Good news for Indiana genealogists!

Fall brings a cornucopia for Hoosier-minded genealogists:

* Thanks to cooperation between two librarians and the county historian, old issues of the following Carroll County, Indiana, newspapers will make the leap from microfilm to digital: Camden newspapers, Delphi Journal, Carroll County Citizen, Carroll County Citizen-Times, Delphi Citizen, Delphi Times, Hoosier Democrat, Delphi Journal-Citizen and the Carroll County Comet. (Hat tip to ResearchBuzz.)

* The September issue of the Indiana Genealogist, including three solid articles that might well inspire similar contributions to other state periodicals:

• Ron Darrah on records of a fraternal benefits society, the Knights of Honor. (Why were such things needed? In 1884, the average age of deceased members was 39 years, 6 months, and 29 days.)
• Meredith Thompson on Indiana bastardy laws from 1818 forward, including how to search for the cases. (Hint: more than one court can be involved, especially between 1853 and 1873.)
• Sue Caldwell on a de facto women's census conducted in connection with World War I. The question remains: are Jasper County's card records of this enumeration the only ones in existence?

This magazine is digital-only and available as a benefit to members of the Indiana Genealogical Society (a bargain at $30 per calendar year, considering it also comes with access to hundreds of members-only databases relevant to the state).

* The September issue of the Indiana Magazine of History, including a thorough article by historian Jay M. Perry explaining that the "Irish Wars" on the Indiana canals and railroads in the 1830s were not just an occasion for canal workers to beat each other over the head for the fun of it.

* Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center's a-class-a-day-every-day observance of Family History Month, but I won't mention that since I just did so on Tuesday.




Ron Darrah, "Records of the Knights of Honor in Indiana," Indiana Genealogist, vol. 24, no. 3 (September 2013):17-18.

Meredith Thompson, "Providing for Illegitimate Children: Indiana's Bastardy Law," Indiana Genealogist, vol. 24, no. 3 (September 2013):20-23.

Sue Caldwell, "The 1918 National Council of Defense War Registration of Women in Jasper County,"  Indiana Genealogist, vol. 24, no. 3 (September 2013):25-28.

Jay M. Perry, "Laborer Conflicts on Indiana's Canals and Railroads," Indiana Magazine of History, vol 109, no. 3 (September 2013):224-56.


Harold Henderson, "Good news for Indiana genealogists!," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 3 October 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : viewed [date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

The treasure of Jasper County -- 1918 women's registration!

As part of the national mobilization for World War I, in April 1918 thousands -- perhaps millions -- of American women filled out cards giving their names, ages, birth countries, marital status and husband's name if any, employment if any, educational level, skills, and detailed health status. All this was done under the auspices of the quasi-governmental Council of National Defense.

In Jasper County, Indiana (population under 14,000), more than 3,200 of these cards were preserved. According to Sue Caldwell, the Indiana Genealogical Society's county genealogist for the county, a cabinet was specifically designed to hold them. The cabinet resided in the Rensselaer courthouse for years

"prior to being given to the Jasper County Historical Society for display in their museum. Unfortunately, the members looked on the old cabinet as a treasure to be displayed and for many years didn’t recognize the value of the contents. It is not known what other counties did with their cabinets or registration cards. Research is continuing to locate the balance of Indiana’s registration records."

 Above is the front side of one of the Jasper County cards, for 66-year-old Miss Elizabeth E. Alexandera of Kniman, who was knowledgeable about dairying, gardening, poultry raising, cooking, housekeeping, and sewing and millinery. (The back had room for remarks and health issues.) The historical society has indexed the cards by name, husband, and address, but the index is not yet on line. Plans for analyzing and imaging the cards are afoot.

Caldwell notes that

"Fields were provided for age, country of birth, country of naturalization, color or race, persons dependent upon them, present occupation and by whom employed, education level completed and details on advanced education, and the type of business experience and training broken down into 154 different categories. Women could volunteer to be trained in some categories such as making bandages for the Red Cross. Comments were to be made on the 'Personal Equipment' of the woman including health, physical defects, voice, sight, and hearing."

Jasper County is big enough to have a historical society, and small enough that these days the society is open just six hours a month. These cards are not known to have survived in any other Indiana county, nor had the state archives staff ever seen one. Says Caldwell, "These cards could be the greatest genealogical find of the last hundred years if cards from all of the states could be located. No other survey contains the mass of data about women that the registration cards do."

A seemingly well-documented Wikipedia article surveys the CND's history and refers to a 1984 scholarly book by William N. Breen, Uncle Sam at Home: Civilian Mobilization, Wartime Federalism, and the Council of National Defense, 1917-1919, available in numerous college and university libraries. A quick Google search reveals that many states do have records of the Council for National Defense in their archives. It's not clear whether any of them include any of these registration cards. The agency also appears in National Archives Record Group 62.

If nothing else the cards offer brief glimpses of life 95 years ago:

Mary Prohosky (Mrs. J) “cannot talk English and is not able to do hour work. Went to school in the old country and is not the same in here.”

Miss Nettie J Ellis had a Dayton, Ohio address, but was serving as acting principal at Monnett School.

Belle Warne’s card noted “This woman is physical unable to do anything and has six children under eight”.

Julie Nafziners was “born in France, naturalized US, 4 yrs experience in a post office and 4 yrs experience as a bookkeeper”. She also attended Onarga Seminary.

Stella Newbold has “14 yrs experience in teaching music, but health has failed since injured in tornado”.

Olden Ouida has “2 ½ yrs in Mexico—knows some Spanish, 2 yrs work under Kate J Adams of Coulter House Chicago. Can use typewriter. Has travelled all over U. S. capable, reliable, has ability (executive ability)”.

Almira Prather completed a card but disclaimed any responsibility for the war work because she didn’t start the war.

Anyone with thoughts -- or better still, knowledge -- about these cards and where any more like them may be found, inside or outside of Indiana, please comment below, or communicate with Sue Caldwell at suecald1 "AT" embarqmail "DOT" com.
.


Harold Henderson, "The treasure of Jasper County -- 1918 women's registration!," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 17 April 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

Indiana Genealogist and other Hoosier records on line

My favorite from the June issue of Indiana's online quarterly, Indiana Genealogist (IGS members only), is Ron Darrah's instructional article on the Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s. It had never occurred to me that CCC workers' records would be at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis! The June issue also includes a delinquent tax list from Jasper County for the mid-1870s. Better that than no tax list at all...

Two other Indiana online sources are easy to miss but well worth finding:

Deep in the Indiana Historical Society web site are on-line companion articles and databases related to various articles that have appeared in their print semi-annual, The Hoosier Genealogist: Connections. These companions are basically well-annotated small databases grouped in three bunches under the heading "On-Line Connections":
Regional Sources and Stories with items from 27 counties including "Jasper County, Voters Listed in Poll Book for Fourth Precinct, Rensselaer, 1932 Primary"; 
Genealogy Across Indiana, with ten items including "Hoosier Baptist Records, 1809-2006"; and
Family Records, with ten items including "Family Genealogy Extracted and Compiled from the Kidd Family Papers, 1815-1887."
New items are to be added in September from La Porte, Hancock, and Switzerland counties, along with more Baptists and Armstrong family papers.

The Indiana Genealogical Society's blog brings word of a newly digitized resource, "Early Vincennes, 1732-1835."  It's hosted at Wabash Valley Visions and Voices, which has many other interesting sources as well, both pictures and text. "Early Vincennes" has 738 items, mostly court and probate cases, which are genealogically and historically valuable at any date, but especially from this early.

This digitization is a great boon to early Indiana researchers. It's now possible to view these images without driving for hours or days to the courthouse. The images are beautiful and clear and can be magnified. Each item is briefly described, and many have dates indicated.

Unfortunately, some information is lacking and organization erratic. I have found no overview explaining where the original papers came from, which makes it difficult to cite them properly. The items are in alphabetical order by the last name of the plaintiff or decedent (although some are inexplicably filed differently -- all but two pages of John Light's probate are listed under "evk"). The only way to learn what other names are contained in each item is to read the documents. Filed under "N" for Northwest Territory is a 271-page "minute book" for the Knox County Court of Common Pleas, 1796-1800. Another book for the same court covers the same years and is called by the same name, but a glance inside reveals that it provides a complete narrative of significant cases, as opposed to the day-by-day record of proceedings called a "minute book." Petitions are listed under P, and recognizance bonds under R, regardless of the names of those involved. Look for criminal cases under U, because the plaintiff was the United States. Bottom line: no researcher can casually say that so-and-so is "not found" in these records.

Navigation within the chosen CONTENTdm(R) system is no picnic either. The only way to view all of a page within the two multi-page books is to activate the thumbnail and move the red box around on it. In order to leave the court book and resume browsing the other 737 items, I had to leave the Vincennes collection altogether and start over from the main page. Once back in the Vincennes collection, even if I remembered that those books were on page 27 (doubtful!), there is no quick way to navigate from 1 to 27.

 All that said, it's still better than what was available before.



Ron Darrah, "Did Grandpa Serve in the 'Tree Army'?," Indiana Genealogist, vol. 15, no. 2 (June 2012):15-17 (http://www.indgensoc.org/membersonly/igs/quarterly/IndianaGenealogist_2012_06.pdf : accessed 11 August 2012).

1934 image from Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, National Archives and Records Administration; About.com 20th Century History (http://history1900s.about.com/library/photos/blygd12.htm : accessed 13 August 2012).

"Early Vincennes, 1732-1835," Wabash Valley Visions and Voices 
 (http://visions.indstate.edu/cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT=/ving : accessed 11 August 2012).

Harold Henderson, "Indiana Genealogist and other Hoosier records on line," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 18 August 2012 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

Every Name Indexes

Cyndi's List led me to Cathy L. O'Connor's series of Every Name Indexes, primarily to Midwestern county histories from the turn of the century before last. Some are for sale, and some are free on the internet. There's a taste of southern Illinois, SW Michigan, and Milwaukee, but most are from Indiana -- more than Blogger will let me add labels for.