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Fountain County History and Information |
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County History |
Court Records |
Vital Records |
CENSUS Records |
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Fountain County was created on April 1, 1826 and was formed from Montgomery County and Wabash New Purchase. The County was named for Kentucky Maj. James Fontaine who was killed at Harmar's Defeat on October 22, 1790, near modern Ft. Wayne, Indiana. The County Seat is Covington. The locating commissioners who chose it made their report July 25, 1826, probably because of its location on the Erie Canal, a factor which also led to its quick growth. Laid out in 1826, D. Rawles and J. L. Sloan, Esquires, were the first settlers, and by 1849 there were fourteen dry goods stores, two drug stores, four groceries, two iron stores, four warehouses, ten lawyers, ten physicians, three preachers, about 250 houses of various descriptions, and 1,000 inhabitants. In the later part of the 1820s, some residents wanted to move the County Seat. As Covington was located on the Wabash River, which forms the boundary between Warren and Vermillion counties, there was an agitation started to move the County Seat to a more central location, with the result that the Legislature appointed locating commissioners on January 29, 1831, to investigate the question of relocation. The commissioners unanimously agreed that the town of Covington remain the permanent seat of justice of the county. In 1851, another effort was made to move the County Seat. The desired new location would have been Chambersburg. See also County History for more historical details. Counties adjacent to Fountain County are Tippecanoe County (northeast), Montgomery County (east), Parke County (south), Vermillion County (southwest), Warren County (northwest). Fountain County is divided into 11 Civil Townships as follows: Cain, Davis, Fulton, Jackson, Logan, Mill Creek, Richland, Shawnee, Troy, Van Buren and Wabash. Cities, Towns and Communities include Attica, Aylesworth, Cates, Centennial, Coal Creek, Covington, Fountain, Graham, Hillsboro, Hunter Corner, Kingman, Mackie, Mellot, Newtown, Palmerton, Riverside, Rob Roy, Simpson Corner, Steam Corner, Stephens Crossing, Stone Bluff, Veedersburg, Wallace, and Yeddo.
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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 Fountain County Courthouse History Fountain County Clerk has Marriage Records from 1826 , Probate Records from 1827 and Court Records from 1827 and is located at 301 4th St.,
P.O. Box 183,
Covington, IN 47932;Ph:
765-793-2192, Fax:
765-793-5002,
Clerk@K-inc.com / E-mail Fountain County Recorder has Land Records from 1827 and is located at P.O. Box 55,
Courthouse Square,
Covington IN 47932;
(317) 793-2431.
Fountain County Health Department has Birth / Death Records from 1882 and is located at 210 South Perry Street, Attica, IN 47918; (765) 762-3035. Below is a list of online resources for Fountain County Court Records. Email us with websites containing Fountain County Court Records by clicking the link below:
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Below is a list of online resources for Fountain County Vital Records. Email us with websites containing Fountain County Vital Records by clicking the link below:
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Countywide Records: Federal Population Schedules that exist for Fountain County, Indiana are 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930. Other Federal Schedules to look at when researching your Family Tree in Fountain 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 Fountain County Census Records. Email us with websites containing Fountain 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 Fountain County Maps. Email us with websites containing Fountain 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 Fountain County Military Records. Email us with websites containing Fountain 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 Fountain County Tax Records. Email us with websites containing Fountain 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 Fountain County Genealogical Addresses. Email us with websites containing Fountain County Genealogical Addresses by clicking the link below:
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There are many churches and cemeteries in Fountain County. Some transcriptions are online. A great site is the Fountain 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 Fountain County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing Fountain 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 Fountain County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information. Email us with websites containing Fountain County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information by clicking the link below:
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1849 Adams County Retrospect - Based on "Indiana Gazetteer," published by E. Chamberlain Fountain County was organized in 1826, and was named, at the suggestion of Judge Watts, in honor of Major Fountaine or Fountain, of Boone County, Kentucky, who was killed at the head of the mounted militia, in the Battle on the Maumee, near Fort Wayne, on the 22nd of October 1790. Fountain County is bounded west and north by the Wabash, which separates it form Vermillion and Warren, east by Montgomery, and south by Parke, and it contains about 400 square miles. It is divided into ten civil townships, viz: Jackson, Fulton, Wabash, Cain, Van Buren, Troy, Richland, Shawnee, Logan and Daviess. The population in 1830 was 7, 644, in 1840, 11,218, and at this time [in 1849] about 13,500. The surface of the country is mostly level, though the central and southern parts are occasionally undulating, and it is beautifully variegated with heavy forests and rich prairies, which later constitute about one-fourth of the county. The soil is generally a black loam, with a mixture of sand and is very productive, and the crops of corn and wheat here are not inferior to those of any part of the State. Clay prevails more in the south portion of the county, which is best adapted to wheat and grass. The timber here is principally poplar, sugar and beech, while in the north, oak, walnut and hickory predominate. The exports from the county are by the way of the Wabash River and the Wabash and Erie Canal. They consist of corn, oats, wheat, flour, pork, live hogs, cattle and horses, and they are not surpassed in value and importance by the exports of any of the counties that have not heretofore possessed superior advantages. There are in Fountain County ten flouring mills, twenty sawmills, one woolen factory, one brewery, one distillery, one foundry, two printing offices, between fifty and sixty stores and groceries, ten lawyers, about twenty-five physicians and fifteen preachers, and the usual proportion of mechanics; coal, iron ore and water power are abundant, and there is now every appearance that Fountain County will soon be one of the best and richest counties in the State. The taxable land amounts to 245,739 acres, and about 2,500 acres still belong to the United States. 1938 Adams County Retrospect - Based on "Indiana Review," published by the State Legislature The first land entry in Fountain County was recorded by Eber Jenne, August 4, 1821, on the Wabash River just north of the Parke county line. The first white settler was Peter Weaver, who lived in the winter of 1821-22. Perhaps the most interesting bit of history concerns George Rapp, who, in 1824, came from Ohio with a band of followers and established a religious colony near Stone Bluff. It was communistic experiment and lasted for about ten years. Fountain County, As now constituted, covers an area of 395 square miles and is divided into eleven townships. Attica was the first town, and to the present day the most important. As Attica was not considered geographically suitable for the county seat, Covington was formed and designated as county seat July 25, 1826. There were other changes-first Chambersburg and afterward Veedersburg held the county seat designation, but Covington regained it and is the present county seat. The incorporated cities are Attica, 3,700, and Covington, 2,008; towns: Veedersburg, 1,606; Hillsboro, 448; Kingman, 502; Mellott, 312 and Wallace, 128. Fountain county population in 1890 was 19,558; 1900, 21,446; 1910, 20,439; 1920, 18,823; 1930, 17,971. Fountain County is one of the central western group. Its north and west borders are traversed by the Wabash River. It is essentially farm county also has some mineral wealth in its coalmines. The chief towns in addition to Attica are Veedersburg and Covington, each having some industrial activity. The Covington Courthouse, erected in the sixties, has been the scene of many famous legal battles. A fine new courthouse now replaces the old structure, which was destroyed by fire. Such historically great personages as Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglass, Daniel W. Voorhees, Edward A. Hannegan, Joseph E. McDonald, and Lew Wallace have appeared in the courts. Attica, known as the "Gem City of the Wabash," is the chief industrial center. Among its manufactured products are steel castings, bricks, and clothing. Attica's water system pumps directly from underground springs, providing the purest drinking water. It is noted as the site, which inspired Paul Dresser, a frequent visitor, to write his "On the Banks of the Wabash." This song has done more than any other contemporary piece of music to endear Indiana to the hearts of the nation. A beautiful memorial bridge over the Wabash honors this songwriter, brother of the literary giant, Theodore Dreiser. Reviewing some of the county who have made notable: Edward A. Hannegan, U. S. Senator and Minister to Prussia; Daniel W. Voorhees, U. S. Senator; Joseph E. McDonald, U. S. Senator; Enos H. Nebeker, U. S. Treasurer, and many others. An outstanding son of Fountain County of the present day is Eugene F. savage, nationally known artist and mural painter, residing at present in the state of New York. Fountain County, with seventeen manufacturing establishments, produces $1,508,715 worth of manufactured goods. A total of $446,097 was paid to the 522 wage earners. The value of the 1,826 farms was $10,888,982. The average acreage of these farms was 126.1. A total of 61,101 head of livestock was reported. The total tax valuation for Fountain County for 1936 was $16,050,250. ? |
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