Birth

Butler County's official birth records begin in 1867 and end in December of 1908, when the health departments took over the recording of all births in the State of Ohio. Please keep in mind that many of the early births were never reported and are not on record.

Three sets of records exist:

The original hand written official records
A printed abstract of these same records, published by the Southwest Butler County Genealogical Society
A number of volumes of the Probate Court records containing delayed and amended birth records. Researchers must know the year in which the report was made in order to locate these records, there is no index.

In addition to these records, the Archives has a list of births for the period of 1856 through 1857 which was compiled by the Butler County tax assessors. Birth records are on open shelves accessible to the researcher. Please ask a staff member or volunteer researcher to assist you in copying these records as the books are large, heavy, and the records often span two pages. Early birth and death records through December 19, 1908 are available from the Probate Court or County Records Archives in the jurisdiction where the event was reported.

Birth records for December 20, 1908 to the present are available at the Bureau of Vital Statistics, Ohio Department of Health. The mailing address is P.O. Box 15098, Columbus, OH 43215-0098. Phone (614) 466-2631. The physical location is 225 Neilston Ave., Columbus, Ohio. In most instances, the records are also available from the health department for the jurisdiction where the birth was reported.