The Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center has published the Ohio Obituary Index from the 1810's to the present day. This may be accessed at:
http://www.rbhayes.org/hayes/index/. There are over 1,500,000 obituaries, death & marriage notices. Originally there were only the deaths noted by the Hayes Presidential Center, however, starting in 2009, 40 libraries are partnering to index the information-it is best to look on the Presidential site at the list of libraries to determine if the area you are interested in has been indexed as yet. Ancestry.com has also published this information (1830's-2009) as a free database site http://tinyurl.com/yh9ey5m. Note the link is free, to obtain the information from the Presidential center, however to view the indexed information on the Ancestry.com site a subscription is required...there is a 14 day free trial available.

This data collection is an index to over 1.5 million obituaries in Ohio newspapers from the 1810s to 2009. It has been compiled from various record sources such as newspapers, obituaries, and local government offices. While it is called the Ohio Obituary Index it also contains a small number of marriage notices. Information extracted from these documents generally includes:

Name of deceased; Death Date; Place of Death (City, State); Age at Death; Birth Date; Parents' Names; Marriage Date; Spouse Name ; Newspaper Source (Title, Date, Page, Column); Newspaper Location; Newspaper Repository Location; Other Source (Title, Data, Location Description); Notes

For more information, go to either of the sites named above. Remember, this is an index, not the actual records. To order the actual obituaries from the Hayes Presidential Center there is a $3.00 per obituary-- not per person-charge. More information on charges are available on the Hayes site listed above. Since other Ohio libraries have some of the microfilms look on the Hayes Presidential site check the list of newspapers under "location" to determine the correct location of the microfilm you are searching.

Thank you to the "Ancestry Insider" blog for alerting me to this new available database.

Jan Meisels Allen
IAJGS Director-at-large and
Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee LOUISVILLE, Ohio (AP) -- An Ohio man reportedly is charged with felony child endangering after police say he tattooed a letter "A" on the rear of a 1-year-old girl.      

The Repository newspaper reports that 20-year-old Lee Deitrick was arraigned yesterday in municipal court in Canton. Authorities say the child had been visiting Deitrick's home and there's no evidence the girl's mother gave him permission to tattoo the child. It's not clear what the letter "A" signifies.

Deitrick's grandmother calls the tattoo "a wee-little hairline" and says there's hardly anything left of it. The police chief in Louisville says the tattoo is smaller than a dime. Bond for Deitrick has been set at $250,000. If convicted, he could get up to five years in prison.