Research Using Erie County Cemetery Interment Cards

A valuable source of genealogical information is housed at the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. In the 1980s, in preparation for the book Erie County,Ohio Cemetery Census Before 1909, volunteers from all townships of Erie County created note cards with interment information about the individuals buried in Erie County cemeteries. While the book features inscriptions about graves up to the year 1908, the index cards provide information about burials up to the decade of the 1980s. These hundreds of index cards were microfilmed, and are now found in the second drawer of the third section of the microfilm cabinet in the Archives Research Center.

When you load the microfilm onto the microfilm reader/scanner, remember to set the size to 16mm, as these films are a smaller size than the standard 35mm size microfilm.

Below is a copy of Anne Hubbard Butler’s interment card. The inscription that is on her tombstone is provided, as well as her birth and death years, and also noted is the fact that she was from Pennsylvania. Anne, who died when she was only eight years old, is buried in Block 61, Lot 14 at Oakland Cemetery. The inscription on her stone reads: Adored daughter of Watson Hubbard Butler and Susan Quay Butler. A little child shall lead them.

David Campbell, 1816 – 1855, was most likely a close relative of the David Campbell who founded Sandusky’s first newspaper, which eventually became the Register. This particular David Campbell was born in Homer, New York in 1816 and died in Delaware, Ohio in 1855. Though he was not born in Sandusky, Ohio, and he did not die in Sandusky, he was laid to rest in Sandusky, Ohio to be in the family lot at Oakland Cemetery.

By viewing the microfilmed interment cards, you can glean details about your ancestors beyond what appears on their tombstone, such as family relationships, military service, and place of residence. Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to dig into your own family history.