News2

How to obtain records from the Cleveland Catholic Diocese

[Information is from the Cleveland Diocese website]

Baptism
Marriage records
Death records
Location of Sacramental Records
Access to Records
Archival Search Form

INFORMATION AVAILABLE IN SACRAMENTAL RECORDS

Parishes have five kinds of Sacramental records: Baptismal (birth), Marriage, Death, First Communion, and Confirmation Records. Baptismal (birth), Marriage, and Death contain information that can vary from record to record and church to church.   By the Code of Canon Law (Church Law which governs the administration of our parishes), pastors were required to maintain Sacramental Records. The Code specified what kinds of information were to be reported in those Records.
For a baptism --the child's name, his or her date of birth (though some very early records omit this!!), his or her date of baptism, the parents' names (including the mother's maiden name) and sponsors' names along with the name of the officiating priest.
Marriage records were to include the complete names of the bride and groom, the date of the wedding, and the names of the witnesses along with the officiating clergy. On marriage records some pastors would add the names of the parents of the bride and groom, perhaps indicate where the bride and groom had been born, or even occasionally note the ages of the bride and groom.   This form of record-keeping was not consistent and the information noted did vary by parish and by priest. Even two records recorded at the same time by the same priest could and did have different amounts of information.
Death records are very inconsistent regarding the kind and quality of information because the Code was not specific as to exactly what information was required. Some pastor recorded only the person's name and date of services..   Other pastors recorded additional information.   Records from the same time period and sometimes the same church can provide vastly different amounts of information.
The information contained in First Communion, and Confirmation Records is usually limited to name and date the Sacrament was received.
Parishes did not keep anything comparable to a census or detailed registration form on parishioners.
After 1908 a change in Canon Law mandated that the church and date of baptism be included on any Catholic marriage record for the Catholic bride or groom.   Records created before that time ( and unfortunately some after date) do not have that information.

LOCATION OF SACRAMENTAL RECORDS:

Sacramental Records ordinarily are maintained by the parish which created them. Like many Dioceses, the Cleveland Diocese has closed some parishes. Parishes closed prior to 1975 either had their records sent to a parish of the same name in a suburban area or were sent to a parish close to the area of the closed church. The records of churches closed after 1975 were sent to the Archives Office.
The Archives also has microfilmed records from some of our older parishes throughout the Diocese. Unfortunately many early records were not maintained because of the mission status (and extreme shortage of priests) of Northern Ohio. Though Catholics were present in the city since 1812, our earliest Sacramental Records for the city of Cleveland date from the early 1840's.

ACCESS:

Our Diocesan policy is to keep our records closed. We can and do research information on a time available basis. Please be patient with us -- sometimes response may take two or three months depending whatever projects the office is working on. We do send requests to parishes which hold records but we cannot insist that parishes research the information. Costs are $10.00 per hour; $5.00 for each certificate. We will bill for costs.

If you'd like to begin an archival search, please fill out the form below, then click submit.
Archival searches cost $10.00/hr, $5.00 for each certificate.

INFORMATION THAT IS VERY HELPFUL IN SEARCHING FOR RECORDS:

1. Name of person requesting search (enter your name below)

First name/last name:

Phone number (ex. 216-696-6525):

Address:

Email address:

2. Type of record being sought: baptism death certificate marriage other
:

3 . Name - First/middle/last (ex. Joseph Phillip Morgan)

4. Ethnicity-- Many immigrants attended churches of their own ethnic background.
Please enter ethnicity in the box below. ex. (German/Slovak/Russian/Hungarian)

5. Alternate Spellings of Family Names-- Some sacramental records contain variable spellings of family surnames.

Please enter different spellings of surnames below. ex. (Jamieson/Jameson)

6. For baptismal records-- parents' names (even first names are helpful)
Please enter parents' names below.
father (ex. Jim Brown)
mother (ex. Nancy Brown)

7. Approximate dates of birth/marriage/exact dates of birth can be extremely helpful. We have no master index and even records from the 1890's occasionally have very inadequate name indexes; so anything that helps establish a time period is appreciated.

date of birth: (ex. June 4, 1909)

date of marriage: (ex. May 10, 1944)

8. Street addresses/partial street addresses/parish name/location can help narrow the search. Even information about the kind of employment held by parents may be of great help.
Please enter street address(es) or employment information below.

9. Sometimes genealogists have located copies of the civil marriage license which gives a date and the name of the officiating clergyman. This information can help us easily locate the church of marriage!
Please enter clergy name:

Date of ceremony (ex. January 14, 1901):

Archival searches cost $10.00/hr, $5.00 for each certificate.

Provided by: SUMMIT COUNTYCHAPTER,OGS
AkronOH44309-2232
e-mail:SummitOGS@ald.net
Back to the Summit County Genealogy Home Page