Indiana State Facts & Information
During the Great Depression, Indiana pioneered the microfilming of records. A WPA project filmed vital records, court records, naturalizations, wills, slave registers, some Revolutionary War pension files, etc., for at least sixteen counties in the state.
In the 1950s and 1960s the Indiana State Library microfilmed many vital and court records. They receive positive microfilm copies of Indiana county records via a joint effort with the Commission on Public Records, Indiana Historical Bureau, Indiana Historical Society, and the Genealogical Society of Utah. Twenty-eight of the ninety-two Indiana courthouses suffered courthouse fires, many of them rebuilt only to be destroyed again by fire or natural disaster. The original county of Knox lost all records in a fire of 1814.
Land records are located at the county recorder's office; probates at the clerk of the circuit court, along with other court records. County commissioner's records in Indiana courthouses are quite frequently the earliest official records of the organized governments in counties formed directly from Native American purchases. Records may include the names of road supervisors, payments made to individuals, appointments for tax collectors, business licenses, naturalization applications, and early justice of the peace dockets.
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List of Indiana Indiana Counties
Select a county from the table below to to view more information on genealogical information & records pertaining to each county.
For some of the following counties there are two years listed for “Date Formed.” The first is the year the county was created, the second is the year it was fully organized if it differs from the creation year. Under the heading “formed from ,” the name(s) listed may be the county or counties from which the respective county was formed, or they may be names by which the county was originally known. “Unorganized” denotes that it was formed from non-county lands.
The date listed for each category of record is the earliest record known to exist in that county. It does not indicate that there are numerous records for that year and certainly does not indicate that all such events that year were actually registered. Choose from the counties below to view the county information.
Indiana State History
The official state website is located at http://www.in.gov/.
Indiana, state in the north central United States, in the Midwest. Indiana is one of the leading industrial and agricultural states in the Union. Manufacturing is Indiana’s single most important economic activity, but agriculture remains a principal activity throughout much of the state. The state motto, the Crossroads of America, reflects the importance of Indiana in the commercial activities of the country, for numerous transportation routes pass through the state. Indianapolis, the state’s capital and largest city, is itself a crossroads, situated at the center of the state with most transportation routes radiating from it.
Indiana entered the Union on December 11, 1816, as the 19th state. Indiana was originally a heavily forested wilderness area. With the beginning of large-scale settlement early in the 19th century, most of the forests were soon cleared for farmland, and Indiana acquired some of the characteristics of other sections of the Midwest. The flat or gently rolling central part of the state developed as an area of prosperous farms specializing in corn and grain-fed livestock. All but the southern and southeastern part of the state is part of the so-called Corn Belt that stretches from Ohio to eastern Nebraska. Southern Indiana is largely an area of hills, tracts of forest land, small farms, and small rural communities. The northern lowlands, from the Calumet region in the northwest to Fort Wayne in the east, includes—in addition to farmland—one of the greatest concentrations of industry in the United States. Other industrial and commercial centers are found in central and southern Indiana.
The state’s nickname is the Hoosier State, and the people of Indiana are called Hoosiers. These two names are among the most widely known of all state nicknames, but their origin remains disputed. Among the many explanations is that of Jacob Piatt Dunn. He traced the word back to “hoozer,” a dialect word from the Cumberland district of northwestern England that meant any unusually large feature, such as a hill. It eventually came to mean a hill dweller, and as such, was introduced in hilly southern Indiana, the earliest settled part of the state. Another explanation holds that the term comes from the many Indiana residents hired by contractor Sam Hoosier, who became known as Hoosiers. Still others believe the word is a corruption of pioneer question “Who’s here?” The word Indiana simply means “land of the Indians,” referring to the region’s many Native American inhabitants. The term was coined in the 1760s and first applied to a private tract of land in Pennsylvania. In 1800 it was applied to the Indiana Territory when the United States Congress created it out of the Northwest Territory. The Official State Website is http://www.state.in.us/
Indiana settlement was influenced by the area's great variance in terrain and in soil. While most of the southern third of the state is hilly and rough, with very poor soil, the central portion has generally level terrain and deep fertile soil perfectly suited to productive farming. The northern area is paradoxically both flat and heavily glaciated, with considerable marsh land.
The major Native American tribes of this area, the Miami and Potawatomi, first had contact with French explorers engaged in trapping and transporting of furs in the early 1700s. The French policy of mutual economic advantage and cooperation did not challenge the occupation and/or use of the land of the native inhabitants. The French learned native ways and often married native women.
Eventually the French and Indian War in the mid-eighteenth century removed France as a serious threat to the expansion of the British colonies to the Mississippi, but the resulting Proclamation of 1763 prohibited American colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains since that land had been reserved for Native Americans and licensed fur traders. Great Britain took control of the what would become Indiana, but during the Revolution, George Rogers Clark's expedition guaranteed it for the United States with Virginia, Connecticut and Massachusetts all making claims to the area.
At the close of the Revolution, some native tribes in the region chose to continue trade with the French and relocated west of the Mississippi, resulting in land speculators and settlers totally disregarding the earlier proclamation and heading west past the Appalachians. Indiana was first included in Northwest Territory in 1787 with all of the present state (and part of Indiana) established, in 1790, as Knox County in the Territory. Over the next twenty years territorial jurisdiction went through several changes at the same time as resistance was mounted from natives disillusioned with the incursion of settlers.
Indiana Territory was established in 1800 out of the Northwest Territory with Michigan, first separated from the Territory with Indiana (1805) and then, finally as a Territory by itself (1809). Statehood became a reality 11 December 1816.
Settlers from western Virginia, North Carolina, eastern portions of Tennessee and Kentucky arrived in the southern part of Indiana in increasing numbers after the War of 1812. These settlers, the majority of them farm families accustomed to frontier living, included many Scotch-Irish and Germans who had, in earlier generations, migrated south from Pennsylvania in the 1700s.
A second migratory trail was led by upland southerners across the Appalachians and from the Mid-Atlantic population via land and the Ohio River. Northern Indiana was settled last because it was a final refuge for Native Americans and because of its more inaccessible terrain. Most of the first farms and settlements in Indiana were necessarily located on the Ohio, Wabash, Whitewater, or White rivers, or near the streams and creeks from which they originated.
Migration northward in the state was made difficult by the lack of land routes; early roads traced native and animal trails or military expedition routes. The Michigan Road, from Michigan City in the north to Madison in the south, was opened in 1836, providing a vastly improved north-south land route. The National Road, a United States government endeavor to link the East and West, moved across Indiana in the 1830s. Three major canal projects, improved road systems, and a railroad line-all begun by the state government in 1836-immediately ceased with the financial panic and depression of 1839. The Wabash and Erie Canal, covering a distance of 468 miles, was completed with assistance from the federal government. Railroads were developed from 1847 through the late 1850s, providing faster and more dependable transportation for people and agricultural products.
From the second half of the nineteenth century to the present, manufacturing began to take a firm position in the state's economy. One key component of this position was the steel industry along the state's northern tier. Both Europeans and blacks from the South have significantly added to the state's ethnic composition of today.
Native Americans -
In the New Purchase or St. Mary's Treaty of 1818 several tribes ceded the central portion of the state. The Delawares agreed to removal west of the Mississippi. The Miami and Potawatomi were the two major tribes remaining in Indiana after 1820. In 1826 they "traded" land needed for the construction of the Michigan Road and the Wabash and Erie Canal. The federal Indian Removal Act of 1830 allowed the Indiana General Assembly to remove the remaining native inhabitants from the state. In 1838 the plans for removing the Potawatomi were in effect, but some of the tribe objected. Eight hundred were "escorted" to Kansas under an armed militia company in a disorganized and tragic march known as the "Trail of Death."
The Treaty of 1840 required that the Miami, the last Indian tribe in Indiana, be removed to Kansas. The migration did not actually occur until 1846, although several chiefs and their families were given individual land near Fort Wayne.
Other Ethnic Groups -
Beginning in 1850 and through 1920 the foreign born were never more than 10 percent of Indiana's population, the largest percentage coming from Germany. Schools, churches, and social clubs of that nationality helped maintain the German culture in the state.
The Irish were the second largest immigrant group in Indiana, although their numbers were not large. Later immigrants, in the twentieth century, came from southern and eastern Europe.
Discontinued & Extinct Indiana Counties
This section provides an list of Indiana counties that no longer exist. They were established by the state, provincial, or territorial government. Most of these counties were created and disbanded in the 19th century; county boundaries have changed little since 1900 in the vast majority of states.
- Adams New Purchase: Formed in 1820 as Delaware New Purchase, renamed in 1827 and abolished in 1844)
- Delaware New Purchase: Formed in 1820 from Unorganized Land, renamed Adams New Purchase in 1827. Some of the records may exist in Fayette, Franklin, Jackson, Jennings, Randolph, Ripley, Wayne and Bartholomew Counties)
- Randolph (Old) County: Formed in 1790 from territorial St. Clair County in the Northwest Territory, became part of the Indiana Territory in 1800, absorbed by the Illinois Territory in 1809)
- Richardville County: Formed in 1844 from Unorganized Land, renamed Howard Co in 1846
- St Clair County: Formed in 1790 from Unorganized Land in the Northwest Territory, became part of the Indiana Territory in 1800, absorbed by the Illinois Territory in 1809
- Wabash New Purchase: Formed in 1820 from territorial Knox County and Unorganized Land and abolished in 1835. Some early records may be found in Monroe, Owen, Vigo and Parke Counties
- Wayne (Old) County: Formed in 1796 from Unorganized Land in the Northwest Territory which included parts of modern Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. Wayne Co outside of the Northwest Territory was eliminated in 1800. In 1803 Wayne County, Indiana Territory was created from territorial Knox and St.Clair Counties as well as Unorganized Land which included parts of modern Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and most of Michigan.It was eliminated in 1805. In 1811 Wayne County was formed and becae a Indiana State County in 1816)
- Newton (Old) County: Formed in 1835 from Unorganized Land and abolished in 1839
Indiana Counties with Burned Courthouses
Twenty-eight of the ninety-two Indiana courthouses suffered courthouse fires, many of them rebuilt only to be destroyed again by fire or natural disaster.
The destruction of courthouses greatly affects genealogists in every way. No only are these historic structures torn from our lives, so are the records they housed: marriage, wills, probate, land records, and others. Once destroyed they are lost forever. Even if they have been placed on mircofilm, computers and film burn too. The most heartbreaking side of this is the fact that many of our courthouses are destroyed at the hands of arsonist. However, not all records were lost.
Below is a list of Indiana Counties and the years the Courthouses were subjected to a disaster. This does NOT mean that ALL RECORDS were lost. Often, folks took their documents again in for recording after a disaster and later deeds will contain long chains of title, etc.
- Boone County - Courthouse destroyed by Fire in Oct. 1856, Practically all records lost
- Brown County - Courthouse destroyed by Fire, All records lost, except some clerk's files
- Clay County - Courthouse destroyed by Fire in Nov. 1851, All records lost except Recorder's records
- Daviess County - Courthouse destroyed by Fire in 1879, Marriage records and index to probate and deed records were not destroyed
- Dearborn County - Courthouse destroyed by Fire in Mar. 1826, Most records lost--some early marriage and will records exist
- DeKalb County - Courthouse destroyed by Fire in 1913, Probate records before 1860 were the worst loss
- Dubois County - Courthouse destroyed by Fire in Aug. 1839, All records destroyed, except the WPA found 10 boxes of deeds from 1812
- Franklin County - Courthouse destroyed by Fire in Feb. 1852, No records lost
- Gibson County - Courthouse destroyed by Fire in 1935, No records harmed
- Hancoc County - Courthouse destroyed by Fire in kDec. 1940, No records harmed
- Henry County - Courthouse destroyed by Fire in Feb. 1864, Clerk, recorded, auditor and treasurer's records were saved
- Jackson County - Courthouse destroyed by Fire in 1872? and 1881?, No records lost
- Jasper County - Courthouse destroyed by Fire in 1864, Clerk's records were lost--deeds and deed indexes escaped damage
- Johnson County - Courthouse destroyed by Fire in May 1849 and Dec. 1874, Records that survived: marriages from 1830, "complete" court records from 1823; recorder's entry book from 1822 and deeds and deed indexes from 1824
- Knox County - Courthouse destroyed by Fire in Jan. 1814, Records that survived: marriages from 1807; order book from 1811; minutes book 1816-1818; orphan's court minutes 1796-1805; minutes of common pleas court 1790-1810; general indexes to administrations from 1795-1886; deeds from 1814 and wills from 1806
- Madison County - Courthouse destroyed by Fire in Dec. 1880, Lost: marriage, circuit court and common pleas court records Saved: wills from 1879, deeds from 1825, and general index to deeds from 1829
- Martin County - Courthouse destroyed by Fire in Apr. 1876, Saved: all records of genealogical interest
- Miami County - Courthouse destroyed by Fire in Mar. 1843, All records destroyed--deeds from 1828 survived
- Morgan County - Courthouse destroyed by Fire in Mar. 1876, Some records destroyed. Saved: marriage and deed records from 1822, probate order books 1822-1836
- Noble County - Courthouse destroyed by Fire in 1843 and 1859, Most of clerk's records were lost. Saved: marriages from 1859, deeds and deed indexes from 1836
- Parke County - Courthouse destroyed by Fire in Oct. 1833, Saved: marriages from 1829; probate, deed and deed indexes from 1833
- Porter County - Courthouse destroyed by Fire in Dec. 1934, All records saved
- Spencer County - Courthouse destroyed by Fire in Sept. 1833, Saved: marriage and deed records
- Sullivan County - Courthouse destroyed by Fire in Feb. 1850, All records destroyed except wills from 1841
- Tipton County - Courthouse destroyed by Fire in 1857, Saved: records of genealogical interest
- Union County - Courthouse destroyed by Fire in Feb. 1903, Water damage to records only
- Vermillion County - Courthouse destroyed by Fire in Jan. 1844, All records saved
- Wabash County - Courthouse destroyed by Fire in Apr. 1870, Saved: treasurer's, auditor's, recorder's and clerk's records.
- Warren County - The Courthouse at Williamsport was destroyed by fire on Sunday, January 20, 1907. All the records but those of the commissioners were saved.
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