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The History of This Office Hamilton County was originally part of the Northwest Territory, which roughly extended from the Ohio River to the northern part of Lake Huron and included parts of the present states of Ohio, Indiana and Michigan. This was in 1787, before the Constitution of the United States was formally approved. John Cleves Symmes, by virtue of a government grant, became the owner of practically all of what is presently Hamilton County and made the original survey dividing it into townships, sections and ranges. The office of Recorder was established in April 1794 - being one of the first offices in the County. At that time, all of Ohio was divided into only two counties. In 1803, Ohio was granted statehood and divided into four counties and Hamilton County comprised the southwestern portion of the state. As population grew, various divisions were made, and about 1805 the present county lines were established. In 1818, the first elected Recorder, Griffin Yeatman, was elected to a three-year term. Prior to this date Recorders were appointed by the Board of Commissioner. The office of Recorder was established to record, preserve and make available for inspection documents relating to real estate. This involves not only the sale, lease or transfer of property, but also encumbrances (such as mortgages and liens) that would either block or affect the title of a piece of property. All records are maintained for viewing by the public and copies can be made. The direct and reverse index for all documents filed since 5-31-1988 is available on computer. Examples of non-real estate documents recorded and maintained by the office include: partnerships, military discharge papers, living wills and medical powers of attorney. Originally, all documents were transcribed in pen and ink and recorded in one book in the order in which they were filed. Later, as the counties were further redefined, the records were recopied and only papers pertaining to Hamilton County were left of record here. Records of other counties were sent to their proper county seat. Also, deeds, mortgages, leases, liens and miscellaneous papers were recorded in books, each under their proper heading and numbered consecutively. About June 1908, the pen and ink recording system was dropped and records were typewritten. This continued until the legislature amended the law allowing the photostating of records. The Hamilton County Recorder introduced the Photostat on December 2, 1919. The Recorder continued microfilm for many years and introduced the current digitized imaging system on September 10, 1996 while still maintaining microfilm records. In 2002, the Recorder's Office scanned old documents to be included in the electronic database of existing images, which contains documents going back to 1988. |
