Getting Started with Ohio Civil War Genealogy: Rules of Thumb and A Valuable Resource

Dan Reigle

Ohio Civil War Genealogy Journal and Cincinnati Civil War Round Table

The Ohio Civil War Genealogy Journal is a quarterly genealogical and historical journal published since 1997 by the Ohio Genealogical Society. The journal includes original research articles, transcriptions of letters and diaries, Adjutant General records, newspaper articles, GAR records, unit histories, cemetery inscriptions, POW records, and research tools. Subjects include military service, civilian service and involvement, and post-war veteran and women’s auxiliary activities. Many source materials are drawn from documents submitted by subscribers and researchers, some from research in primary and secondary sources, and others from OGS Library collections. A sample issue of OCWGJ is available on the OGS website at http://www.ogs.org/publications/OCWGJ.php.

Online Ohio Civil War Genealogy Center ✯NEW✯

OCWGJ now has an online component on the OGS website at www.ogs.org. Free databases include a Subject index, a Surname index, and a Table of Contents index for all OCWGJ issues. The subscriber-only section includes full-text pdf files of all OCWGJ issues, databases, and research tools. Access to the online Center is included in an OCWGJ subscription.

One of our primary topics in OCWGJ is helping readers with their Civil War genealogy research. For many individuals, especially during this period of attention focused on the Sesquicentennial, this often involves the question ....

How Do I Get Started on Researching Family Members from Ohio in the Civil War?

A basic guide is Resources for Ohio Civil War Genealogy Research in the subscriber section of the Ohio Civil War Genealogy Center on the OGS website, www.ogs.org, or on the Cincinnati Civil War Round Table website, http://www.cincinnaticwrt.org/data/genealogy.html.

Here are some “rules of thumb:”

- Start with what you know is an old genealogy adage. Do you have any information of any sort that any of your family members served in the war....such as family legends or hints passed down, documents or artifacts handed down, photographs, newspaper clippings, obituaries, grave markers, etc.? Are there GAR markers or Civil War service identified on any family members’ graves? If you have a specific person in whom you are interested, can you identify his birth and death dates, spouse’s name, and places of residence before and after the war?

Service Records Indexes:

- The Resources document has the full citation for the Ohio Official Roster  listing those who served in Ohio units. You can access the Roster in print in many libraries, or online at www.civilwardata.com, www.ancestry.com, and www.internetarchive.org. Keep in mind that the Roster includes service records as published by the State of Ohio.

- To look at service records as published by the U.S., use the OGS website’s free database titled Names of Union Soldiers with Civil War Service in Ohio Units,  http://www.ogs.org/cwc/search_ohcwsscwc.php. If you find a person in this index on whom you want more service information, you can order the Compiled Military Service Record online from the National Archives at http://www.archives.gov/.

- If you find the family member you are searching for, or if you find 25 listings for the same name, then it is a process of using your other genealogical information (age, location, etc.) to verify the right person.

Pension Records:

- The pension indexes (alphabetical on www.ancestry.com, and organizational on www.Fold3.com) are very useful as a quick check if you have any information on the individual that can be used to narrow the field. If you know that the person died before his wife and you know the widow’s name, the alphabetical index card will usually list the widow’s name IF she filed an application for a widow’s pension. If you know the person’s unit or have a potential identification in a particular unit (say, Company E, 75th Ohio Infantry), then you can use the organizational index on Fold3 (if you are a subscriber) to go into Ohio, Infantry, 75, E: if you get a hit, the card sometimes lists a date of death and place of death, which gives you something to use to confirm or reject this person as being the person you are seeking. If you verify the correct veteran and/or widow, you can then use the certificate number to order the pension file online from the National Archives at http://www.archives.gov/. (If both the veteran and later the widow received pensions, there will be one file with the information on both pensions.)

Local history and publications:

- Look also at local information. Start with your county’s OGS chapter, local libraries, and local historical societies for local publications and collections. Use military-specific sources, such as the Hardesty county edition for the county where your family lived. (Our inventory of Hardesty county editions is on the OGS website.) Use general sources such as county histories, obituary indexes, cemetery transcriptions, Find-a-Grave’s website listings, etc.

As in all genealogical searches, there are infinite variations on this process. Some of the searches are quite easy and some are very difficult, but the important thing is to .... get started!