Maggie's World of Courthouse Dust
& Genealogy Fever, Ohio Counties
County Information, Brown County
1895 Map of Ohio (Click on Thumbnail Image of the map for the Large Map). Map modified with permission of Ray Sterner from http://fermi.jhuapl.edu/states
DATE CREATED: 1818
PARENT COUNTY: Adams, Clermont
COUNTY SEAT: Georgetown
 |
Maggie's Skeleton Closet AKA Places To Seek Your Ancestors |
 |
Brown County Probate Court
PO Box 379
Georgetown, OH 45121-0000
937-378-3956
Brown County Board Of Health
204 E Cherry St # D
Georgetown, OH 45121
937-378-3886
Mary P Shelton Public Library
200 W Grant Ave.
Georgetown, OH 45121
937-378-3197
Other Information
Brown County is situated on the Ohio River about 35 miles east of Cincinnati. It was formed in 1817 from parts of Adams and Clermont counties. The name comes from Jacob Brown, a hero of the War of 1812.
Georgetown, the largest village in the county, is the county seat. It is also the boyhood home of Ulysses S. Grant. Near Georgetown, the George Rankin House in Ripley was the first established station of the underground railroad which enabled slaves to escape to freedom.
Agricultural products include; tobacco, livestock, and grain. Other principle industries in Brown county include; leather, shoes, plastic machinery parts, surgical equiptment, non-alcoholic beverages, cement blocks, metal tool boxes, railroad cars, and wildlife art prints.
Probate Court has birth, marriage & probate records from 1800s; Clerk of Courts has divorce & civil court records from 1800s; County Health Department has death records from 1800s; County Recorder has land records.
Following is information received from Wayne Hill at [email protected] on January 26, 1998.
Hello........I am a long time resident of Brown County Ohio and I think that
there is some vital information of its history that you need to include in
your outline of Brown County.
Brown County has the biggest county fair in Ohio,(only smaller to the
State Fair)
Sometime in the 1970's I believe the courthouse in Georgetown burnt
down.......with it MANY of the public files went up in flames.
The Ohio Tobacco Festavil is the largest in its kind in the world.
Brown County Farmers produce the largest crop of tobacco in Ohio every
year.
(This may be a small fact and miniscule) Brown County was the first to elect into the Fair Court male representitives of each of the departments, (Beef,Swine,Poultry) very similar to the Fair King and Queen.
Following is information received from Dennis Haskamp at [email protected] on February 11, 1999.
There is a great deal of archive information in Brown County.
Estate, Guardianship, Marriage, and Civil Court records from 1818 to today are at the
Brown County Probate Court
101 S, Main St.
Georgetown Ohio 45121
They will look up and send copies of records for $1 per
page. If there is a thick estate file, then they will either do selected
pages or send the entire file for $25.00
They also have at Probate the Birth and Death records from
1867 to 1908
B&D records from 1908 to today are at the
Brown County Health Dept.
825 Mt. Orab Pike
Georgetown, Oh 45121
There is an extensive archive of family histories, old newspapers
from 1900 or earlier to today, old historical farm books and
railroad books, cemetery records, funeral home records, etc.
Their address is:
Brown County Genealogical Society
P.O.Box 83
Georgetown Ohio, 45121
Their library and museum is at Cherry & Apple Streets
on the southeast of the courthouse square.
Meetings are monthly on the 3 td Thursday, and
they are open for research on Thursdays fro 12 - 5 PM
and Saturdays from 12 - 5 PM
There is also a LDS church in Georgetown and just two weeks
ago it opened a family history center there.
One of the neat things I found in their museum was a bundle of
Flax. This crop that was used for weaving, linens, and other
products but has not been grown there for generations. It was replaced
by
cotton. The bundle of flax they had came from the "old-timers" building
that used
be on the county fair grounds. Now all of its contents are in the
museum.
My interest in flax is my surname. In old german, Has(e) means Flax,
and kamp means field. My ancestors were Flax Farmers near the Hase river
in Amt Damme, Oldenburg, Germany near Steinfeld. Our records are back to
1146 AD.
Till next time,
Dennis Haskamp
Surrounded By
NORTHWEST by Clinton County
NORTHEAST by Highland County
EAST by Adams County
SOUTH by State of Kentucky
WEST by Clermont County
