Free Online Ohio City Directories

City and business directories are available online from all over the U.S. and are what I consider another important set of information that can assist you in advancing your family history and genealogy research.​

This activity of presenting links is a collaborative effort between The Ancestor Hunt and Miriam Robbins, who for years has made available the Online Historical Directories website, which presents links to directories of all types that are available online, including free collections as well as those available only via subscription. I wish to thank Miriam for her help in launching this category of records at The Ancestor Hunt.

So, what kinds of directories are available to the researcher?  Naturally city and business directories, but also telephone directories, and alumni, farm, lodge, rural, and social directories.

What can you find in these records? How about:

  • Full names, including middle names
  • Spouse name
  • Occupation
  • Widows, working women, and adult children at home.
  • Maps
  • Businesses (and index to advertisers).
  • Addresses and maps of churches, schools, funeral homes, cemeteries, post offices, courts, hospitals, benevolent associations, and newspapers.
  • Whether a woman is a widow (including the name of her husband).
  • List of marriages and deaths of the previous year.
  • Death date.
  • etc.

Here are a few good primers on the benefits of searching historical city and other directories:​

And here are various places where you can find other city directories online: 

Note: Some of the links listed take you to a FamilySearch Collection of digital images. Near the bottom of the page under Film/Digital Notes is the name of each sub-collection. If there is a camera icon at the right of the name (in the Format column) then the collections’ images are browsable. If there is a camera with a key icon, it is only available at a Family History Center or affiliated library. If there is a film reel icon, then it is only available in microfilm format, not digital. To take full advantage, please make sure that you are logged in to FamilySearch. The results may be different if you are signed in, rather than not.

(Updated October 2022)

Links to these free collections are presented initially with statewide collections, followed in alphabetical order by city or county. Generally, the publishing company is included in the reference to the collection, along with the collection title, and the date(s) of the directory:

Statewide

Akron

Allen County

Alliance

Ashland County

Auglaize County

Belmont County

Bucyrus

Butler County

Canal Winchester

Canton

Cincinnati

Circleville and Lancaster

Clermont County

Cleveland

Clinton County

Collinwood

Columbus

Conneaut

Crawford County

Darke County

Dayton

Delaware

East Liverpool

Elyria

Euclid

Fayette County

Franklin County

Fremont

Fulton County

Greene County

Hamilton

Hamilton County

Hancock County

Huron County

Kent

Kenton

Knox County

Logan

Logan County

Lorain County

Mansfield

Marion County

Marysville

Massillon

Medina County

Mercer County

Miami County

Middletown

Montpelier

Mount Vernon

Newark

Norwalk

Norwood

Oberlin

Piqua

Pomeroy and Middleport

Portage County

Portsmouth

Preble County

Richland County

Sandusky

Scioto County

Sidney

Springfield

Stark County

Steubenville

Tiffin

Toledo

Uhrichsville

Van Wert and Delphos

Van Wert County

Warren County

Washington Court House

Williams County

Wilmington

Wood County

Wooster

Wyandot County

Youngstown

Zanesville

Good Luck and Happy Hunting!

For all Free Ohio Links, click on the category of interest:

Newspapers
Yearbooks
Births
Marriages
Deaths
BMD Records
Alumni Records
Cemetery Records
Church Records
Coroner Records
Criminal Records
Digital Archives
Directories
Divorce Records
Immigration Records
Institutional Records
Military Records
Mortuary Records
Naturalizations
Obituaries
Photos
Probate and Wills
Research Toolkit
School Records
Tax Records
Voter Records

3 replies on “Free Online Ohio City Directories”

Hello,
I just wanted to let you know that the directories with the dates in brackets listed under “Hamilton County” are actually “City of Hamilton” (Butler County) directories. They originated from Lane Public Library, our repository, and were digitized by PLCH.
Thanks,
Brad

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. I’m confused with this. It is labelled as “Hamilton County” in the title created by the Cincinnati Library, and even some of the actual directories state “Hamilton County” Could you help me understand the mislabeling and proper labeling?

I think that what Brad was referring to is the fact that in your list you have combined the listings from Hamilton County with the ones from the City of Hamilton. The division point should be between the following two entries:

Williams’ Hamilton County Directory for 1911-12
Williams’ Hamilton Directory [1858-1859]

The ones listed as Williams’ Hamilton Directory (from this dividing point to the end of the list) should be referenced as Hamilton (the city) which is in Butler County.

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