Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society
Researching Warren County and beyond! We are a FamilySearch Affiliate Library!
Announcements
Support the Star! July 2026 Update
You did it! We are thrilled to report that all issues in production with the Ohio Historical Society have been digitized and are now online. This has been a monumental project we have undertaken with them to get our beloved Western Star newspaper online for all to access at the Ohio Memory Project.
There are now 178,510 pages in 9,909 issues of this historical newspaper online and FREE for all to use! For more information and a complete list of the issues that are online and also those we are missing and would like to locate, please visit The Western Star page of our website.
You can get to The Western Star online by clicking the large blue button at the top of this page.
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Video Now Available
The recording from "Finding Your Patriot! Revolutionary War Research" presented by Jean Halls Muetzel on July 8, 2026, is now available in the Members Area. WCGS Members will need to log in to view the video. Not a member of WCGS? You can join or renew easily online:
https://www.wcgsohio.org/join-or-renew
Thank you to Jean for allowing us to record and post the video of her program on our website for our members. She emailed with additional information on July 18 about a program you can watch online, "Friend or Foe: Researching Colonial Ancestors During the American Revolution," and said it touched on her talk, but had some other good ideas plus a bibliography. At her request, we gladly include that recommendation and that handout for you here.
You can watch the video for free on the RootsTech by FamilySearch site:
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New Release!
Warren County, Ohio, Adoption Records, 1855-1970, compiled by Jo Roth. Includes expanded information from the 1998 book compiled by Ellen Van Houten and Florence Cole with addendum compiled by Chester Dunn for records from 1855-1939. As available, for 1855-1939, lists name of child and parents, age, and date or year of adoption, adopting parent’s or parents’ names, and name change, along with some research on these individuals and families. For 1940-1970, lists name, year, and original record location, with the ability to cross-reference many entries between 1940-1959. Get your copy today!
https://www.wcgsohio.org/product-page/warren-county-ohio-adoption-records-1855-1970
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WCGS 45th Anniversary and Awards Banquet on May 20, 2026
We had so much fun! Congratulations to Ruth Flinn Smith, Marcie Smith, Anne E. Woolley, and Paul George for becoming our newest members of the WCGS Lineage Societies. Congratulations to Dana Palmer on the recognition of her numerous contributions to WCGS over the years with an honorary Life Membership. Check out the photos! More will be added soon. Thank you ALL for your support!
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He's Done It Again!
Check out our new Tax Records website page and the NEWEST wonderful index covering 1826-1832 created by Winston Cochrane. These new indexes give an abundance of information about the people living, owning property, and paying taxes in Warren County during the years 1806-1825 and 1826-1832. Each is a combined index allowing you to track your research subject through the years. What a goldmine!
https://www.wcgsohio.org/tax-records
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Video Now Available
The recording from "Getting to Know Us: All you wanted to know about the Warren County Genealogical Society and Resource Library" presented by WCGS Volunteers November 12, 2025, is now available. The video can be found further down this page or by clicking HERE.
Upcoming Events
We are fortunate to have members and email subscribers from all over the world. Some upcoming meetings, programs, and events will be held virtually using Zoom to enable everyone interested to be able to participate.
Zoom invitations to Virtual Events are sent via Mailchimp email. To receive the Zoom invitation, please sign up for our email list using the e-News subscription form at the bottom of the page.
***You MUST be on our email list at least 24 hours in advance for Virtual Events.***
If you are new to Zoom, the first 1:22 minutes of this YouTube video may be helpful:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAMDxH_H_Cs
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Flyers for programs and events can be found on our Events page.
November 12, 2025 - WCGS Virtual Program
"Getting to Know Us: All You Wanted to Know about the Warren County Genealogical Society and Resource Library"
presented by WCGS Volunteers
Learn more about WCGS from Jim Brokaw, WCGS President; Jo Roth, WCGS Treasurer; Debbie Schneider, WCGS Membership Chair; and Paul George, WCGS Lineage Societies Chair. This presentation takes you on a photographic journey to the Resource Library and tells you more about the Society and its Volunteers.
As they say, here it is, warts and all! Jo had a last-minute laptop change and didn't have all the settings exactly right, Debbie had a new computer and was still learning about features such as her fancy camera, and given more time, a practice run probably would have helped us all!
Thank you to those who attended and a huge THANK YOU to those who came through with donations or pledges of money and offers of time. We are happy to report that we WILL be purchasing the book scanner that was on our wish list and will keep you posted about our progress with that.
Since the fall of 2018, the Alleen Stephenson Digital Newspaper Project has provided FREE online public access to digital images of The Western Star and other area newspapers on the Ohio Memory Project. These digital images were created from original copies of the newspaper located at the Ohio History Center in Columbus and from microfilm provided by the Warren County Historical Society and Warren County Genealogical Society.
The Alleen Stephenson Digital Newspaper Project is sponsored and maintained by the Warren County Genealogical Society. Using digitization and OCR technology, it provides FREE public access to 178,510 pages in 9,909 issues of this historical newspaper. There are some issues missing, but the entire collection on hand is browsable and searchable by titles, names, or dates.
The Western Star (Lebanon, Ohio)
Published for 206 years from 1807 to 2013, The Western Star is Ohio's oldest weekly newspaper. This newspaper reported the local news and activities of the citizens of Lebanon, Warren County, and nearby areas. The first publisher was John McLean (1785-1861), who was an American attorney, a political activist who served in the United States Congress, and a justice of the Ohio and the U.S. Supreme Courts. He started his legal career in Cincinnati and moved to Lebanon, Ohio, to open a law practice and dedicate his time to opening and running a weekly newspaper.
Our efforts continue to locate issues that are missing from our online project. Recently, we were given a few complete issues of The Western Star. These are a GREAT addition to our collection of Warren County information. We would like to expand this collection. If you have some editions that have been saved and are no longer of use to you, please consider donating them. We are interested in issues from any time period, but in particular the early issues from 1807-1821 and the final four issues from December 2012 and January 2013. If you can help, please drop them off or send them to us at the WCGS Resource Library, 406 Justice Drive, Lebanon, Ohio 45036.
For more information, please visit The Western Star page of our website.
About WCGS
The Warren County Genealogical Society (WCGS) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to create and promote interest in collecting and preserving genealogical records. We are here to assist you in finding your ancestors and relatives and have many resources available to help you with your research. WCGS is a Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society.
Kroger Community Rewards
An easy way to support WCGS each time you check out at Kroger is to participate in the Kroger Community Rewards Program.
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Visit https://www.kroger.com and sign into your Kroger account.
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Click the icon above your name to access “My Account” and look for Community Rewards on that page.
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Select Community Rewards and search for us either by Organization Name or Number and enroll in the program:
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Organization Name – Warren Co Chpr of the Ohio Genealogical Soc
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Organization Number – SU662
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Then, every time you shop and use your Kroger Plus card, Kroger will make a small donation to WCGS! Yay!
Page last updated July 30, 2026.