Clermont
County Genealogical Society
The
Clermont County Recorder’s Office
First
floor of the Administration Building at 101 Main St., Batavia.
by Amy Schneider
In 1787, the
Northwest Territory was formed, encompassing all lands north and west
of the Ohio River. A Recorder's Office was established in each
county. After Ohio became a state in 1803, the
first state legislature mandated that a Recorder be appointed in each
county by the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas. Since 1829, it has
been an elected office. The County Recorder keeps and
maintains accurate land records (deeds, mortgages, maps, etc.) and
makes them easily accessible to the public through indexing.
This makes it possible to follow the history of the ownership of land,
which is of benefit to the general public, lawyers and title examiners,
but especially for genealogists and historians. With the
deeds, it is often possible to determine relationships, in a period
prior to vital records. In addition, other interesting
documents may be found in the recorders office,
such as cemetery plats,
living wills, health care power of attorneys, street-name changes,
subdivision plats, and even military discharge papers (DD Form 214,
which may include a great deal of information on the military service
of your ancestor, as well as some personal information). Any
significant document that a person wanted recorded for safekeeping
might be found in a recorders’ office.
Currently, the Clermont County
Recorders’ Office has begun the enormous project of
digitizing all of the record plats,
matching documents, and the indexes
back to 1953. This began in 2002, and will take years to
complete. However, the historic indexes and images will
eventually be included. This will allow access to anyone in
the world through the internet. If you would like to search
the more recent land records, go to
www.landaccess.com.
The Clermont County Recorder has records that were created prior to
Statehood. These books are out on the shelves, but there is
one you need to know about that is kept behind the desk. If
you ask, they will pull it out and let you look
carefully….that one is the original survey book for the
Virginia Military District. If your ancestor fought in the
Revolution and received a land grant, be sure to check it out!
