New Indiana databases

The Indiana Genealogical Society has added two bunches of online databases to its website: four open to anyone, and ten open only to members.

Free and open to all comers are four volumes of the Records of Rose Orphans Home in Terre Haute, Vigo County, plus indexes to 1840-1910 alumni of DePauw University in Greencastle, Putnam County. These are searchable, and browseable if you simply hit the search button without entering anything in the search box. I picked up the underlying source for DePauw at a used bookstore in La Porte, and have perhaps rashly offered to provide lookups for those who find a person of interest in the index, so that they can see -- and cite -- the real thing and not rest content with the online index.

Available to members only are:
Deceased Members of Methodist Church's Northwest Indiana Conference (1854-1898)
Allen County, Indiana Soldiers in the Spanish-American War (1898)
Indiana's Civil War Veterans with Artificial Limbs
Indiana Volunteer Regiments in the Mexican War (1846-1848)
Alumni of Indianapolis College of Pharmacy (1932-1939)
Alumni of Indiana State Normal School, Terre Haute (1872-1900)
Faculty of Earlham College, Richmond (1860-1921)
Faculty of South Bend High School (1870-1911)
Non-Graduates of Indiana University, Bloomington (1820-1890)
Members of Indiana's 60th General Assembly (1897)

More online goodness is in the works. IGS membership is a good deal in any case, but get your money in soon as it runs by calendar year -- payable either by snail mail or by PayPal. My experience would suggest using snail mail.

Methodist resources at DePauw

Last week I spent a productive research afternoon at the DePauw University archives in Greencastle (Putnam County) Indiana. Their holdings include both university and Methodist information.

The archives' web site offers many opportunities to plan your research, particularly by enabling a search of their Indiana Ministers (1800-1900) Index, which covers eight predecessor denominations: Methodist Episcopal (ME), Methodist Episcopal South (MES) Methodist Protestant (MP), United Brethren in Christ (UB), Evangelical Association (EV), Lexington Conference (LX), Chicago German Methodist (CH), and Central German Methodist (CG).

For Methodist Episcopals, key accessible references are the bound minutes of the annual conferences. Microfilm holdings provide access to some circuits' and churches' early records. All this and places to plug in your laptop too!

Indiana Genealogist for December

The current issue of the quarterly publication of the Indiana Genealogical Society runs heavily to military and religious sources:

"The True Story of Arthur Andrews, A Soldier of the Revolution," by F. W. (Bill) Farnsworth -- a fascinating disambiguation of two (or three?) same-name patriots.

"Introduction of DePauw University's United Methodist Archives," by Wesley W. Wilson

"Hoosier Soldiers in 29th Infantry Division, WWI, Part II," by Thomas P. Jones

"Case Study: The Travels of John Jansen," by Ron Darrah

"Researching Your Family History at the Indiana State Library: An Overview," by Autumn C. Gonzalez

"Lineage Societies: The SAR," by Robert D. Howell, Sr.

I can't think of a state magazine so careful to distribute the shorter articles equitably: eight of the nine districts of Indiana has a few short items like "Dubois County Court Cases, 1898," and "Danville Woman Dies Three Times." The two most significant list Earlham College faculty 1859-1922, and Allen County veterans of the Spanish-American War.