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Dearborn County History and Information |
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County History |
Court Records |
Vital Records |
CENSUS Records |
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Military Records |
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Dearborn County was created on March 7, 1803 and was formed from Clark County . The County was named for U.S. Secretary of War Henry Dearborn. The County Seat is Lawrenceburg. The first Courthouse was half of a double log cabin belonging to Doctor Jabez Percival, one of the associate judges. Lawrenceburg is the County Seat, however, Rising Sun was ambitious to be the County Seat and wanted to have a new county formed, of which it could be the County Seat if it could not wrest the honor from Lawrenceburg. Through this struggle, Lawrenceburg lost the County Seat for a few years. On September 26, 1836, Wilmington became the seat of justice, where it remained until April 1, 1844, when Lawrenceburg again became the County Seat, through an act of the Legislature of January 3, 1844. See also County History for more historical details. Counties adjacent to Dearborn County are Franklin County (north), Butler County, Ohio (northeast), Hamilton County, Ohio (east), Boone County, Kentucky (southeast), Ohio County (south), Ripley County (west). Dearborn County is divided into 14 Civil Townships as follows: Caesar Creek, Center, Clay, Harrison, Hogan, Jackson, Kelso, Lawrenceburg, Logan, Manchester, Miller, Sparta, Washington and York. Cities, Towns and Communities include Aurora, Bonnell, Braysville, Bright, Chesterville, Cochran, Cold Springs, Dillsboro, Dillsboro Station, Dover, Farmers Retreat, Greendale, Guilford, Hardinsburg, Homestead, Hubbells Corner, Kelso, Kirschs Corner, Kyle, Lawrenceburg, Lawrenceville, Logan, Longnecker, Manchester, Moores Hill, Mt. Sinai, Nebo, New Alsace, St. Leon, Sparta, Texas, Weisburg, West Harrison, Wilmington and Wrights Corner.
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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 Dearborn County Courthouse History Dearborn County Clerk has Marriage Records from 1806 , Probate Records from 1824 and Court Records from 1824 and is located at Courthouse Offices 215 W. High St., Lawrenceburg, IN 47025; (812)-537-1040 (812)-537-8867 Dearborn County Recorder has Land Records from 1821 and is located at Courthouse Offices 215 W. High St., Lawrenceburg, IN 47025;(812)-537-1040 (812)-537-8837.
Dearborn County Health Department has Birth / Death Records from 1882 and is located at Dearborn County Administration Bldg., 215-B W High St, Lawrenceburg, IN 47025; (812) 537-8826 Below is a list of online resources for Dearborn County Court Records. Email us with websites containing Dearborn County Court Records by clicking the link below:
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Below is a list of online resources for Dearborn County Vital Records. Email us with websites containing Dearborn County Vital Records by clicking the link below:
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Countywide Records: Federal Population Schedules that exist for Dearborn County, Indiana are 1820, 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930. Other Federal Schedules to look at when researching your Family Tree in Dearborn 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 Dearborn County Census Records. Email us with websites containing Dearborn 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 Dearborn County Maps. Email us with websites containing Dearborn 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 Dearborn County Military Records. Email us with websites containing Dearborn 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 Dearborn County Tax Records. Email us with websites containing Dearborn 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 Dearborn County Genealogical Addresses. Email us with websites containing Dearborn County Genealogical Addresses by clicking the link below:
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There are many churches and cemeteries in Dearborn County. Some transcriptions are online. A great site is the Dearborn 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 Dearborn County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing Dearborn 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 Dearborn County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information. Email us with websites containing Dearborn County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information by clicking the link below:
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Dearborn County, located along the Ohio River in Southeastern Indiana, is the third oldest county of the Indiana Territory and thus contains some of Indiana’s earliest and most significant architecture. The county’s northern boundary is Franklin County, and the eastern is Hamilton County, Ohio. The Ohio River and Laughery Creek form the southern boundary, and the western boundary is Ripley County--the county line being the Greenville Treaty line arranged by General Anthony Wayne in 1795. Geographically, Dearborn County is a mixture of flatlands in the northwest and rolling hills divided by several creeks forming long valleys throughout the county. The principle waterways are the Whitewater River in the northwest corner of the county, the east and west forks of Tanners Creek, North and South Hogan Creeks, and Laughery Creek. Dearborn County was organized in 1803 by Governor William Henry Harrison, who named it after General Henry Dearborn, at that time the Secretary of War under President Thomas Jefferson. All or part of six other counties were carved from the original Dearborn County with the present boundaries being established in 1845. Official organization of most of the fourteen townships of Dearborn County occurred in the 1830’s and 1840’s. The last township, Washington, was organized in 1852. The town of Lawrenceburg was established as the county seat in 1803, a year after its original plat was laid out by Samuel Vance, James Hamilton, and Benjamin Chambers. In 1810 a two-story frame courthouse was built. Destroyed by fire in 1826, it was replaced by a new building which served until 1836 when the county seat was moved to the town of Wilmington where a new brick courthouse was erected. Wilmington remained the county seat for only eight years with Lawrenceburg permanently retaining its position in 1844. The present County Courthouse was built in 1870. Settlers began entering Washington, Center, and Lawrenceburg Townships in the late 1790’s. Most of them moved down the Ohio River from homes in the eastern United States. There were numerous land entries through the Federal Land Office in Cincinnati beginning in 1801, occurring primarily in the lower creek valleys and along the Ohio River bottomland. In 1820 the Manchester Pike was established as part of Indiana’s Internal Improvements Program, and in 1823 a road was constructed from Madison through Vevay, Rising Sun, and Aurora, to Lawrenceburg. From 1836 to 1843 the Whitewater Canal was built through Dearborn County. River and canal trade dominated the county’s commerce until the construction of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad in the 1850’s. From the 1820’s to the 1870’s there was a steady immigration of European settlers into Dearborn County. German Catholics and Lutherans settled in the St. Leon and New Alsace areas of Kelso Township as well as in portions of Jackson and Caesar Creek Townships. English immigrants settled in Caesar Creek, York, Harrison, Logan, and Lawrenceburg Townships, and Irish immigrants moved to Sparta, Clay, Washington, and Manchester Townships. Many of them came from such eastern states as Maine, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. The mixture of European settlers provided an interesting source of town names such as Wilmington, Yorkville, Guilford, and New Alsace. Examples of early immigrant commercial efforts remaining in the county include the Zix Brewery near New Alsace, Miller’s Mills in Sparta Township on South Hogan Creek, and the Hayes Branch Saw and Grist Mill located in Clay Township. The population of Dearborn County grew from 4,424 in 1815 to 23,000 by 1890. Early in its history the county had a strong agricultural base; in 1910 there were more than 2,200 farms with an average of 83 acres each. Many industries were built throughout the nineteenth century including distilleries, furniture, glass, pump, and coffin companies, as well as a boat building company. The Civil War affected Dearborn County in the 1860’s when John Morgan Hunt’s soldiers marched through Manchester, Jackson, Kelso, Logan, and Harrison Townships, destroying several railroad bridges. The period following the War was one of great stability and manufacturing expanded with new plants being built, including the distilleries now owned by Joseph E. Seagram and Sons and Schenley, the Aurora Casket Company founded in 1890, the A.D. Cook Pump Company, founded in 1870, and the Cochran Chair Company founded in 1879. Both Aurora and Lawrenceburg were devastated by severe floods in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. One of the most severe occurred in 1937, after which massive lock and dam construction was undertaken. Lawrenceburg reacted by building a high earthen levee surrounding the town. Dearborn County today retains a diverse mixture of agriculture and industrial enterprises. Its architecture is equally diverse with styles ranging from the Federal and Greek Revival of the early decades of the Nineteenth Century to the Queen Anne and Bungalow of the early Twentieth. Many structures are architecturally and historically significant to Dearborn County and the State of Indiana, and while some are being saved and restored, many still provide great potential for preservation and reuse. 1849 Adams County Retrospect - Based on "Indiana Gazetteer," published by E. Chamberlain Dearborn County was organized in 1802, and named after the soldier and statesman, General Henry Dearborn, at that time the Secretary of War. It lies in the southeast corner of the State, is bounded east by the Ohio River and the State of Ohio, south by Ohio County, west by Ripley and north by Franklin, and contains 307 square miles. In 1830 it had 14,573 inhabitants, in 1840, 19,327, and at this time [1849] only about the same number, as the county of Ohio has since been created from its limits; in 1849 Lawrenceburgh had a population of 3,000. Dearborn County is divided into thirteen civil townships, Lawrenceburgh, Harrison, Logan, Miller, Center, Laughery, Manchester, York, Kelso, Jackson, Sparta, Clay and Cesar's Creek. The bottoms on the Ohio, Miami and White Water, about 13,000 acres in all, and the west and northwest parts of the county, are level or slightly undulating; the rest broken and hilly. The land in the vicinity of the rivers and creeks, both in the bottoms and on the hills, is a rich, loamy soil, and is not surpassed in the amount of its produce; the interior is well adapted to hay, wheat, etc. The corn is sold to distillers or fed to hogs at home, and much of the wheat made into flour by millers. It is estimated that three distilleries in the county make $200,000 worth of whiskey and fatten $50,000 worth of pork annually. Of the articles exported from the county in a year, it has been ascertained that they amounted, in 1847, to 131,318 bushels of wheat, 152,802 bushels of oats, 11,000 tons of hay, 500 cattle, 1,500 sheep and 25,000 hogs. To these add the barreled pork, flour, whiskey and other articles exported from the county, and the whole will amount to $1,500,000 a year, though some of the articles, perhaps one-fourth, are the products of the interior counties. There are in the county sixty stores, forty groceries, forty warehouses, eight grist mills, six sawmills, five distilleries, one oil mill, one woolen factory, 460 mechanics, fifteen lawyers, fifteen physicians, fifteen preachers of the Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians and Catholics. There is a flourishing County Seminary, established at Wilmington in 1835, with fifty students, a good High School in Lawrenceburgh, with about the same number, and common schools are established throughout the county. There is no land belonging to the United States, or which is not taxable, in the county. 1938 Adams County Retrospect - Based on "Indiana Review," published by the State Legislature Dearborn was the second county organized. When it was formed March 1, 1803, it was compromised, in addition to its present area, all of what is now Ohio County. There are fourteen townships, covering 333 square miles of rolling surface. It is one of the southeastern group, its eastern boundary part of the Ohio line. In this region are found archaeological remains, some of which are believed to be more than 2,000 years old. The incorporated cities are: Lawrenceburg, 4,072, and Aurora, 4,386; towns: Dillsboro, 502; Greendale, 1,050; Moore's Hill, 384; Saint Leon, 276; West Harrison, 400. Dearborn County's population in 1890 was 23,364; 1900, 22,194; 1910, 21,396; 1920, 20,033; 1930, 21, 056. Lawrenceburg is an industrial city, served by two railroads, and is located twenty-two miles west of Cincinnati. It is separated by only one street from Greendale. The two cities are considered as a single community with about fourteen industries, including flour and feed mills, creamery, veneer and box plants, saw, casket, and buggy factories, distilleries, chemical and deep pump works. Four outstanding types of concerns make Lawrenceburg and Greendale an industrial community of note: the state's largest flourmill; the company founded by the pioneer developers of underground water supply; one of the nature's foremost distilleries; and one of the three remaining buggy factories in the world. Dearborn County was the birthplace of two governors, Albert G. Porter and Winfield Durbin, both of whom were natives of Lawrenceburg. The town of Moore's Hill was the site of the college bearing that name. This college was one of the oldest educational institutions in Indiana. The trail of Morgan's Raid during the Civil War is clearly marked through Dearborn County. A marker has been placed upon the site of the massacre by the Indians of Colonel Lochry's Expedition which was a detachment of General George Rogers Clark's Army. There is also a marker to James B. Eads, a native of Lawrenceburg, was the builder of the suspension bridge at St. Louis and the Mississippi Jetties. One of the other notables of the county was Henry W. Blasdal, Governor of the Nevada Territory. In addition to the governors mentioned from Lawrenceburg, Dearborn County's citizens have attained such state offices as Lieutenant Governor, Treasurer of State, President of the State Bank, and Judge of the Supreme Court. A great many more have held United Stated offices. Points of interest in Lawrenceburg include: the Levee, the Tonsey House and the King Hotel, which is said to be the oldest three-story brick building in Indiana. Federal census figures of 1935 listed 2,199 wage earners in the thirty-eight manufacturing establishments. Their total earnings were $1,996,750. The value of the manufactures was $37,625,086. The figures for the same year listed 2,015 farms averaging 89.8 acres each. These farms were valued at $6,959,397. A total of 35,822 head of livestock was reported. Dearborn County's tax valuation for 1936 was $23,461.955. ? |
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