Warren County Genealogical Society Warren County, Ohio Chapter of Ohio Genealogical Society Probate Court
(513) 695-1144	406 Justice Drive, Lebanon, Ohio 45036 Hours: 9 AM-4 PM Monday through Friday Driving Directions	wcgs@co.warren.oh.us

The Warren County Genealogical Society has indexed and published abstracts or master indexes for many of the Probate Court records with abbreviated indexes online. Click on the below links for further information and our indexes. 

The first Probate Court in the Northwest Territory, located at in Marietta, Ohio, was established in 1788 and presided over the settlement of estates. The earliest probate records in Ohio are found in Washington County, the first county to be formed by Arthur St. Clair, the governor of the Northwest Territory. These records are located at Marietta College. The Probate Court was abolished with statehood in 1803 and estate settlements were presided over by the Common Pleas Court (recorded in the OCP book) until 1852 at which time the Probate Court was reinstated. Warren County's Probate Court was created in 1852 with John C. Dunlevy as the first Probate Court Judge. The following are records found in the Warren County Probate records: births, deaths, marriages, guardianships, adoptions, name changes, estate settlements, wills, trusteeships, insanity & lunacy cases. Some probate files are extremely detailed laying out many specifics related to the settlement of the estate.

The Warren County Probate Court uses a computer system for their more current records, which is available in their office.  Refer to their website for further details: http://www.co.warren.oh.us/probate_juvenile/index.htm   Earlier Probate Court records are stored at the Edna L. Bowyer Record Center & Archives in the controlled storage room, with the books for births, marriages, deaths, docket of estates (DE), will record book (WR) and civil dockets (CD) shelved in the research room.

Click here for a listed of the elected Probate / Juvenile Court Judges for Warren County, Ohio.