The Franklin County Genealogical Society - Part 3

(The following was written by Meg Scott, and is reprinted from “Reflections”, a collection of local stories available at the Grove City Welcome Center and Museum. Any opinions made in the article are from the author.)The Columbus Genealogical Society published “The Ohio Genealogical Quarterly” from January 1937 to April 1944, a valued publication of genealogical information of Franklin Co., as well as many other places in Ohio. The complete set is rare. However our Franklin County genealogical society as a set, given us by Mayburt Riegel, a member of the Columbus Genealogical Society and a charter member of the Franklin County Genealogical Society.Just when the Franklin County Pioneer Association became extinct, I do not know. However the Franklin County Historical Society was organized in 1948 at the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society building on the Ohio State University campus.  Their goal was to have 1,000 members by January 1, 1949. According to the Charter list, in 1948, there were approximately 655 members. This group dissolved. The Franklin County Genealogical Society has attempted to recover the holding of the Franklin County Historical Society but have not been successful. We have not been able to ascertain where the holdings are housed.We acquired our first headquarters February 1980 at 1725 Alum Creek Dr. in the old TB Hospital. We were given permission to inventory old Franklin County Probate records which had been stored in the basement. We made the inventory and presented it to the Ohio Historical Society. We have been indexing these early court books, which date back to 1803. This is an ongoing project. Other projects have been: reading all the cemeteries in Franklin County, and publishing books on the cemeteries by Township. We have published four surname books. These consist of members providing 3” by 5” cards of their ancestors, which are printed in a book and then filed in a master card file at headquarters. Other publications are: “Confederate Cemeteries of Ohio”; “ Index to Studer’s History of Columbus in Franklin County”; “Indexed Martin's History”; “Index and Genealogical Notes to Sellsville, ca 1900”. This is about the Sells Circus which winter-quartered in Grandview, located west of Olentangy (Whetstone) River;  east of Virginia (Queen) Ave;  south of Chambers Road (Flennikin Pike); and north of Fifth Avenue.We have microfilmed Greenlawn Cemetery records (1983)  which were 130,000 3” by 5” cards. These list birth date and place of birth; death date and place of death; parents; cause of death; funeral director; section and lot number. We have microfilm of Union Cemetery. However data consists of name of person and the internment date, only. We have microfilm of Mt. Calvary Cemetery.  In 1981, we established Pioneer families of Franklin County Ohio. You become a member, you must prove your ancestor was in Franklin County by the year 1830. You must have proof, and official documents such as birth certificate, death certificate, will, deed, to connect one generation to the next. We had 55 charter members who proved 124 different person in Franklin County by 1830. To date (1985) we have 104 members who have proved 283 ancestors as pioneers.  This is an ongoing project.NOTE: This article was written in 1985, and has been edited to remove out of date information. Current information about the Franklin County Genealogical Society can be found at https://fcghs-oh.org/, or by emailing TFCGHS@gmail.com, or by calling (614) 849-1239.