Archives

Have you researched your family offline in a Archives? The majority of records still exist offline. Although webpages like Ancestry and Family Search are adding millions of records every week the vast majority of records are not on the internet.

When you identify a geographic area for your family make sure to identify the archives that are in that geographic area. When doing Northwest Ohio research this is very important because Ohio has archives that are are broken down regionally. In Northwest Ohio the the archives are located on the campus of Bowling Green State University. Their collection includes old newspapers for the region as well as the majority of county records pre 1908. They have records related to the 19 counties in Northwest Ohio. Many of these records do not exist at their respective county courthouses. It is also entails a wide variety of records not normally know by amateur genealogist.

Another example in Northwest Ohio in the Mennonite Genealogy collection that is located on the campus of Bluffton University. Both Allen and Putnam counties in the early years had a very large population of people practicing the Mennonite religion. Bluffton Universities roots are Mennonite. They have a wonderful archive tucked away in the main library on campus. Excellent collection for research on your Mennonite ancestors.

Make sure to check out those Archives. The vast majority of good genealogy sources and treasurers is still located offline.