SHAKING THE FAMILY TREE
Common
Pleas Court Records
Pre-1900
PSSST – ever wonder what it would be like to explore the shady side of your family tree? I have always heard that if you can’t find anything on your ancestors, you should hope that they had to appear in Common Pleas Court because you learn a lot about them there. How true! There is lots of genealogical information in these court cases. We have also found info about how our ancestors lived, what their lives may have been like, the way they talked, who their friends, neighbors, or business partners were. They didn’t have to be the plaintiff or the defendant in a suit, all they had to do was be a witness. Their depositions contained a lot of interesting information. Don’t overlook this valuable source when you are looking for long lost family members. If you have the time, you should check the court cases for friends and neighbors too. Depositions were taken in other states as well as other counties so you may find out where part of the family went when they left Delaware County, Ohio.
In 2002, the Delaware County Historical Society became the custodians of approximately 200 boxes of Delaware County Common Pleas Court records dating from the early 1800’s to about 1950. The boxes contained 4” x 8” packets containing individual cases. The Delaware County Genealogical Society volunteers have spent many months unfolding, flattening, putting them in file folders & indexing these cases to make them easily accessible to researchers and to prepare them for microfilming. In doing so, we truly realize the value of these court records for finding genealogical information.
$20.00
(includes tax) + S&H $3.50