Logan County Obituary Records
Logan County obituary and death records are kept by the county health district and Probate Court in Bellefontaine. If you need to search for a death certificate or look up an obituary from Logan County, the local offices can help. The county is in west-central Ohio with a population of about 45,000. Bellefontaine is the county seat and the highest point in Ohio. The health district has modern death records from 1909 on. The Probate Court holds older records that go back to 1867. Local genealogical societies and libraries also have collections of obituary clippings, cemetery inscriptions, and family history files that round out what the official offices hold.
Logan County Overview
Logan County Death Certificates
The Logan County Health District is the place to go for death certificates from 1909 to the present. The office is at 310 South Main Street in Bellefontaine. Call (937) 651-6192 with questions. Each certified copy costs $26.00. They take cash, money orders, personal checks, and debit or credit cards, though card payments may have an extra fee.
You can request records in person or by mail. An application form is needed for mail requests. The health district handles both birth and death certificates. For deaths that occurred before 1909, you need to go to the Probate Court instead. Ohio began statewide vital records registration on December 20, 1908, under Ohio Revised Code Chapter 3705, so the cutoff between the health department and the Probate Court falls right around that date.
| Office | Logan County Health District |
|---|---|
| Address | 310 S. Main St., Bellefontaine, OH 43311 |
| Phone | (937) 651-6192 |
| Fee | $26.00 per certified copy |
Probate Court Obituary Records in Logan County
The Logan County Probate Court in the county courthouse at 101 South Main Street in Bellefontaine has some of the oldest records in the county. Birth and death records cover 1867 to 1909. Marriage records go back to 1818. Probate files like wills and estates start from 1820. There have been no major courthouse disasters, so the record collection is relatively complete for those time periods.
Call (937) 599-7252 to ask about records at the Probate Court. You can visit in person during regular business hours to search for death records, wills, or marriage files. These older records are especially useful for obituary research because they can confirm dates and family connections that appear in newspaper death notices. Probate records often include the names of heirs, their relationship to the deceased, and where they lived at the time.
Note: Logan County marriage records date back to 1818, just a few years after the county was formed, giving genealogists a long paper trail to work with.
How to Search Logan County Obituaries
Online resources can help you find Logan County obituaries from home. The Ohio Death Record Index at the Ohio History Connection covers death certificates from 1913 to 1944 and 1954 to 1970. This free database includes Logan County deaths from those years. FamilySearch also has Logan County vital records including births from 1867 to 1908 and deaths from 1867 to 1909, which are free to browse.
The screenshot above shows the Logan County Health District site. Use it to learn about ordering death certificates and other vital records from the county.
The Logan County Genealogical and Historical Society runs a research library with extensive vertical files on local families, cemetery inscriptions, and published volumes of abstracted records. They also have Belle Center Herald Voice abstracts from 1918 to 1931 and Bellefontaine Examiner obituaries from 1978. The county libraries in Bellefontaine hold local history and genealogy resources including microfilm of old newspapers. The Logan County OHGenWeb page has additional online resources.
Ohio Obituary Sources for Logan County
The Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library has an Ohio Obituary Index with over 3.7 million entries from newspapers across the state. This is free to search and can help locate Logan County obituaries from local papers. The Ohio Department of Health keeps death records from 1971 to the present and charges $21.50 per copy under Ohio Revised Code Section 3705.24.
The Ohio History Connection Archives holds death certificates from 1908 to 1970. They can provide research copies but not certified ones. For certified copies needed for legal use, you must go through the health district or the state. Death records less than 50 years old may have some access limits under Ohio law.
Getting Logan County Death Records
For deaths after 1909, go to the Logan County Health District. For deaths before that, the Probate Court has the records. You can also try VitalChek for online orders, though there is an extra service fee. Mail requests should go to the health district at 310 South Main Street in Bellefontaine with your payment enclosed.
Newspaper obituaries are best searched through the Hayes Library obituary index or local library collections. The genealogical society in Logan County may also have clippings and abstracts that are not available online. If you are not sure where to start, call the health district first. They can tell you which office has the record you need.
Cities in Logan County
Logan County includes Bellefontaine, DeGraff, Lakeview, Russells Point, and West Liberty. All death records go through the county health district or Probate Court in Bellefontaine.
Nearby Counties
These counties are next to Logan County. If the person lived near a county line, records might be in a neighboring county.