Start your family tree. We'll start searching. It's FREE. - Enter a few simple facts about recent generations of your family. We'll use what you enter to try and find more about your family in the world's largest online collection of historical records and family trees.

Elkhart County History and Information

Elkhart County was created on April 1, 1830 and was formed from Unorganized Land. There are many stories for the origin of this name. The most common is that it was named for the Elkhart tribe, no reference to which can be found. Another is that there was an island in the St. Joseph River that was shaped like the heart of an elk, so that the French named the place "heart of the stag", which became "elkhart" in English. Another story is that it was named for Chief Elkhart, who is usually described as being Shawnee, but sometimes Potawatomi.

The County Seat is Goshen. When Elkhart County was organized. April 1, 1830, a little town called Dunlap was selected as the County Seat. Later a number of the western townships were ceded to St. Joseph County and it became necessary to find a more centrally located county seat, and the site now known as Goshen was designated February 10, 1831. The new County Seat was surveyed and platted and the first sale of lots was held June 10, 1831. Goshen, the County Seat, was first settled in 1831. In 1849 Goshen contained commodious public buildings for the county; Methodist and Presbyterian churches; halls for the Masons, Odd Fellows and Sons of Temperance; eleven stores, two groceries, four lawyers, seven physicians, 125 dwelling houses and a population of 700 ... adjoining the town was the flouring and saw mills of J. H. Barnes. See also County History for more historical details.

Counties adjacent to Elkhart County are St. Joseph County, Michigan (northeast), LaGrange County (east), Noble County (southeast), Kosciusko County (south), Marshall County (southwest), St. Joseph County (west), Cass County, Michigan (northwest).

Elkhart County is divided into 16 Civil Townships as follows: Baugo, Benton, Cleveland, Clinton, Concord, Elkhart, Harrison, Jackson, Jefferson, Locke, Middlebury, Olive, Osolo, Union, Washington and York.

Cities, Towns and Communities include Baintertown, Benton, Bonneyville Mills, Bristol, Dunlap, Elkhart, Foraker, Goshen, Jamestown, Middlebury, Midway, Millersburg, Morehous, Nappanee, New Paris, Nibbyville, Packman, Simonton Lake, Southwest, Stony Creek, Vistula, and Wakarusa.

The Elkhart County Official Government Website
Elkhart County Township Map
Indiana Newspaper Holdings for Elkhart County: The county newspaper holdings are under regular revision, as new microfilm holdings are added. These files are not up to date; there are continuous updates and corrections.
Official County Historians
Elkhart County, Indiana History Books at Amazon.com
Search Historical Newspapers from Indiana (1817 - 1930) - Quickly find names and keywords in over 125 million articles, obituaries, marriage notices, birth announcements and other items published in more than 500,000 issues of over 2,500 historical U.S. newspapers. New content added monthly!
Family History Library - The largest collection of free family history, family tree and genealogy records in the world.
Stories, Memories & Histories - Stories and histories compiled by others researching a person or area can be an amazing source of information about your ancestors. Not only do they generally contain dates and places of vital events like birth, marriage, and death, but they often relate stories and memories that help you really get to know the character of your ancestors.

County Courthouse

County Vital Records

County Census Records

County Maps & Atlases

County Military Records

County Tax Records

County Genealogical Addresses

County Church & Cemeteries

Family Trees & Genealogy Tidbits

The use of published genealogies, electronic files containing genealogical lineage, and other compiled sources can be of tremendous value to a researcher.

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 Elkhart County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information. Email us with websites containing Elkhart County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information by clicking the link below:

Search for Local Indiana Researchers or Earn Money by becoming a Local Indiana Researcher!
Search 60 Years Of Everton Data : For the first time ever you can get access to more than 150,000 pedigree files and family group sheets from Evertons. Learn More
Sites on USGenweb: [ Elkhart County ] [ Indiana ] [ Main Page ]
Search the Family Tree DNA Project- Use DNA testing to break through your genealogical barriers!
The Indiana Family Group Sheet Project
Elkhart County INGenWeb Archives
[GenForum Message Boards] [Rootsweb Message Boards]
Genealogy Encyclopedia: General Abbreviations, Early Illnesses, Nickname Meanings, Worldwide Epidemics, Early Occupations, Common Terms, Censuses Explained, Free Genealogical Forms
Nichols and Related Families of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virgina.
Family Trees - Ancestry has thousands of family trees shared by other members. They can help you identify how ancestors are related and give you clues about birth, marriage, and death information. Family trees are an excellent resource for filling in gaps in your research or even to simply know where to begin.
Pictures - One of the more exciting discoveries in doing family history research is finding a photograph of your ancestors or their residence. Finding historic postcard photos and drawings of towns and important events throughout history can also give you a visual look into your ancestors lives.
Reference Materials & Finding Aids - Reference materials, including dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other how-to books, can be tremendously helpful in finding and interpreting historical documents. Many of these books can help you learn where to look for more information and how to use what you've already found to uncover more clues.
Elkhart County, Indiana Family Books at Amazon.com

Extended History

1849 Adams County Retrospect - Based on "Indiana Gazetteer," published by E. Chamberlain

Elkhart County was organized in 1830 and was named after the Elkhart River, which enters the county near its southeastern corner and runs in a northwest course through it into the St. Joseph; the Elkhart River derived its name from an island at its mouth that the Indians fancied resembles the heart of the Elk. It is twenty-two and a half miles in length from north to south and twenty-one in width, and is bounded on the north by the State of Michigan, on the east by Lagrange and Noble, on the south by Kosciusko, and on the west by Marshall and St. Joseph counties. The population in 1830 was 935, in 1840, 6,600, and at this time [1849] is about 12,000. The following are the names of the civil townships: Elkhart, Benton, Harrison, Baugo, Jefferson, York, Osolo, Union, Clinton, Jackson, Concord, Olive, Middlebury, Washington, Cleveland and Locke.

The face of the country is generally undulating, embracing every variety of soil and timber, though all but a small portion is first-rate land. About one-half of the county is covered with heavy timber, such as beech, maple, walnut, hickory, poplar, oak and cherry; the remainder is oak barrens or prairie. There are three remarkably fertile prairies, the Elkhart, Two Mile and Pleasant Plain. The former stretches south from Goshen six miles, and is from two to four wide; the latter are in the vicinity of St. Joseph River, and are in a high state of cultivation.

The Elkhart and St. Joseph rivers, both which run through the county a long distance, are unsurpassed as mill streams, and besides these there are a large number of creeks that empty into them, which abundantly supply every part of the county with waterpower. A number of small slakes are found in the north part of the county, from half a mile to three miles in circumference. They are generally beautiful sheets of water, and abound with fish, Yellow River, a branch of the Kankakee, rises in one of them in the southwest corner of the county, and runs west to the Mississippi, while the other streams eventually take the opposite direction. Wheat and corn are the staple products, and from the former some 30,000 barrels of flour are manufactured annually and sent to New York by the way of the St. Joseph and the Lakes. Most other grains and grasses are produced in abundance. The annual crop of wheat is estimated at 300,000 bushels. In the winter of 1846, an accurate examination was made as to the products of twenty-three farms on Elkhart Prairie the previous year, which exhibited the following result: wheat 18,704 bushels, corn 24,225, and oats 9,635, or an average of 2,285 bushels to a farm, the farms all lying in the same vicinity. Were the Buffalo and Mississippi Railroad to be made through the county, as is contemplated, the amount of grain, as well as hogs, cattle, etc., raised for exportation, would be immensely increased.

There are about forty sawmills scattered over the county, and seven flouring mills with twenty-five run of stones, six carding machines, one oil mill and one woolen manufactory. The flour manufactured will compare favorably with any other in the market. Large beds of iron ore are found in the county, some of which has been manufactured at Mishawaka and proved of a good quality. There are four practicing lawyers, twenty-five physicians, and a still larger number of preachers of the Gospel in the county, and the usual proportion of the different mechanical trades are found here.

The county contains 268,000 acres of taxable lands, and but a few refuse tracts are still owned by the United States. Elkhart is destined to be one of the richest and most productive counties in the State. The fertility of the soil, the manufacturing and commercial advantages, and the exemption, in a great measure, hitherto, from visionary speculations, have kept the prices of property moderate, and make this a desirable location of the emigrant, whether farmer, mechanic or manufacturer.

Elkhart, a flourishing town in the county of the same name, situated at the junction of Elkhart and St. Joseph rivers, ten miles north-west of Goshen. It contains a very valuable merchant mill, two sawmills, a distillery, an oil mill, six stores, three warehouses, a drug store, one grocery, two taverns, and about 120 houses and 500 inhabitants. Most of the produce of the county is shipped here, and the town will ultimately be an important one. Dr. H. Beardsley was the proprietor.

1938 Adams County Retrospect - Based on "Indiana Review," published by the State Legislature

Elkhart County comprises 462 square miles and includes sixteen townships. The incorporated cities are Elkhart, 32,949; Goshen, 10,397, and Napppanee, 2,957; towns; Bristol, 699; Millersburg, 344; Middlebury, 656, and Wakarusa, 973. Elkhart County's population in 1890 was 39,201; 1900, 45,052; 1910, 49,008; 1920, 56,384; 1930, 68,875.

Contrary to the general rule, the largest city is not the County Seat as Elkhart commands that honor. Two rivers, the Elkhart and St. Joseph, traverse the county and numerous lakes dot the region, making Elkhart County a center of the summer resort section. In location, the county is just east of the center in the northernmost tier of counties, its northern line forming part of the Michigan State boundary.

Goshen, the County Seat, is located twenty-four miles southeast of South Bend and is served by two railroads. In addition to being the center of the rich agricultural district, the city has a number of industries, including brush and sash factories, stove and iron works, flour, saw, and rubber mills. It had a total of thirty-eight manufacturing establishments employing 1,610 workers on pay rolls totaling $1,274099 and producing goods valued at $5,092,267, according to 1935 federal census figures.

One of the outstanding buildings is the Masonic Temple. Goshen has one park. Among Goshen's cultural points is a historical tablet to the World War heroes on the grounds of the City Hall building and Goshen College, founded by the members of the Mennonite Church, who continue to control it in 1915. The institution began its career in 1895 in the City of Elkhart, where it was known as the Elkhart Institute. The school was moved to Goshen in 1903. the enrollment in 1914 was 425, which was more than double that when the first college class was graduated ten years ago. The college has a campus of ten acres with four buildings and a forty-acre farm adjoining the campus. Nearly 5,000 volumes are in the library. Individuals and alumni have donated the Mennonite Historical Library. The Normal School has been placed upon the accredited list of schools doing Class "A" and Class "B" work for the State Board of Education. In addition to the regular four-year college work, the institution has an academy work, which is equivalent to a four years' high school course. It has a well-organized three years' music teachers' course in vocal and instrumental music, and a commercial course. The Bible department offers two courses of two years each. John E. Hartzler is President of Goshen College.

Eleven factories manufacture band instruments in Elkhart. It is also the home of one of the nation's foremost laboratories making proprietary medicines, and the White Manufacturing Co., builders of trucks and equipment. Among other manufactures are paper, corsets, aluminum ware, radios, telephone parts, automobile parts, scales, machinery, bridge construction material, and fishing tackle. Important also in the industrial activity was the railroad shops maintained there by the one line serving the city. Altogether, there were seventy-four industrial establishments, employing 4,158, earning $4,253,418, and turning out product value at $20,792,342, according to 1935 figures.

Elkhart is located fifteen miles east of South Bend, on the St. Joseph River. The river furnishes 3,000 horsepower at the Elkhart Dam. The city's waterworks is municipally owned.

In the Municipal Building is a memorial, in the form of a bronze tablet, to the men who served in the World War. Another tribute is found at the Memorial Bridge crossing St. Joseph River, on which is a tablet in memory of the heroes of the late war. The soldiers and sailors of the Civil War are honored with a monument at the entrance of Rice Cemetery.

Of the city's seven park properties, Island Park is perhaps the most interesting. According to Indian legend, this island resembled an elk's heart. It is supposed the city and county took their name from this. In the town Benton is a boulder with a bronze tablet at the old ford of the river, dedicated to the pioneers of the county by the Elkhart County Historical Society.

Among other points of interest are the Krider Nursery at Middlebury, and the numerous lakes. Some of the better known lakes are Hunter, Siminton, Indiana, Mud, Cooley, Heaton, and Fish Lakes. Near the County Seat is the historical Fort Beane of the Black Hawk War.

Some of the historically leading personages of Elkhart County have been Judge John Baker and his son Francis E. Baker, also J. A. S. Mitchell, formerly of the State Supreme Court.

One of the state's important manufacturing counties, the 1935 federal census figures showed it had 140 establishments employing 6,423 wage earners. The pay rolls for these totaled $6,078,006. The value of the output was $30,762,416.

The value of Elkhart County farms was $17,145,255. There were 3,253 of these, averaging 78.4 acres each. A total of 61,143 head of livestock was reported.

Total tax valuation for 1936 was $81,605,217.

Courthouse History

Map of Indiana Historical Markers

Elkhart County History and Information

County Courthouse

See Also Indiana Land Records, Marriage Records, Court & Probate Records

County Vital Records

See Also Vital Records in Indiana

County Census Records

See Also Research In Census Records & Statewide Records that exist for Indiana

County Maps & Atlases

See Also Research In State Map Collections

County Military Records

See Also Military Records in Indiana

County Tax Records

See Also Research In Tax Records

County Genealogical Addresses

See Also Other Indiana Genealogical Addresses

County Church & Cemeteries

See Also Church & Cemetery Records in Indiana

Family Trees & Genealogy Tidbits

Extended History