Unique collaboration unites Catholic records from 19 counties

BOWLING GREEN, O.—Genealogists, local historians and other researchers have a new source of information, thanks to a unique collaboration between the Catholic Diocese of Toledo, Bowling Green State University and the Genealogical Society of Utah. Sacramental records from 174 parishes in the Toledo Diocese, which comprises 19 counties, are now preserved on microfilm.

The records are from parishes in Allen, Crawford, Defiance, Erie, Fulton, Hancock, Henry, Huron, Lucas, Ottawa, Paulding, Putnam, Richland, Sandusky, Seneca, Van Wert, Williams, Wood and Wyandot counties in Ohio.

Records from roughly 30 precursors of parishes, called stations and missions, have also been preserved, as have baptismal records from seven Catholic hospitals. The data date from the 1830s—nearly 80 years before the diocese was established—and are on 414 rolls of microfilm at BGSU’s Center for Archival Collections.

“Nothing like this has been done anywhere in the country,” according to center Director Paul Yon, referring to the three partners in the project—the diocese, the University and GSU, a society affiliated with the Mormon church that collects genealogical records worldwide.

The BGSU Center for Archival Collections coordinated the project, which preserved records of baptisms, first communions, confirmations, marriages, deaths and interments, as well as membership and cemetery records.

Although work didn’t begin until October 2000, the idea for the project actually went back to the 1970s, said Yon, whose interest was both in preserving the information and making it accessible to the researching public.

At that time, the center was compiling material for a book about availability of historical records from private organizations in Ohio, he recalled. Contacting the diocese, he learned about “an enormous amount” of data in its archives, including information about the formation of each of its parishes.

The center already had an agreement with the Utah society to microfilm records for other denominations—action born of the genealogical community’s focus on greater access to church records in the 1970s and ‘80s. But the Catholic diocese remained reluctant to follow suit because of both finances and its commitment to maintaining parishioner confidentiality, said the Rev. Thomas Quinn, director of communications for the Toledo Diocese.

The Rev. James Risacher, secretary to the then-bishop of the diocese, had microfilmed some sacramental records in the mid-1960s, Quinn said. Several years ago, however, Yon learned that the film could barely be read because it was too light. He brought the problem to the attention of the diocese, which decided a comprehensive microfilming project “was something to look into,” Quinn said.

The Utah society agreed to underwrite one-third of the microfilming cost, and once the diocese consented, the legwork began. Staff from the center picked up, and later returned, records from parishes wherever they went in northwest Ohio, Yon said, noting that only one volume from one parish couldn’t be located.

“Bowling Green did a monumental job,” said Quinn, pointing out that the two-year project wrapped up three months early. That was positive for the diocese because, from a space standpoint, it had hoped to have the records on microfilm before moving the archives into its new Toledo office building last month, he added.

Death and interment records extend to the present, but the agreement includes a stipulation that prohibits BGSU from providing access to baptismal and marriage information from the previous 70 years unless researchers are searching for information about themselves or immediate family. That information may be sought from the appropriate parish or the diocese, Yon said.

A complete inventory of the records can be seen at the center’s Web site: www.bgsu.edu/colleges/library/cac. (Posted August 20, 2002)