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 Local Catholic Church History and Genealogy

Ohio

      The geographic area of Ohio is in the ecclesiastical province of Cincinnati which includes the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and Dioceses of  Cleveland, Columbus, Steubenville, Toledo and Youngstown in Ohio.   See MAP.

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Research Catholic Church and Family History
Ohio

Using the map as a reference to the diocesan jurisdictions, select the area you wish to research from the list below:

Archdiocese of CINCINNATI  (Ohio) [est. 1808, Archdiocese 18501]
   Diocese of STEUBENVILLE (Ohio) [est. 19441]
   Diocese of CLEVELAND  (Ohio) [est. 18861]
   Diocese of COLUMBUS  (Ohio)  [est. 18861]
   Diocese of YOUNGSTOWN (Ohio) [est. 18861]
   Diocese of TOLEDO  (Ohio) [est. 19571]

For Byzantine Catholic scroll down or click here.

Online sites for Roman Catholic Archdiocese & Dioceses are below:

Timeline

1670:  René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle (1643-1687) discovered the geographic area which was to become the present-day state of Ohio.  The following year, the French took formal possession.
1671:  Simon Daumont de Saint-Lusson declared the lands of the western interior for France at Sault Ste. Marie.  Louis Jolliet was one of the signers of this declaration which included the area that later became Ohio.
The Apostolic Vicariate of New France was established, at Quebec, in 1658, with François de Laval appointed as vicar apostolic by pope Alexander VII.  In 1674, it was raised to the rank of Diocese. The Diocese of Québec was established in 1674, with ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the entire territory of New France which included the area now part of Ohio.  - See a History of the Diocese of Quebec in English and a Map of the geographic territory on the Diocese of Quebec website.

1749:  Jesuit Fathers Potier and Joseph de Bonnecamp came from Quebec to evangelize the Huron Indians living along the Vermilion and Sandusky Rivers in Northern Ohio.  They were the first missionaries to visit the territory now within the limits of Ohio.  See the History of the Cleveland Diocese in the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913).
1751:  Jesuit Father Armand de la Richardie, arriving from Detroit (Michigan), founded the first Catholic settlement, near Sandusky, Ohio, among the Huron Indians, and erected a chapel which was the first place of Catholic worship within the present limits of Ohio.
1752:  Jesuits were unjustly forced in 1752 to leave the territory of Ohio.
1755: The French and Indian War History   see: Evolution of the Territory of Quebec: 1763-1927 by Claude Belanger with MAP and  French and Indian War Links page
1783:  The Treaty of Paris was signed, in Paris, resulting in Great Britain obtaining "all the French dominion in the north, and west as far as the Mississippi River".
1787:   The Ohio Company of Associates was formed in New England by a number of American Revolutionary War Veterans, and a purchase of a large tract of land in the territory northwest of the Ohio River was made from the Government. This was the first public sale of land by the United States. Marietta, the first settlement, was founded on 7 April, 1787.
1789: The Diocese of Baltimore, was established on 6 Nov 1789, with Archbishop John Carroll appointed as the first bishop of the United States of America.  The Baltimore Diocese, at that time, encompassed the entire area from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, from Canada to Florida, with geographic area of present day Ohio being included in this jurisdiction.
1790: A colony of French settlers, located at Gallipolis on the Ohio, and Dom Peter Joseph Didier, a Benedictine monk, built a church, but growing discouraged left after a few years.
1795:  The Rev. Edmund Burke, a secular priest from Quebec who later became the first Bishop of Halifax, came as chaplain of the military post at Fort Meigs, near the present site of Maumee. Father Burke remained at the post until February, 1797, ministering to the Catholic soldiers at the fort, and endeavouring though with little success, to Christianize the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, in the neighbourhood. See Cleveland diocesan history.
1796: The Rev. Stephen T. Badin visited Gallipolis, Ohio.
19 February 1803:  Ohio was admitted to the Union as the 17th State.
On 8 April 1808, the four new Catholic dioceses of Bardstown, Boston, New York, and Philadelphia were created, from the Diocese of Baltimore, in the United States.   The area of present day Ohio came under the jurisdiction of the new Diocese of Bardstown, Kentucky, which originally had jurisdiction over the entire Northwest Territory, including the present states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, and northern Arkansas. The see of Bardstown was moved to Louisville in 1841.  The Cathedral at Bardstown is now St. Joseph Proto-Cathedral.
Read the History of the Cathedral of the Assumption in Louisville, KY, and visit the Cathedral Heritage Foundation site to learn more.
1812:   Due to correspondence between Jacob Dittoe, one of a group of German Catholics, and Father Edward Fenwick, who was residing at St. Rose Monastery, in Kentucky, Bishop Flaget, of Bardstown, Kentucky, and Father Badin, crossed the Ohio River at Maysville, Kentucky, in 1812.  There they found William Cassel, a German Catholic whose four children they baptized, and "...on their way to Somerset they found the Dittoe and Fink families, where Bishop Flaget celebrated Mass and heard confessions..."
ca. 1817:  Father Edward Fenwick, O. P. was sent, by Bishop Flaget, from the Dominican monastery at Somerset, Ohio, to serve the scattered Catholics in Ohio (Columbiana and Stark Counties).  Rev. Fenwick later became the first Bishop of Cincinnati.
6 December 1818:  The first Catholic Church in Ohio was blessed by Father Fenwick. This Church was built, at St. Joseph's, near Somerset, Ohio, upon land purchased by Jacob Dittoe, on the northwest corner of Vine and Liberty Streets.  See the History of Old St. Mary's Church and Columbus diocesan history.
19 June 1821:  The Diocese of Cincinnati was established.  Father Edward D. Fenwick, O. P., "The Apostle of Ohio", a Dominican, and a native of Maryland, was appointed as the first Bishop, being consecrated, on 13 January 1822, by Bishop Flaget, at St. Rose Church, in Washington County, Kentucky.  Bishop Fenwick was also made Administrator Apostolic of Michigan and the eastern part of the North-western Territory. The see at Cincinnati was made an Archdiocese in 1850.
1822:  The Diocese of Cincinnati was established, with jurisdiction of the entire state of Ohio.
1826:  Mass is offered for the first time in Youngtown, Ohio.
1836:  Father Stephen Theodore Badin, "...The first Catholic priest ordained within the limits of the original thirteen States of the Union..." returned to Cincinnati, Ohio, from his missionary work with the Pottawottomie Indians at St. Joseph's River, having served there from 1830 to 1836. (Miss Campau of Detroit, an expert Indian linguist, acted as interpreter and teacher, until Father Badin left the place in 1836.)  In 1836, Father Badin wrote for the "Catholic Telegraph" a series of controversial "Letters to an Episcopalian Friend".   (Three controversial articles on the Church and the Eucharist (published in the "Catholic Telegraph" of Cincinnati, 1836.)
1831:  Xavier University was founded.
1838:  The first Catholic church in Columbus, St. Remigius, was built.  See Columbus diocesan history.
1842:  St. Mary's Church, in Cincinnati is dedicated.
1845:  The Cathedral of St. Peter in Chains was built in Cincinnati.
23 April 1847:  The Diocese of Cleveland was established.
1850:  The see at Cincinnati was elevated to Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Ohio.  St. Mary's Institute was established (now the University of Dayton).
1853:  Father Stephen Theodore Badin, the first Catholic priest ordained within the limits of the original thirteen States of the Union, pioneer missionary of Kentucky, was born at Orléans, France, on 17 July, 1768; and died at Cincinnati, Ohio, on 21 April, 1853.
1861-1865:  The Civil War / War Between the States
1868:  The Diocese of Columbus, Ohio was established; the cornerstone for St. Joseph's Cathedral having been laid in 1866.
1871:  The Ursuline College for women was founded at Cleveland.
1910:  The Diocese of Toledo, Ohio was established from the Diocese of Cleveland.
1943.  The Diocese of Youngstown, Ohio was established.
1944:  The Diocese of Steubenville, Ohio was established.
1969:  The Byzantine Catholic (Ruthenian) Eparchy of Parma, Ohio was established.
1982:  An Apostolic Exarchate for Romanian Byzantine Catholics was established at Canton.
1983:  The Byzantine (Ukrainian) Eparchy of St. Josaphat was established in Parma.
1987:  The Apostolic Exarchate for Romanian Byzantine Catholics was raised to an Eparchy.  (St. George Martyr).

Historical Research of Catholic Churches & Ancestors
Ohio

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