Putnam County, Indiana Genealogical Records Information

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Putnam County History and Information

Putnam County Facts

Putnam County was created on April 1, 1822 and was formed from Owen and Vigo Counties and Wabash New Purchase. The Wabash New Purchase: Begun in 1820, this tract lasted until 1835 and then became all of White County and portions of the counties of Boone, Carroll, Fountain, Hendricks, Jasper, Montgomery, Morgan, Parke, Putnam, Tippecanoe, Vermillion, and Warsaw. The County was named for American Revolutionary War general Israel Putnam.

The County Seat is Greencastle. The town was named at the suggestion of Ephraim Dukes, one of the donors of the land on which this County Seat was established, after Greencastle, Pennsylvania, his native town. See also County History for more historical details.

Counties adjacent to Putnam County are Montgomery County (north), Hendricks County (east), Morgan County (southeast), Owen County (south), Clay County (southwest), Parke County (west).

Putnam County is divided into 13 Civil Townships as follows: Clinton, Cloverdale, Floyd, Franklin, Greencastle, Jackson, Jefferson, Madison, Marion, Monroe, Russell, Warren and Washington.

Cities, Towns and Communities include Bailey, Bainbridge, Barnard, Belle Union, Brick Chapel, Broad Park, Carpentersville, Clinton Falls, Cloverdale, Fern, Fillmore, Greencastle, Gary, Groveland, Hamrick, Limedale, Mount Meridian, Raab Crossroads, Raccoon, Reelsville, Roachdale and Russellville.

The Putnam County Official Government Website
Putnam County Township Map
Indiana Newspaper Holdings for Putnam 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
Putnam County, Indiana History Books at Amazon.com

There are free downloadable and printable forms to help with your research. These include U.S. Census Extraction Forms, U.K. Census Extraction Forms, Research Calendar, Ancestral Chart, Research Extract, Correspondence Record , Family Group Sheet , Source Summary Form.

Records at the Putnam County Courthouse

PLEASE READ!! Please call the clerk's department to confirm hours, mailing address, fees and other specifics before visiting or requesting information because of sometimes changing contact 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. See also the Putnam County Courthouse History

Putnam County Clerk has Marriage Records from 1820 , Probate Records from 1825 and Court Records from ? and is located at One Courthouse Square, Greencastle, IN 46135; Pho: (765) 653-2648, Fax: (765) 653-8405
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.

Putnam County Recorder has Land Records from 1824 and is located at One Courthouse Square, , Room 25, Greencastle, IN 46135; (765)653-5613.
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.

Click Here to Search Indiana Court, Land, Wills & Financial Records! - Researchers often overlook the importance of court records, probate records, and land records as a source of family history information.

Putnam County Health Department has Birth / Death Records from 1882 and is located at 209 W. Liberty Street, Greencastle, IN 46135; Phone: (765) 653-5210, Fax: (765) 653-0211

Below is a list of online resources for Putnam County Court Records. Email us with websites containing Putnam County Court Records by clicking the link below:

Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
Indianapolis Newspaper Index, 1848-1991: Select articles from 1848-1888 Indianapolis daily newspapers; heavily focused on deaths and marriages. Select articles from 1898-1991 about people, places, events, and topics in Indianapolis and the state of Indiana. Extremely limited for deaths; no coverage of marriages. Card file also available in the Microforms Area, second floor.
Reference & Government Services CD Collection: Database to allow searching of the hundreds of CDs from the federal government and other sources, part of the collections of the Reference & Government Services Division.
Putnam County, Indiana Court Books at Amazon.com
Indiana Immigration & Emigration Records - Immigration records help the family historian to understand the movements of their ancestry as they relocated to different parts of the world.

Putnam County Vital Records

See Also Research In Tax Records

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 Putnam County Tax Records. Email us with websites containing Putnam County Tax Records by clicking the link below:

Putnam County, Indiana Tax Books at Amazon.com

Putnam County Genealogical Addresses

See Also Other Indiana Genealogical Addresses

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 Putnam County Genealogical Addresses. Email us with websites containing Putnam County Genealogical Addresses by clicking the link below:

Putnam County Genealogical Club, RR 1,Box 28, BAINBRIDGE 46105
Putnam County Historical Society, P.O. Box 801, GREENCASTLE 46135
Putnam County Public Library, Local History and Genealogy Dept., 103 East Poplar St., Greencastle, IN 46135
Local Indiana Researchers, Find a local researcher or become a local researcher.
Indiana Libraries: Database to allow searching for Indiana's public libraries.
National Archives - Great Lakes Region (Chicago), 7358 South Pulaski Road, Chicago, Illinois 60629-5898; 773-948-9001; E-mail: chicago.archives@nara.gov (Maintains retired records from Federal agencies and courts in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin.)
General Information Leaflet
Indiana State Archives, 6440 E. 30th St., Indianapolis, IN 46219; (317) 591-5222, [EMAIL]
Indiana State Library, Attn: (Division or Staff Name), 140 North Senate Avenue, Indianapolis, IN 46204-2296
Loan Desk and General Inquiries: 317-232-3675, ind@statelib.lib.in.us
Genealogy Division: 317-232-3689, genealogy@statelib.lib.in.us
Indiana Genealogical Society, P.O. Box 10507, Fort Wayne IN 46852
Indiana Historical Society, 450 W. Ohio St, Indianapolis,IN 46202; 1-800-447-1830 or 317-232-1882
Indiana Newspapers & Periodicals Records - Newspapers and periodicals are the diaries of local communities. They are excellent sources of family history details - often recorded nowhere else. Look for obituaries, marriages, legal notices, and more found in our Historical Newspaper Archives.
indiana Genealogical Society Books at Amazon.com

Putnam County Church & Cemeteries

Click Here to Search Indiana Obituary Records! - This database is a compilation of obituaries published in U.S. newspapers, collected from various online sources. 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 Putnam County. Some transcriptions are online. A great site is the Putnam 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 Putnam County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing Putnam County Cemetery & Church Records by clicking the link below:

Family Trees & Genealogy Tidbits

Click Here to Search Indiana Family Tree Records! - 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 Putnam County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information. Email us with websites containing Putnam County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information by clicking the link below:

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Sites on USGenweb: [ Putnam 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
Putnam 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.
Meet your ancestors. Learn their stories. Start your FREE family tree.
Indiana Family & Local History Records - The Family & Local Histories Collection lets you read journals, memoirs, and other first-hand historical narratives right on your computer. Gathered from some of the world's finest libraries, these materials may provide hard-to-find town, county, and state information; tax records and wills; military, church, and court records; as well as photographs, stories, and maps.
Genealogical Document Search and Retrieval Service
Putnam County, Indiana Family Books at Amazon.com

County History

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

Putnam County, named in honor of General Israel Putnam of the Revolution, was organized in 1822. It is bounded on the north by Montgomery, on the east by Hendricks and Morgan, on the south by Owen and Clay, and on the west by Clay and Parke. It is 27 miles in length form north to south, and 18 miles in breadth, and contains 486 square miles. The civil townships are Russell, Franklin, Jackson, Clinton, Monroe, Floyd, Madison, Greencastle, Marion, Washington, Warren, Jefferson and Cloverdale, of which the first nine contain 36 square miles each, Warren and Jefferson 20, Washington 54 and Cloverdale 48. The population in 1830 was 8,195, in 1840, 16,843, and at this time [1849] about 21,000.

The surface of the country in the northern and eastern parts of the county is either level or slightly undulating, and until it is cleared up and improved inclines to be wet. In the center and southwest it is more rolling, and in the vicinity of the streams is in places quite hilly; yet but few of the hills are too steep to be cultivated. The prevailing timber is beech, sugar, walnut, ash, oak and poplar. The soil is in general a black loam, but in some parts clayey and calcareous. It is well adapted to wheat, grass, corn, fruit, hemp, and most articles usually farmed in the west, and perhaps no body of land of equal extent in the State is superior to Putnam County, taking into consideration all its advantages of timber, soil, springs of water, quarries of limestone, running streams, and healthy situation. The hogs driven to market in 1848 were ascertained to be 18,698, which, with bacon, flour, wheat, fat cattle, horses, mules, and other articles taken to market would make the value of the exports at least $250,000 a year.

There are in the county 21 saw and gristmills in conjunction, 17 of the former and eight of the latter separate, seven carding machines, 43 stores, seven groceries, two distilleries, nine lawyers, 34 physicians, 44 preachers, 214 mechanics of the trades most in demand, 29 Methodists, 15 Baptist, 12 Christian and five Presbyterian Churches; this is also the home of Asbury [DePauw] University

The taxable land in the county amounts to 286,000 acres. There is to be seen on the land of W. M. Way, near Winchester, a regular built earth wall, enclosing about 20 acres of land, with a high mound in the center, and the appearance of a gate at the southwest corner.

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

Putnam is the Blue Grass County of Indiana and the source of Eel River. The soil is well adapted to the growing of grain, grass, and fruit, being a rich loam of clay. The northern part is mostly flat surface, but the southern section is rolling, with some hills. Inasmuch as Putnam County was the site of establishment of Durham cattle in America, by Dr. Alexander Stevenson, 1853, it has always stood among the leaders in livestock. Also the county is outstanding for the large deposits of limestone, which forms one of the principle industries.

Putnam County is in the central part of the state, about midway between Indianapolis and the Illinois line. It has an area of 483 square miles, embracing fourteen townships. The incorporated city is Greencastle, 4,613; towns: Roachdale, 631; Cloverdale, 627; Russellville, 411, and Bainbridge, 406. The county's population in 1890 was 22,335; 1900, 21,478; 1910, 20,520; 1920, 19,880; 1930, 20,553.

Greencastle is located thirty-eight miles west and south of Indianapolis, on three railroads. It is important industrially for its stone, cement, zinc, lumber, and a number of manufactured products. Here is located the Galion Iron Works and Manufacturing Company.

Greencastle is chiefly known as home of DePauw University, originally named Indiana Asbury University, in honor of the great pioneer bishop, Francis Asbury. In 1884 it was changed to DePauw, in recognition of its benefactor, Washington T. DePauw, of New Albany. The University is quite old, having been originally conceived in 1832, although it was not until 1836, at the Indiana Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, that the school's definite existence was determined. Since the largest subscriptions were obtained at Greencastle, the new school was located there.

The campus of DePauw, surrounded by great forest trees, is one of the state's renowned beauty spots. It is rich in historical markers and memorials, many of them of import in the history of the Methodist Church. There have been a number of distinguished DePauw alumni, among who were Governor Porter, Daniel W. Voorhees, John Clark Ridpath, and Albert J. Beveridge.

Among other features of the county is the old Halfway House at Mount Meridian. In the days of the stagecoach, this inn sheltered many members of the nobility. It is known that Lincoln and Henry Ward Beecher stopped here. The House is in good condition today and still used as a halfway house by those traveling the old National Road.

The county had ten manufacturing establishments, according to figures of the 1935 federal census. There were 415 wage earners employed on payrolls totaling $341,727. The value of the manufactured products was $2,857,471.

The county had 2,566 farms averaging 107.3 acres each. The value of these was $11,572,643. A total of 84,811 head of livestock was reported. The total county tax valuation for the year of 1936 was $21,562,271.

Courthouse History

The Neoclassical style Putnam County courthouse occupies a prominent place within the Greencastle downtown commercial district. Situated in a classic Shelbyville Square plan, the courthouse occupies an entire block, sharing space with what may be the most unusual World War II memorial in the state, if not the country.

J.W. Gaddis of Vincennes designed the limestone courthouse that opened in 1905. Its stately design incorporates Corinthian columns and a clock centered in a classical gable. In the nineteenth century Gaddis worked primarily in Illinois and Missouri, and by the early 1900s had added Indiana sites to his portfolio. In addition to the Putnam County building, Gaddis also built Indiana courthouses in Clay and Huntington counties. Though not evident from the outside, a magnificent glass dome highlights the Putnam County Courthouse interior.

On the southeast corner of the courthouse lawn is the ubiquitous Spirit of the American Doughboy designed by Spencer, Indiana native E. M. Viquesney. Identical World War I memorials can be found in towns and cities throughout the United States. In addition to the full-size sculptures, Viquesney’s famous figure was reproduced in the form of tabletop models and even lamp bases. The Putnam County version was dedicated November 11, 1927 and displays the names of 22 Putnam County veterans killed in World War I.

That unusual World War II memorial on the southwest corner of the courthouse lawn incorporates the infamous German V-1 “buzz bomb”—thought to be the only such weapon publicly displayed in the United States, and certainly the only one in Indiana. The bomb, which sits upon a v-shaped limestone base, was dedicated November 11, 1948 as a tribute to World War II Putnam County veterans killed in action.

The courthouse was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1984 as part of the Courthouse Square Historic District. To celebrate the courthouse’s centennial in 2005, local contractors and volunteers worked together to replace the steps, add a stage, and improve the landscaping on the north side of the courthouse.

Map of Indiana Historical Markers

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