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Lake County History and Information |
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County History |
Court Records |
Vital Records |
CENSUS Records |
TAX Records |
Military Records |
Church & Cemetery | Maps & Atlases | Genealogy Addresses | Genealogy Related Sites | |
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Lake County was created on February 15, 1837 and was formed from Porter and Newton Counties. The County was named for its location on Lake Michigan. The County Seat is Crown Point. Crown Point wasn't always the County Seat. Prior to establishing the County Seat, court was conducted in the home of Milo Robinson, as nearly all the lands within the limits of Lake County were still the property of the government. Liverpool was selected the first County Seat, however, the site was not satisfactory to a majority of the citizens. The County Seat was moved back to the location of Milo Robinson's home and was originally to be called "Lake County Courthouse," however, the name being too cumbersome, it was suggest that the county agent, George Earle, and the two proprietors, Judge Clark and Solon Robinson, select a new name. They settled on Crown Point. First settled in 1835, by Solon Robinson, Esq., by 1849 Crown Point contained three stores, one hotel, Presbyterian and Methodist churches, a good High School kept by the Rev. Wm. Townley, and about thirty-five dwelling houses. See also County History for more historical details. Counties adjacent to Lake County are Cook County, Illinois (west and north, in Lake Michigan), Porter County (east), Jasper County (southeast), Newton County (south), Kankakee County, Illinois (southwest), Will County, Illinois (west). Lake County is divided into 10 Civil Townships as follows: Calumet, Cedar Creek, Center, Eagle Creek, Hanover, Hobart, North, Ross, St. John, West Creek and Winfield. Cities, Towns and Communities include Aetna, Ainsworth, Belshaw,Buffington, Calumet, Cedar Lake, Clarke, Cook, Creston, Crown Point, Dyer, East Chicago, Gary, Griffith, Hammond, Hartsdale, Hobart, Hornbeck, Indiana Harbor, Leroy, Liverpool, Lottaville, Lowell, Maynard, Merrillville, Miller, New Chicago, North Hayden, Pine, Prairie View, Range Line, Roby, Schererville, Schneider, Shelby, St. John, Weston and Whiting.
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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 Lake County Courthouse History Lake County Clerk has Marriage Records from 1837 , Probate Records from 1854 and Court Records from ? and is located at Courts Building, 1st Flr, 2293 N. Main Str,
Crown Point, IN 46307;
Phone: 219-755-3465,
Fax: 219-755-3337 Lake County Recorder has Land Records from 1837 and is located at Building 'A', 2nd Floor, 2293 N. Main Street,
Crown Point, IN 46307;
Phone: 219-755-3730 ,
Fax: 219-755-3257.
Lake County Health Department has Birth / Death Records from 1882 and is located at 2293 North Main St, Crown Point, IN 46307-1854; (219) 755-3655, 3656 or 3657 Below is a list of online resources for Lake County Court Records. Email us with websites containing Lake County Court Records by clicking the link below:
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Below is a list of online resources for Lake County Vital Records. Email us with websites containing Lake County Vital Records by clicking the link below:
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Countywide Records: Federal Population Schedules that exist for Lake 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 Lake 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 Lake County Census Records. Email us with websites containing Lake 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 Lake County Maps. Email us with websites containing Lake 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 Lake County Military Records. Email us with websites containing Lake 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 Lake County Tax Records. Email us with websites containing Lake 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 Lake County Genealogical Addresses. Email us with websites containing Lake County Genealogical Addresses by clicking the link below:
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There are many churches and cemeteries in Lake County. Some transcriptions are online. A great site is the Lake 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 Lake County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing Lake 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 Lake County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information. Email us with websites containing Lake 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 Lake County, organized in 1837, derives its name from its local situation, being bounded north by Lake Michigan, east by Porter County, south by the Kankakee River, and west by the State of Illinois. Its average length from north to south is thirty miles, the width sixteen miles, and it contains about 480 square miles. The civil divisions into townships are, North, Center, Winfield, West Creek, Cedar Creek and Eagle Creek. The population in 1840 was 1,468; at this time [1849] it exceeds 3,000. The north part of the county adjoining the lake for four or five miles inland, appears to be merely sand thrown up from the bed of the lake. It is mostly covered with dwarf pine and cedar, and the soil is of but little value. South of Turkey Creek the soil is rich and alluvial, but the central part of the county is better adapted to grazing than grain, the soil being a mixture of clay, marl and black "muck." Farther south there is more sand, with a mixture of black loam, easy of cultivation and the various kinds of grain raised in the west are produced in abundance; and still farther south, adjoining the Kankakee, are extensive marshes. There are six sawmills in operation in the county, and three good flouring mills, with two run of stones each, in successful operation on Deep River. About one-half of the surface of the county is prairie, interspersed with groves of various kinds of timber. The taxable land in the county amounts to 58,692 acres. 1938 Adams County Retrospect - Based on "Indiana Review," published by the State Legislature Lake County is Indiana's great industrial county and is known nationally for its vast steel enterprises. In population the county is second only to Marion County. Situated as it is, on Lake Michigan, and adjacent to the great metropolitan area of Chicago, the county's commercial activities are among the greatest in the country. The railroad facilities in Lake County are the best in the state and all the main lines from east to west run through it. In the southern part of the county the interests are chiefly agricultural, with a great deal of attention being given to horse raising and breeding; some of the finest breeding farms in the state are located here. Dairy cattle breeding is an important business and many hogs are also raised for the market. Lake County is at the northwest corner of Indiana, its west line part of the Illinois boundary, and the northern border lower Lake Michigan. It has eleven townships covering an area of 492 square miles. The incorporated cities are Crown Point, 4,046; Gary, 100,426; Hammond, 64,560; East Chicago, 54,784; Whiting, 10,880; Hobart, 5,787; towns: East Gary, 2,409; Highlands, 1,533; Lowell, 1,274; Munster, 975; Dyer, 672; Schererville, 580; New Chicago, 481; St. John, 332, and Schneider, 264. The total county population in 1890 was 23,886; 1900, 37,892; 1910, 82,864; 1920, 159,957; 1930, 261,310. Crown Point is located forty-one miles southeast of Chicago and is served by two railroads. The center of the grain and stock raising district of the county, it also has a number of manufactures, including feed, piston rings, and incubators. As the formation of the United States Steel Corporation in 1902 with its stupendous capitalization of $1,450,000,000 astounded the financial world, so has the creation and development of the City of Gary amazed the industrial world and Gary has been called "America's Magic City. In 1906, what is now Gary was only a wilderness. But since its founding that year it has grown to a population of more then one hundred thousand, and developed into a model city with fine public buildings and splendid residences. The city's population very nearly doubled between 1920 and 1930, having, according to the earlier census, 55,378. In location it is twenty-six miles southeast of Chicago, on Lake Michigan. This amazing city is the result of gigantic national steel interests. It would be difficult to find a parallel to Gary, which loomed upon the horizon with such sudden force as to astound the industrial world. The latest figures I 1935 listed fifty-five manufacturing establishments employing 18,427 persons. Six railroads and the lake offer great transportation facilities. Through manifestly a city of steelworkers, Gary has many cultural advantages. The public school system, creation of the late Doctor Wirt, is famous as the "Gary Plan," a combination of work, study, and play, which has been adopted in many cities. The schools own some highly valuable paintings, the value of the collection estimated at $70,000. The Public Library is one of the big three in the state, containing 159,802 volumes. Outstanding features of the city are Lake Front Park and the Civic Gateway group of buildings. Hammond, the second largest city in Lake County, is much older than Gary. It is of outstanding industrial importance, since steel also is its chief product. Hammond is located twenty miles southeast of Chicago, and is served by a dozen main railroads and several lesser ones. Besides steel, chemical and car factories are the important industries. The census of 1935 listed seventy-four manufacturing establishments in Hammond, employing 4,560 wage earners. These earned $4,848,247. Value of the manufactured products was $46,985,449. The city has a number of points of interest. Among these is Wicker Park, the only Township Park in the state. It was dedicated to the memory of war heroes by President Calvin Coolidge. In Harrison Park is another memorial in the form of a bronze tablet to the World War heroes. The public school system has a collection of pictures and prints of note. East Chicago, third largest city in the county, had sixty manufacturing establishments, according to federal census figures of 1935. A total of 19,933 wage earners were employed on pay rolls of $27,664,205. The value of the products was $215,086,345. Steel is the most important product. Whiting had ten manufacturing establishments according to the 1935 federal census, employing 3,486 wage earners. The largest oil refineries in the world are located here. According to 1935 federal census figures, Lake County had a total of 221 manufacturing establishments employing 47,884 wage earners on pay rolls of $64,714,141. Value of the products was $528,038,096. The county had 1,805 farms averaging 116.6 acres each. Their value was $14,293,341. A total of 29,254 head of livestock was reported. Total county tax valuation for 1936 was $363,491,720. ? |
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