Research Tools

Do you have an older home? Do you want to learn more about its history? If so, see below for online and other sources for researching North Olmsted homes.

Newspapers

1. Cleveland Public Library Research Databases

(Scroll down web page for items below)

• Cleveland Daily Herald (1835-1884)
• Cleveland Morning Daily Herald (1862-1874)
• Cleveland Plain Dealer (1844-present)

 

2. Genealogybank.com (pay site)

• Cleveland Leader (1854-1913)
• Cleveland Gazette (1883-1945)

 

Deeds and Property Information

1. Cuyahoga County Recorder (now Fiscal Officer)

Deeds and other recorded documents: 1810 to present

2. County Auditor (now Fiscal Officer)

Current property description; historical information; ownership from 1975 to present

Maps

1. Cleveland Digital Library

Cleveland Historic Maps (Stitched) for selected years from 1852 to 2013

2. Cleveland Public Library Digital (Individual) Maps

1852 (Blackmore), 1858 (Cuyahoga County with Insets), 1874 (Cuyahoga County), 1881 (Hopkins Cleveland Atlas), 1892 (Cuyahoga County and Cleveland Atlas), 1898 (Cleveland and Suburbs Atlases)

3. Historical Aerials (1952-2006)

Just type full address including city and state in search box

4. Google Maps

Miscellaneous

1. Ancestry.com (pay site)

Types of records available: census records; city directories; real and personal property tax records; immigration records including passenger lists and naturalization records; military records including WWI and WWII draft registrations; marriage records; social security death index; family trees; etc.

2. Cuyahoga County Probate Court – Marriage Records (Index only)

3. Cleveland Public Library Necrology File (Deaths)

4. North Olmsted Building Department records

Archives

1. Cuyahoga County Archives – 3951 Perkins Ave, Cleveland, OH 44114

City Directories; Deeds; Plat Maps; Tax Records; Birth Records; Marriage Records; Election Records; Naturalization Records; Court Records; Etc.

2. Olmsted Historical Society – Frostville, on Cedar Point Road in MetroParks.

Local newspapers and many family collections.

3. Western Reserve History Society – 10825 East Blvd. (University Circle)

Extensive manuscript and photograph collections, but pricey reproduction fees.

4. Berea Historical Society – Local newspaper collection.

5. Ohio History Connection (formerly, Ohio Historical Society) – Columbus

Other Sites

1. Cleveland Public Library:

• Stokes Tower: Books, Maps, Photographs, Microfilmed Records and other materials: Business (2^nd floor), Government Documents – and Photograph Collection (4^th floor), Social Science (5^th floor), and History – and Map Collection (6^th floor).
• Main Library Building: Microfilm Room – Newspapers, Censuses, etc.

2. Cuyahoga County Public Libraries: North Olmsted, Fairview Regional, and Olmsted Falls Branch Libraries: see Local History Collections

3. Cleveland State University Library – History books (2^nd floor) and Special Collections (3^rd floor)

North Olmsted First Families

The Olmsted Historical Society presents North Olmsted First Families, a family tree on Ancestry.com, the ascendants and descendants of the first settlers. If you have an Ancestry.com membership, it is a public tree. At the North Olmsted Library, use your library card to log into the network and use the Library edition for free. Log in to the computer with your Library ID, password is “guest.”

1. Open Internet Explorer and click on “Research” at the top of the page. A dropdown list will appear, choose “Genealogy”.
2. Click on “Genealogy Research”. When it opens, under “Online Resources” select “Ancestry Library Edition in-Library access only”.
3. Under “Quick Links”, click “Public Member Trees”.
4. Enter “Capt. Elijah” in the First and Middle Names box and “Stearns” in the last name box, search.
5. Click on “North Olmsted First Families” family tree name.
6. You should be redirected to the page for Capt. Elijah Stearns. In the upper right corner of the page, there is a box to find someone in the tree. If you would like to see the entire Stearns family tree select “View his Family Tree”.
7. The screen will show the “Family view”, if you would like to view it in “Pedigree view”, select the Pedigree view button. If the last person to the right has a green box with an arrow on it, click on it to look further into the past.

Note: This tree is still a work in progress. For any questions or concerns, please email butternutridgecemetery@gmail.com or @OHSGenealogy on Twitter.