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.]

Illinois roads almost a century ago; Indianapolis almost 2 centuries ago

Fulton County, Illinois, and vicinity -- state road map 1925

The ever-faithful University of Wisconsin Internet Scout's Report for 12 April 2013 (volume 19, number 15 -- quite an old resource in internet time) alerted me to a digital collection of State of Illinois road maps beginning in 1917. (The interface will require a little patience if you're looking for a particular year.)

In 1925 paved roads (solid lines) were scarce. Dotted lines were projected roads. Black-and-white roads were "graded." White roads were "dirt." Passenger trains were not superfluous at this time! -- but construction was moving rapidly. The 1926 map shows impressive changes (the series itself provides a microhistorical overview of road construction). And by 1929 the state published a map in two colors, with red solid lines indicating "interstate" highways.

This 1925 map shows no county lines, but does give population figures (hard to see in this image) for incorporated towns. It includes many hamlets now all but forgotten. Also check out the "stairstep" roads (Vermont to Ray, for instance) where the road evidently followed right-angle section lines rather than a diagonal path.

For a significant further step back in time, check out the named roads (no claims as to pavement!) in 1917, complete with their colored or symbolic insignia and individual names (no route numbers). Yes, in those innocent days there was a Swastika Line, and the roads themselves are shown in railroad style, with the towns as little circles within the route line.

Three generations of my family grew up in the range of this map -- my mom's generation in San Jose (on the Mason-Logan county line) in the early 1930s, mine in Farmington in the 1950s-60s, and our kids' near Summum in the 1970s-1980s, both in Fulton County.

Moving east a bit . . .

If you want to delve into the deeper past, IndyGenealogist Ron Darrah has a much-used three-volume find for you in the Indiana State Library, Thelma M. Murphy's 1985 typescript, "Marion County, Indiana, Pioneers Prior to June, 1830." She wrote, "It was a labor of love and it helped to be told 'it can't be done.'" That's the spirit. Thanks, Ron.



"Illinois State Highway Maps," Illinois Digital Archives (http://www.idaillinois.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/isl9 : accessed 12 April 2013).

Ron Darrah, "248. Indy Source for Pre-1830 Ancestors," IndyGenealogy, posted 10 April 2013  (http://indygenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/04/248-indy-source-for-pre-1830-ancestors.html : accessed 12 April 2013).



Harold Henderson, "Illinois roads almost a century ago; Indianapolis almost 2 centuries ago," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 24 April 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

Saturday in Lafayette

Tami Pelling and Barbara Fitzpatrick put together a nice one-day genealogy gathering called "History Begins with You" in downtown Lafayette this past weekend. Ron Darrah of Indianapolis (and of the IndyGenealogy blog) alternated giving talks. The audience had lots of thoughts and questions.

Ron totally persuaded me to spend more research time on fraternal and similar organizations that became especially common after the Civil War. After church and school, they were often the main thing in small towns and ethnic neighborhoods, and even those groups that no longer exist left many traces in obituaries and on tombstones. Their records, if you can find them, are not just context-providers but potential alternative sources of vital records -- especially since many of these gruops were insurance organizations as well.

Do catch Ron's talk ("The Fraternal Order of Everyone") if you get a chance. And if you don't, check out Kay Haviland Freilich's article in The Source on "Business, Institution, and Organization Records."


Harold Henderson, "Saturday in Lafayette," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 8 April 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

Speaking Saturday in Lafayette, Indiana

It's not too late to drive over to Lafayette Saturday and hear Ron Darrah and me talk about genealogy all day (we alternate so as not to get out of breath).

He'll speak on the "Fraternal Order of Everyone" and "Show Me the Money." I'll be talking about indirect evidence in "Finding Berrys in New York Property and Probate Records" and "Indirect Evidence: When Perry Mason Isn't on Your Side." See you there? Check it out at History Begins With You.

What's Old in Indiana This Month?

Some new and not-so-new things I've learned about Indiana lately:

Eva Mendieta writes about Mexican-American mutual aid societies in Indiana Harbor (now part of East Chicago). Their records are not always well preserved -- the records of the Benito Juarez Society, founded in 1924, were retrieved from the basement of a bar and are now in the Latino Collection of the Calumet Regional Archives at Indiana University Northwest -- and the stories they tell are not always happy. When many Mexicans were forced out of the area during the Depression, the societies fell on hard times.

Ron Darrah describes the history and records of the Citizens' Military Training Camp Program that took place between the World Wars.

The Indiana Historical Society has added a digital collection of photos from Whitley County a century ago -- the Oliver Frank Kelly Glass Plate Collection -- including some shop interiors. Also new are several collections of Civil War letters (in addition to the 500 or so it already holds), from Lawrence N. Cox (21st Indiana), Francis M. Kalley (14th), Franklin J. Moore (43rd), John E. Moore (115th), and Tillman Moore (31st) -- as well as papers of Zenas Harrison Bliss, who first seved in the 9th Vermont Infantry and then captained Company K of the 28th United States Colored Troops, an Indiana regiment that served in Texas 1864-1865.

Not exactly news, but still true: the Indiana Genealogical Society will hold its annual conference Saturday, April 27, in Bloomington, with feature speaker Joshua Taylor and auxiliary speakers Lou Malcomb, Curt Witcher, and yours truly on "Probate Will Not Be the Death of You" and "Land and Property: The Records No Genealogist Can Do Without."



Eva Mendieta, "Celebrating Mexican Culturre and Lending a Helping Hand: Indiana Harbor's Sociedad Mutualista Benito Juarez, 1924-1957," Indiana Magazine of History, vol. 108, no.4 (December 2012):311-44. 

Ron Darrah, "Did Grandpa March in the CMTC?," Indiana Genealogist, vol. 23, no. 4 (December 2012):32-34, http://www.indgensoc.org/membersonly/igs/quarterly/2012/IndianaGenealogist_2012_12.pdf : accessed 29 December 2012.


Harold Henderson, "What's Old in Indiana This Month?," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 7 January 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

Indianapolis Research on Your Way to FGS in Fort Wayne

Besides containing one of the premier genealogy libraries -- the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center -- and hosting next year's Federation of Genealogical Societies conference, Fort Wayne is also surrounded in every direction by other useful repositories. The following (by me) was just posted on the FGS 2013 conference blog, second in a series of short posts on ways to pack in extra research on your way to or from the conference in Fort Wayne.

Indiana's capital city, a little over two hours southwest of Fort Wayne, is a great place for a quick strike
in libraries or archives on your way to the FGS conference. The downtown canals and state capitol make
for plenty of photo and recreational opportunities as well.

Indiana State Library, 315 West Ohio Street, http://www.in.gov/library/index.htm. The microfilm
room on the second floor houses the world's best collection of Indiana newspapers along with the
state's most complete collection of Indiana county records. On another wing of the second floor are the
manuscript collections, with finding aids and a card catalog.

Indiana Historical Society, 450 West Ohio Street, http://www.indianahistory.org. Investigate their
massive manuscript and visual holdings at http://www.indianahistory.org/our-collections/manuscript-
and-visual-collections. Their store and “Indiana Experience” shows may be just the thing for any non-
researchers on board.

These two buildings are across the street and less than a block apart. Bring quarters for IHS lockers,
ISL copiers, and street parking. If you haven't been to Indianapolis in a while, allocate some time to
adjust to the higher on-street parking fees and the computerized payment system. IHS parking is free
with library use; its downstairs cafe looks out on the canals.

Indiana State Archives, 6440 East 30th Street, http://www.in.gov/icpr/2358.htm, with an auxiliary
on-line digital archive at http://www.indianadigitalarchives.org. Seven miles east of downtown, this is
an archive, not a library, so figure out what records you're looking for and call ahead to arrange to see
them. Parking not a problem.

Crown Hill Cemetery, 700 West 38th Street, http://www.crownhill.org, makes a great out-of-the-
car break with a genealogical and historical flavor. The beautiful pictures on the site do not lie. Burial
locator at http://www.crownhill.org/locate.

Every city deserves a blogger who's old enough to know the secrets and young enough to tell them.
Check out Ron Darrah's IndyGenealogy blog at http://indygenealogy.blogspot.com.


Harold Henderson, "Indianapolis Research on Your Way to FGS in Fort Wayne," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 3 December 2012 (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.]

Good news for Indiana genealogists

If you've hung around Indiana genealogy much at all, you've probably seen, met, and heard Ron Darrah. Now you can keep up even from a distance, with his new blog IndyGenealogy.

In my experience the genealogy world is somewhat short of folks like Ron who will speak their minds and let the chips fall where they may. In one recent post he notes that the Indiana State Library appears to be suffering from underfunding as to printers and microfilm readers, and doesn't seem to have a plan for digitizing its marvelous but obsolescent newspaper microfilm collection. In another he introduces us to a lesser-known Indianapolis facility, the American Legion library. And more recently, check out his restrained but devastating analysis of the much-hyped Indiana Digital Archives.

Weekend Warriors -- Help Indiana's volunteers help you

Ron Darrah, long-time volunteer at the Indiana State Archives and always a festive presence at Indiana Genealogical Society gatherings, has gone public in the current IGS newsletter (read it yourself in the members-only section if you're a member; if you aren't, why not?): the volunteers have tens of thousands of records in databases ready to go online, but the state archivist is stalling on doing so. Volunteers are the backbone of the state archives; it seems little enough to ask that state government do its part in preserving and making known Indiana's history.

It may be that he or his boss the governor don't know how many people care about this. Below is their contact information, and below that is the list of databases being held up, from the IGS Blog.

Indiana State Archivist James Corridan 317/232-3691 or jcorridan@icpr.in.gov

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels 317/232-4567 or www.in.gov/gov/2631.htm

Department of Correction (DOC) Databases
--Jeffersonville (DOC-Jeffersonville) 11,995 records
--Old State Prison North (Indiana State Prison North Inmate Index 1858-1897) 10,574 records
--New State Prison North (DOC-Prisoners) 34,428 records
--Boys School (DOC - Boys School) 12,376 records
--Girls School (DOC - Girls School Inmates) 5,670 records
[NOTE: Girls School files will be added in the future, as well as databases for the Reformatory from 1897 forward.]

Military Databases
--World War I - Book of Merit 1,626 records
--World War II - Gold Star 3,461 records
--Civil War - 200,000 records [proofing is nearly done]
--National Guard - 37,000 records [now at the letter K--there is the potential to reach approximately 100,000 records when complete]
--Early soldiers - approximately 20,000 records
--Mexican War - 4,783 records
--United Spanish American War Veterans Files - underway
--Upcoming Spanish American War - underway

Orphans and Foster Children Databases
--Foster Children Files - 10,691 records
--Foster Parent Applications - 1,462 records
--Orphanages and Other Licensed Institutions for Children 922 records
--Juliana Work - 4,628 records

Court Records Databases
--Marion County Loft 1 - 27,578 records
--Marion County Loft 2 - 23,614 records
--Marion County Loft 3 - 36,000 records [still increasing]

Naturalization Databases
--The Naturalization database that is currently online contains approximately 23,540 records. There are several additional smaller counties ready to be added. In the near future the volunteers hope to have more counties proofed and ready to be uploaded, including Marion County (23,226 records) and St. Joseph County (approximately 39,000 records). These two counties, along with various other counties (with considerably smaller tables) will triple the size of the current online Naturalization database.

Land Records Databases
--LaPorte-Winamac land office 18,785 records
--Fort Wayne land office 73,250 records
--General Land Office (Reserves) 2,579 records [already on the Indiana State Archives website]
--Vincennes land office 100,000+ records [soon to be finished]
--Terre Haute-Crawfordsville land office approximately 20,000 records [soon to be finished]

Your ancestors at work

It's easy to focus on vital records and leave other research opportunities by the wayside. The Indiana Historical Society is offering a November 15 workshop in Indianapolis that sounds like a great corrective:

"Jobs are family destiny. Most immigrants came to America for the freedom to work, especially to work for more money. This two-hour workshop, featuring Indiana genealogy expert Ron Darrah, will show you how to use work records to follow and understand your ancestors. Advance registration is required. For more information, call (317) 234-1830 or e-mail welcome@indianahistory.org."

Ironically, I have to work that day.

Indiana Genealogist for September

Contents of the fall issue of the Indiana Genealogical Society's quarterly include:

"An Index Is a Treasure Map -- Do You Dig?" by Harold Henderson, that's me, on how even useful indexes may lead you into error if you don't look at the original documents they point to.

"Military Resources in the Early Republic," by the prolific Ron Darrah, who identifies no fewer than 38 document-generating wars between 1781 and 1859.

"Thomas Jefferson Riley: Native Hoosier and Confederate Soldier," by his great-great granddaughter Mary Kraeszig.

Regional items include "Starke County History Items" (submitted by Peg Bretten); "Indiana Civil War Soldier Adam Record" by Kathy Anne Coppola; "Indiana Civil War Soldiers John Lafayette White and William M. White" [twins], by Keith Rott; "Marriage and Death Notices, Indiana Journal, January-December, 1832," submitted by Ron Darrah (see above), "Items from the Batesville Budget," "Indiana Civil War Soldier James E. English" by Annette Harper, and more.

Indiana Genealogist for March

Thanks to the St. Joseph County Public Library in South Bend, here are the feature stories in the March issue of Indiana Genealogical Society Quarterly:

"The Sultana Explosion," by Ron Hamilton, recounting a disaster in the Mississippi River north of Memphis 27 Apr 1865 that killed about 1900 people, many of them Union veterans -- more deaths than the Titanic.

"John Jansen, Redux," a followup to the December 2007 article, from reader Don Ebbeler

"Profiles of Indiana Congressmen 1897," compiled by Sandy Thompson from Biographical Sketches of the Members of the Sixtieth General Assembly of the State of Indiana (Indianapolis: M.R. Hyman Co., 1897), surnames A through L.

"Deaths of Spanish-American War Veterans," compiled by Ron Darrah from material in the Indiana State Archives.

The issue also includes 20 short regional items, and new editor Annette Harper on "The Rectangular Survey System in Indiana."