 114001-114988 1921
151-152 114989-115021 1921
152 115022-116000 1921
153 116001-116990 1921
153-154 116991-117024 1921
154 114612-118000 1921
155 118001-118993 1921
155-156 118994-119017 1921
156 119018-119994 1921-1922
156-157 119995-120016 1922
157 120017-120986 1922
157-158 120987-121014 1922
158 121015-122000 1922
159 122001-123000 1922
161 124001-124988 1922
161-162 124989-125016 1922
162 122575-125996 1922
162-163 125997-126018 1922
163 126019-126984 1922-1923
163-164 126985-127003 1923
164 127004-127982 1923
164-165 127983-128011 1923
165 128012-129000 1923
167 130001-130984 1923
167-168 130985-131013 1923
168 131014-131988 1923
168-169 131989-132004 1923
169 132005-133148 1923
170 133149-134015 1923
171 134016-135000 1923-1924
172 115621-136000 1921-1924
173 136001-137006 1924
174 137007-138000 1924
176 139001-139999 1924
176-177 139999-140000 1924
177 140001-140250 1924
178-215 Not there
216 179001-180000 1929
217 180001-181000 1929
218 180685-182000 1929
219 182001-183000 1929
220 183001-184000 1929
221 184001-185000 1929
222 185001-186000 1929
223 186001-187000 1929-1930
224 187001-188000 1930
226 189001-190000 1930
227 190001-191000 1930
228 191001-191783 1930
229 192001-193000 1930
231 194001-195000 1930
232 195001-196000 1930
233 196001-197000 1930-1931
234 197001-198000 1931
236 199001-200000 1931
237 200001-201000 1931
238 201001-202000 1931
239 202001-203000 1931
241 204001-205000 1931
242 205001-206000 1931-1932
243 206001-207000 1932
244 207001-208000 1932
246 209001-210000 1932
247 210001-211000 1932
248 211001-212000 1932
249 212001-213000 1932-1933
251 214001-215000 1933
252 215001-215170 1933
 


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This page was created 8 Oct 2013 and last updated on 11 June 2022.

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