Noble County was created on March 1, 1836 and was formed from Unorganized Land. The County was named for James Noble, the first U.S. Senator from Indiana. Noble County was first included in Randolph County, next in Allen County, then in Lagrange County and finally, on March 1, 1836 was organized as it stands today except for a strip two miles wide that was joined to Whitley County.
The County Seat is Albion. Albion wasn't always the County Seat. The first County Seat was located in Sparta Township on the old Fort Wayne and Goshen trail. Augusta, near Albion was the second location of the County Seat. In 1844, the County Seat was located at Port Mitchell and some buildings were even constructed. In 1846, by a vote of the people, the County Seat was changed to "The Center," which was afterward called Albion, which was actually laid out in 1847. See also County History for more historical details.
Counties adjacent to Noble County are LaGrange County (north), Steuben County (northeast), DeKalb County (east), Allen County (southeast), Whitley County (south), Kosciusko County (southwest), Elkhart County (northwest).
Noble County is divided into 13 Civil Townships as follows: Albion, Allen, Elkhart, Green, Jefferson, Noble, Orange, Perry, Sparta, Swan, Washington, Wayne and York.
Cities, Towns and Communities include Albion, Avilla, Bakerstown, Brimfield, Burr Oak, Cosperville, Cromwell, Green Center, Indian Village, Kendalville, Kimmell, Laotto, Ligonier, Lisbon, Merriam, Port Mitchell, Ripley, Rome City, Wawaka, Wilmot, and Wolf Lake.

Researchers often overlook the importance of court records, probate records, and land records as a source of family history information.
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. Courthouse destroyed by Fire in 1843 and 1859, Most of clerk's records were lost. Saved: marriages from 1859, deeds and deed indexes from 1836. See also the Noble County Courthouse History
Noble County Clerk has Marriage Records from 1859 , Probate Records from 1854 and Court Records from ? and is located at 101 North Orange Street, Albion, IN 46701-1048; Phone: (260) 636-2736
The Clerk of the Circuit Court is a ministerial officer who is the custodian of the Clerk's record and seal, issues process, accepts filings of commencement of actions in litigation, enters judgments and orders of the court, receives money in his official capacity, makes certified copies of record, issues many miscellaneous licenses, and keeps a record of all wills and matters of trust in probate proceedings.
Noble County Recorder has Land Records from 1834 and is located at 101 North Orange Street, Albion, IN 46701-1048; Phone: (260) 636-2672 .
The county recorder's function is to maintain permanent public records involving a wide variety of instruments. These documents detail transactions involving real estate, mining, personal property, mortgages, liens, leases, subdivision plats, military discharges, personal bonds, etc. Generally, all of these instruments are recorded either for giving legal public notice of their existence or for safekeeping and future reference. The recorder maintains and preserves all legal documents affecting title to real property.
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.
Noble County Health Department has Birth / Death Records from 1882 and is located at 2090 N. State Road 9, Suite C, Albion, IN 46701-1049; (260) 636-2191
Below is a list of online resources for Noble County Court Records. Email us with websites containing Noble County Court Records by clicking the link below:

Birth, marriage, and death records are connected with central life events. They are prime sources for genealogical information.
Indiana State Department of Health Vital Records office is located at 6 West Washington Street, Indianapolis, Indiana 46204. The office is open for walk-in requests from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., E.S.T., Monday through Friday (excluding official State Holidays). They have the following records:
Below is a list of online resources for Noble County Vital Records. Email us with websites containing Noble County Vital Records by clicking the link below:

Few, if any, records reveal as many details about individuals and families as do government census records. Substitute records can be used when the official census is unavailable
Countywide Records: Federal Population Schedules that exist for Noble 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 Noble 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.
Below is a list of online resources for Noble County Census Records. Email us with websites containing Noble County Census Records by clicking the link below:

Maps are an invaluable part of family history research, especially if you live far from where your ancestor lived. Because political boundaries often changed, historic maps are critical in helping you discover the precise location of your ancestor's hometown, what land they owned, who their neighbors were, and more.
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
You can view rotating animated maps for Indiana showing all the county boundary changes for each 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 County Maps
Below is a list of online resources for Noble County Maps. Email us with websites containing Noble County Maps by clicking the link below:

Military and civil service records provide unique facts and insights into the lives of men and women who have served their country at home and abroad.
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 Noble County Military Records. Email us with websites containing Noble County Military Records by clicking the link below:
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 Noble County Genealogical Addresses. Email us with websites containing Noble County Genealogical Addresses by clicking the link below:

Obituaries can vary in the amount of information they contain, but many of them are genealogical goldmines, including information such as names, dates, places of birth and death, marriage information, and family relationships.
There are many churches and cemeteries in Noble County. Some transcriptions are online. A great site is the Noble 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 Noble County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing Noble County Cemetery & Church Records by clicking the link below:

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

1849 Adams County Retrospect - Based on "Indiana Gazetteer," published by E. Chamberlain
Noble County, named in honor of Noah Noble, Governor of the State from 1831 to 1837, was organized in 1836. It contains 432 square miles, and is bounded north by Lagrange, east by DeKalb, south by Allen and Whitley, and west by Kosciusko and Elkhart. The civil townships are Washington, Sparta, Perry, Elkhart, York, Noble, Green, Jefferson, Orange, Wayne, Allen and Swan. The population in 1840 was 2,702; at this time [1849] is about 8,000.
The face of the country is considerably diversified, portions of it being nearly level, and other parts somewhat rolling or hilly. About one-half is heavy timber, the balance, with the exception of one prairie of 4,000 acres, and several small ones, is barrens or oak openings. The soil is mostly a black loam, mixed with sand, and there is very little clay. In places, small, wet prairies are intermixed with small lakes and rolling gravelly barrens, and the soil is poor; but generally the soil is rich, and well adapted to wheat, oats and corn, and in the timbered land, to grass. The surplus articles sold are wheat, hogs, cattle, etc., the two former taken to Fort Wayne, and the latter sold to drovers, all heretofore to the amount of about $50,000 a year; but this amount will soon be largely increased.
There are in the county three gristmills, fourteen sawmills, fourteen stores, four groceries, three lawyers, eighteen physicians, twenty-one preachers, and about 150 mechanics of the trades most in demand. Iron ore is found in large quantities and of an excellent quality, and about three tons of good bar iron a day are manufactured at a forge at Rochester, in the northwest part of the county. Good schools are kept up in most of the common school districts into which the whole county is divided.The taxable land amounts to 236,000 acres, and about 30,000 still belongs to the United States.
1938 Adams County Retrospect - Based on "Indiana Review," published by the State Legislature
Noble County was among the last counties to be vacated by the Indians and as late as 1848 there were villages of both the Miamis and Pottawatomies in Noble County. Many evidences of Mound Builders are found all over the county.
This county is located in the lake region in northeastern Indiana and its surface is dotted with twenty-three large and many small lakes. The largest is about 1,100 acres. There are no important resort centers, with the exception of Sylvan Lake at Rome City. Sylvan is an artificial lake and was the site at which Gene Stratton Porter built "Limberlost Cabin," in 1904.
In the early history of Indiana, there was a famous band of horse thieves and counterfeiters who had headquarters in this county. They were called "Blacklegs." this gang was notorious all over the United States, and every township was infested with them, but the safest place was in the northeastern part around Rome City at a spot called "The Tamarack." Here is where they made their bogus money. In 1852, the State Legislature enacted a law authorizing the formation of companies of "Regulators" to put a stop to their operation. Several companies were formed in Noble County who soon overthrew the "Blacklegs."
Noble County covers an area of 417 square miles divided into thirteen townships. Its incorporated cities are Kendallville, 5,439, and Ligonier, 2,064; towns: Albion, 1,108; Wolcottville, 646; Avilla, 559, and Cromwell, 371. Total population 1890, 23,359; 1900, 23,533; 1910, 24,009; 1920, 22,470; 1930, 22,404.
Albion is located forty-two miles northwest of Fort Wayne and is served by one railroad. Among its industries are an overall factory, saw, planing, and flourmills, and a creamery. It is also the center of an agricultural, dairying, and fruit-growing district.
Kendallville, the chief city, is located twenty-seven miles northwest of Fort Wayne and is served by two railroads. Among its manufactures are iron goods, motor trucks, windmills, refrigerators, stock tank heaters, pumps, clothes racks, gloves, store display cases, brushes, brooms, flour, feed, caskets, and hospital tables. The city is the home of the largest refrigerator manufacturing plant of its kind in the world.
The naming of this city was in recognition of Postmaster General Kendall's granting the citizens of the town a Post Office in 1840 when there were only forty residents. It was made possible through the efforts of William Mitchell, who was appointed first Postmaster. Mitchell proved a benefactor to Kendallville in other ways, for today the nine churches and school buildings are located on property donated by him. Points of interest in the city are the community building, city library, in which is a plaster cast of Lincoln, as well as notable collections, war relics, old newspapers, and autographed manuscripts; and some of the old historic residences.
Ligonier is located thirty-eight miles southeast of South Bend and is served by one railroad. Its industrial activities include lumber mills, cooper shops, flour mills, and factories for the manufacture of quilts, carriages, auto bodies, road machinery, and refrigerators.
There is an interesting tradition in the town of Merriam. It is claimed that Samuel Wilson, a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804, was the original "Uncle Sam." There is a marker at Wilson's grave in the town's cemetery.
One mile north of Rome City, on the site of the abandoned town of Northport, is a Catholic sanatorium known nationally for its treatments and baths. The scenic resort, Sylvan Lake, was formed in 1837 as a reserve reservoir for the canal to connect Northport with the Wabash and Erie. One of the interesting points is the old dam site on the banks of this old canal, which was never completed. In the town of Avilla is a Convent, established in 1876.
Federal census figures for 1935 listed thirty-two manufacturing establishments in the county. A total of 846 wage earners were employed on payrolls of $644,375. The value of the products was $4,361,366.
The county had 2,545 farms averaging 95.7 acres and the value of these was $10,903,029. A total of 79,018 head of livestock was reported. The total county tax valuation for 1936 was $30,664,405.
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