"In order to pursue genealogical and historical research in county records it is essential to know the jurisdictional history of the counties since this determines where one must look for the records. When Ohio became a state in 1803 there were only seventeen counties. Over the years those counties were reduced in size and new counties were created so that by 1888 there were eighty-eight. The often complex jurisdictional histories of these eighty-eight counties poses a significant challenge to the researcher. By using this guide, researchers will be able to quickly ascertain the needed information." This edition contains a table of corrections and additions to the 1970 reprint of Randolph C. Downes' Evolution of Ohio County Boundaries. These tables, "depicting the jurisdictional histories of Ohio's eighty-eight counties were compiled in order to present the necessary information in a much more concise and readily useable form. They give the jurisdictional history of each of the modern counties in chronological order for the period prior to statehood up to the present."