Name + place + year
Copy the name exactly from an advertisement, directory or family document. Record alternate spellings, partners, street address and the date of that source.
FOLLOW THE WORK • OHIO, INDIANA & KENTUCKY
Research an ancestor’s business.
A shop name, an old address or a signature can lead beyond the census. Follow the company into filings, directories, maps and archives, then check what each record actually establishes.
BUILD A TRAIL, NOT A GUESS01 • IDENTIFY 02 • FOLLOW 03 • TEST
One business. Several kinds of evidence.
Find the legal entity
Search distinctive name fragments and earlier names. Save the entity number and relevant filings. A storefront name may differ from the legal company name.
Connect it to your person
Compare the filing’s stated role, signature and address with other dated records. A shared surname or business name alone does not identify your ancestor.
No registry result? Record the search terms and date, then try directories and local archives. This search does not cover every sole proprietor, partnership or historical business. Absence from the database is not proof that a business never existed.
REGISTRY → ARCHIVE
Start with the state, then check the older series.
Ohio
Start with the Secretary of State’s Business Search . Save the entity identifier and available filing images rather than relying only on the results summary.
For older incorporations, Ohio History Connection identifies SAS 3081, index, 1852–1969, and SAS 3080, records, 1852–1951. The index supplies references to volumes and pages. The records can identify incorporators, location and capital, with additional documents in some cases.
Access: Use the incorporation-records reference , then ask the Archives & Library about the company, year, series and volume/page. Confirm retrieval and copying arrangements before visiting. These series dates do not guarantee a file for every business.
Indiana
Use INBiz Business Search for entity details and available filings. Indiana State Archives directs active-company inquiries to INBiz.
Its inactive-corporation packets span 1851 to the 1980s; many are indexed. Purchased or merged businesses may be filed under the successor. A separate corporation index covers 1902–1939, and the reading-room card catalog may supply another lead.
Access: Follow the Archives’ Business Records guide to its research index. Search organization name and keywords; send the reference to Archives staff for availability and copies. Ask about successor files when the first name fails. These are corporate records, not a complete employee index.
Kentucky
The Secretary of State’s online-services page links to searches by organization, officer, initial director and registered agent. Look at the filing date and role before connecting a person to the company.
The office states that corporate documents filed from September 15, 2004 are scanned; earlier documents are added as scanning proceeds. A microfilm listing may exist even when the image does not.
Access: Open the entity’s document history and save available images. For missing documents, use the Business Records copy-request instructions with the entity number, document type and date. Copy charges may apply; check current fees. An online image gap is not necessarily a records loss.
WHEN THE FILING IS ONLY THE BEGINNING
Follow the address, the trade and the people.
Directories & newspapers
Search both personal and classified business sections. Compare several years for partners, occupations and moves. Search newspaper advertisements, dissolution notices and auctions using the address as well as the name.
Ask the local library which years survive and whether newspaper access requires a card or an on-site visit.
Maps & buildings
Match a directory address to a dated Sanborn sheet. Building use and surrounding businesses can explain a workplace, but a map is not proof of ownership or employment.
Library of Congress: company research with maps · Sanborn collection . Check sheet dates, revisions and street renumbering.
Ledgers & local files
Ask archives about account books, company minutes, trade associations, bank or trust files and donated family business papers. Ask the relevant county office about surviving deeds, probate and litigation records.
Search the company’s partners and successor names, too. A customer in a ledger is not automatically an employee or relative. Catalog entries describe holdings; they do not guarantee that your person appears.
A VERIFIED COLLECTION LEAD
A business trail inside a trust company’s papers.
The Filson Historical Society’s Ohio River Valley Business Collection, 1788–1961 contains material connected with Fidelity and Columbia Trust Company trusts. Its finding aid describes leases, deeds, surveys, estate and business records, plus company minute books.
One listed subject is Morgan Packing Company, Austin, Indiana. That provides a concrete cross-state search route: an Indiana business appears in a Louisville repository’s description.
- Open the Filson finding aid (PDF) and find “Morgan Packing.”
- Record the collection title and locator Mss./BB/O36. Ask staff for the relevant inventory entry, dates, access and copying options.
- Compare any resulting documents with dated local sources. Do not infer employee coverage from this subject entry.
Verification boundary: This example is verified at finding-aid level. We have not examined the underlying Morgan Packing documents or established that they name a particular ancestor. Collection-wide dates are not the dates of every item.
Keep the role attached to the name.
Transcribe “incorporator,” “officer,” “director” or “agent” as the record states it. Do not silently convert those roles into “owner.” A business address is not automatically a home address, and incorporation is not necessarily the first day of trading.
For each result, save the repository, entity or collection identifier, document title, filing or record date, page, URL and access date. Separate the document’s statement from your interpretation and the next question.
Have a collection correction or an overlooked business archive? Suggest a correction.
HELP KEEP THIS GUIDE USEFUL
Know a collection we should include?
Suggest a correction, an overlooked collection or an updated access detail. An official link or source helps us check it before making a change. Please leave out private family documents and sensitive personal information.
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