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Adams County History and Information |
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County History |
Court Records |
Vital Records |
CENSUS Records |
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Military Records |
Church & Cemetery | Maps & Atlases | Genealogy Addresses | Genealogy Related Sites | |
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Adams County was created on March 1, 1836 and was formed from Adams New Purchase. The Adams New Purchase: Begun in 1827, Adams was the new name for the Delaware New Purchase. The Adams Purchase existed until 1844, when it became the counties of Adams, Clinton, Grant, Huntington, Jay, and Wells, and portions of the counties of Boone, Carroll, Tipton, and Wabash. The County was named for U.S. President John Quincy Adams, Sixth President of the United States. Decatur is the County Seat. Samuel Johnson offered as an inducement to have the county seat located on his land, the sum of $3,100, four church lots, half an acre for a public square, one acre for a seminary and two acres for a cemetery. He further agreed to pay the expenses of the locating commissioners, and furnish a house to hold court in until suitable buildings could be erected. The county commissioners promptly accepted the offer "and proceeded to the aforesaid town site, and marked a white oak tree with blazes on four sides, on each of which they individually inscribed their names." Decatur was probably named in honor of Commodore Stephen Decatur and in 1849 it had seventy houses (three of which were brick, twenty-one frame and the remainder of logs) with a population of about 400. See also County History for more historical details. Counties adjacent to Adams County are Allen County (north), Van Wert County, Ohio (northeast), Mercer County, Ohio (southeast), Jay County (south), Wells County (west). Adams County is divided into 12 Civil Townships as follows: Blue Creek, French, Hartford, Jefferson, Kirkland, Monroe, Preble, Root, St. Marys, Union, Wabash and Washington. Cities, Towns and Communities include Berne, Coppess Corner, Decatur, Elm Tree Crossroads, Geneva, Honduras, Linn Grove, Magley, Monmouth, Monroe, Perryville, Peterson, Pleasant Mills, Preble, Rivare, and Salem.
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NOTE: 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. See also the Adams County Courthouse History Adams County Clerk has Marriage Records from 1836, Probate Records from 1838 and Court Records from ? and is located at 112 South 2nd, Decatur, IN 46733; (260)724-2600 Adams County Recorder has Land Records from 1837 and is located at 313 West Jefferson Street, Decatur, IN 46733; (260)724-2600.
Adams County Health Department has Birth / Death Records from 1882 and is located at 313 West Jefferson Room 314, Decatur IN 46733-1672; Phone (260) 742-3106, Fax (260) 724-2708 Below is a list of online resources for Adams County Court Records. Email us with websites containing Adams County Court Records by clicking the link below:
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Below is a list of online resources for Adams County Vital Records. Email us with websites containing Adams County Vital Records by clicking the link below:
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Countywide Records: Federal Population Schedules that exist for Adams County, Indiana are 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930. Other Federal Schedules to look at when researching your Family Tree in Adams County, Indiana are Industry and Agriculture Schedules availible for the years 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880. The Mortality Schedules for the years 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880. There are free downloadable and printable Census forms to help with your research. These include U.S. Census Extraction Forms and U.K. Census Extraction Forms. See Also Statewide Records that exist for Indiana Below is a list of online resources for Adams County Census Records. Email us with websites containing Adams County Census Records by clicking the link below:
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Genealogy Atlas has images of old American atlases during the years 1795, 1814, 1822, 1823, 1836, 1838, 1845, 1856, 1866, 1879 and 1897 for Ohio and other states. You can view rotating animated maps for Indiana showing all the county boundaries for each census year overlayed with past and present maps so you can see the changes in county boundaries. You can view a list of maps for other states at Census Maps Below is a list of online resources for Adams County Maps. Email us with websites containing Adams County Maps by clicking the link below: |
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The uses and value of military records in genealogical research for ancestors who were veterans are obvious, but military records can also be important to re-searchers whose direct ancestors were not soldiers in any war. The fathers, grandfathers, brothers, and other close relatives of an ancestor may have served in a war, and their service or pension records could contain information that will assist in further identifying the family of primary interest. Due to the amount of genealogical information contained in some military pension files, they should never be overlooked during the research process. Those records not containing specific genealogical information are of historic value and should be included in any overall research design. Below is a list of online resources for Adams County Military Records. Email us with websites containing Adams County Military Records by clicking the link below:
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Records of county taxes were kept as early at 1842, although most were discarded. Remaining ones would be at the county courthouse. National Archives-Great Lakes Region has records of the Internal Revenue Service for Indiana for 1867 to 1873. These are tax assessment records, arranged by district and then chronologically. Below is a list of online resources for Adams County Tax Records. Email us with websites containing Adams County Tax Records by clicking the link below: |
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The Repositories in this section are Archives, Libraries, Museums, Genealogical and Historical Societies. Many County Historical and Genealogical Societies publish magazines and/or news letters on a monthly, quarterly, bi-annual or annual basis. Contacting the local societies should not be over looked. State Archives and Societies are usually much larger and better organized with much larger archived materials than their smaller county cousins but they can be more generalized and over look the smaller details that local societies tend to have. Libraries can also be a good place to look for local information. Some libraries have a genealogy section and may have some resources that are not located at archives or societies. Also, take a special look at any museums in the area. They sometimes have photos and items from years gone by as well as information of a genealogical interest. All these places are vitally important to the family genealogist and must not be passed over. Below is a list of online resources for Adams County Genealogical Addresses. Email us with websites containing Adams County Genealogical Addresses by clicking the link below:
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There are many churches and cemeteries in Adams County. Some transcriptions are online. A great site is the Adams County Tombstone Transcription Project. Baptist records are found at Franklin College (in Franklin); Methodist at DePauw University (in Greencastle); Mennonite at Goshen College (in Goshen); Presbyterian at Hanover College (in Hanover); Disciples of Christ at their historical society in Nashville, Tennessee; and French Catholic at Vincennes University in the Byron R. Lewis Collection. There are also Catholic church histories and records at the Catholic Archives, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana. Quaker records are at Earlham College (at Richmond). The commissioner's office of each Indiana county may have burial records for soldiers, sailors, and marines. If available, the records should include name, age, date of enlistment, discharge date, and death date. Records begin about 1862. The Indiana State Library holds records of inscriptions from some Indiana cemeteries. The "Indiana Cemetery Locator File," compiled by the Genealogy Division, is an alphabetical listing of cemeteries, indicating the location in the state and the designation in the Genealogy Division of the Indiana State Library where inscriptions may be found. Below is a list of online resources for Adams County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing Adams County Cemetery & Church Records by clicking the link below:
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When view family trees online or not, be sure to only take the info at face value and always follow up with your own sources or verify the ones they provide. Below is a list of online resources for Adams County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information. Email us with websites containing Adams County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information by clicking the link below:
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1849 Adams County Retrospect - Adams County is bounded on the east by the State of Ohio, on the south by Jay County, on the west by Wells, and on the north by Allen County. It is twenty-four miles in length, from north to south, and fourteen in breadth, and contains 336 square miles. The population of Adams County, in 1840, was 2,284; at this time [1849] it is near 5,600. The face of the county is generally level. Near the St. Mary's and Wabash, it is undulating, but not hilly. There are no barrens in the county, and not exceeding ten sections of prairie, all wet, and twenty-five or thirty of river bottoms. The residue is upland, heavily timbered. The wet prairies form the sources of the creeks, and from several of them water runs into the St. Lawrence, and also the Mississippi. The most of them show traces of beaver dams. The soil is clay mixed with marl, and apparently becomes more fertile the longer it is cultivated. The timber is oak, hickory, buckeye, ash, beech, elm, lynn, walnut, sycamore, poplar and cotton wood. The surplus products consist of wheat, corn and hay, and horses, cattle and hogs, in considerable numbers, are raised for exportation. The county is divided into twelve townships, Preble, Root and Union in the north' next, St. Mary's Washington and Kirkland; then French, Monroe and Blue Creek; and in the south, Jefferson, Wabash and Hartford. There are in Adams County, three Lawyers, five Physicians, six Ministers of the Gospel, five stores, three groceries, six warehouses, one merchant mill, one oil mill, one ashery, one tannery, two saddlers, ten shoemakers, seven blacksmiths, two tailors, five cabinet makers and twenty carpenters. The principal streams are the St. Mary's and Wabash rivers, which are about equal in size, and their average width is about 160 feet. The former was frequently navigated with keel and flat boats; but navigation in now obstructed by mill dams. The public buildings in the county consist of a Courthouse and Jail, both of wood, fire-proof offices for the Clerk, Recorder, Auditor and Treasurer, and one Presbyterian, one Methodist and one Roman Catholic Church. The common school districts are generally organized and support schools from three to ten months in the year. The county of Adams, when properly improved, will be a first rate farming region. Decatur, the County Seat of Adams County, on the west side of St. Mary's River, in Washington Township, was first settled in 1837, by Jacob Huffer, Samuel L. Rugg and John Reynolds. There are in Decatur [in 1849] seventy houses, of which three are brick, twenty-one frame, and the residue of logs, with a population of about 400. This town in twenty-four miles southeast from Fort Wayne, twenty-eight miles north of Portland, ten miles west of Willshire, Ohio, and 110 northeast of Indianapolis. 1938 Adams County Retrospect - Based on "Indiana Review," published by the State Legislature click and zoom to Our Neighbors MapAdams County is located in the northeastern part of Indiana and is bounded on the east by the State of Ohio and on the north by Allen County. Its twelve townships cover an area of 337 square miles. It is supposed the county took its name in honor of John Quincy Adams, who was President within the decade prior to formal organization. In the southern part of this county is the "Limberlost" region, immortalized by Gene Stratton Porter. Road 27, known as the Limberlost Trail, passes within sight of Limberlost Cabin, where Mrs. Porter wrote her first ten novels. The total population in 1890 was 20,181; 1900, 22,232; 1910, 21,840; 1920, 29,503; and in 1930, 19,957. The incorporated city is Decatur, 5,156; towns: Bern, 1,883; Geneva, 895, and Monroe, 322. Decatur is located twenty-two miles southeast of Fort Wayne and is served by three railroads. In 1937, there were some twenty-six industries, according to an unofficial report. Those industries included meat-packing, foundry operation, sugar refining and the manufacture of hoops, staves, brick, cement blocks, electric motors, ladders and egg case fillers. On the Courthouse lawn in Decatur is a Soldiers Memorial Monument built of Bedford stone and a bronze tablet to Gene Stratton porter, dedicated by the county's school children. Outstanding among Decatur's buildings are the Elks' Home, of Georgian style architecture; the Public Library, of Greek classic style; several churches, and the Adams County Hospital. A monument to the memory of Samuel L. Rugg, pioneer settler, statesman, benefactor and educator, is located in the Decatur Cemetery. Memorial Park in the city is named in his honor. Among Decatur's notable residences is the C. A. Dugan house of Greek classic style. Other old homes are distinguished for their coverlets, pioneer needlework, and portraits by early artists. In one is a painting by Francisco Denoti, done in 1792. Scattered throughout Adams County are many historical trails formerly used by the Indians. Chief among them are Harmar Trail, Godfrey Trail and the Old Wayne Trace. Sixteen hundred acres are covered by the Old Rivare Indian Reservation, which is more than one hundred years old and contains an Indian burial ground. At Bern, in the southern part of the county, is a Mennonite Church regarded as an unusual example of architecture for a small community, and one of the largest Protestant churches in the state. The flat land of Adams county is well adapted to agriculture. According to 1935 federal census figures the county had 2,150 farms averaging 95.4 acres each, with a total value of $11,745,466. A total of 68,395 head of livestock was reported. There were thirty-three industrial establishments employing 1,280 wage earners on pay rolls of $966,956. The value of the products was $8,934,490. The Adams County total tax valuation for 1936 was $22,955,127. In 1872 architect J.C. Johnson completed the third and present courthouse for Adams County. Johnson utilized the hallmark mansard roof and tower on his Second Empire style designs for courthouses in Adams and Randolph counties. Both buildings experienced maintenance problems involving their towers, and in the 1950s Randolph County completely removed its tower. By the late nineteenth century the swaying of the damaged Adams County Courthouse tower caused the courtroom ceiling below to crack. In 1900, Adams County Commissioners hired Fort Wayne architects Wing and Mahurin to design a new tower and dismantle the original one. For added stability, the architects relocated the new tower above the building’s main entrance. Once workers demolished the old tower, they removed the damaged plaster and lowered the courtroom ceiling. All of the original ceiling murals were lost, excepting a small portion under a beam that supports the bell tower. Decorative sandstone quoins, incised with an irregular honeycomb pattern, known as vermiculated work, offset the red brick body of the Adams County Courthouse. Patterned slate and dormer windows highlight the steep slope of the distinctive mansard roof. A 1970s renovation closed off all but two of the original doorways that graced each side of the building. In an attempt to create more space, the 1970s renovations also added asecond story loft to the clerk’s and recorder’s offices, lowered ceilings, and replaced the original front doors with double airlock doors. In 1995 the county expanded its governmental space by converting the former Bellmont Junior High School into the Adams County Service Complex, thus saving the historic school from the wrecking ball and creating a circuit court courthouse annex. In 2005 the clerk’s office in the old courthouse expanded into the area once housing the recorder. To create one large office, workers removed the 1970s loft addition and several brick dividing walls. Because of the load bearing function of the walls, their removal necessitated construction of a new support system for the courtroom located above. The Adams County Courthouse is located on a Shelbyville Square plan ringed by commercial businesses. Unlike most courthouse squares decorated with war memorials, Adams County honors its battle heroes with a Peace Monument, designed by Charles Mulligan and dedicated in 1913. The large limestone monument features a stylized female figure symbolizing peace on the front, and on the back, a carved relief honoring battlefield nurses. |
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