Hendricks County, Indiana Genealogical Records Information

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Hendricks County History and Information

Hendricks County Facts

Hendricks County was created on December 28, 1823 and was formed from Delaware New Purchase and Wabash New Purchase. The Delaware New Purchase: Set up in 1820, portions were set apart as the entire counties of Allen, Bartholomew, Hamilton, Henry, Johnson, Marion, Rush, and Shelby. Parts of the counties of Delaware, Hendricks, Madison, and Morgan also were located in the Delaware Purchase. In 1827, the name of the tract was changed to the Adams New Purchase. The County was named for Governor of Indiana William Hendricks.

The County Seat is Danville and was named after Daniel Bales, one of the proprietors, and was first settled in 1825, by Nathan Kirk, Levi Jessup, James L. Given, James Wood and P. L. Dickens. By 1849 Danville contained a brick Courthouse, a County Seminary with about sixty students, 125 dwelling houses and had a population of 500. See also County History for more historical details.

Counties adjacent to Hendricks County are Boone County (north), Marion County (east), Morgan County (south), Putnam County (west), Montgomery County (northwest).

Hendricks County is divided into 12 Civil Townships as follows: Brown, Center, Clay, Eel River, Franklin, Guilford, Liberty, Lincoln, Marion, Middle, Union and Washington.

Cities, Towns and Communities include Amo, Avon, Belleville, Bridgeport, Brownsburg, Cartersburg, Center Valley, Clayton, Clermont Heights, Coatesville, Danville, Friendswood, Gale, Hadley, Hazelwood, Joppa, Lizton, Magnetic Springs, Maplewood, Montclair, Nash, New Winchester, North Belleville, North Salem, Pecksburg, Pittsboro, Plainfield, Raintown, Reno, Six Points, Stilesville and Tilden.

The Hendricks County Official Government Website
Hendricks County Township Map
Indiana Newspaper Holdings for Hendricks 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
Hendricks 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 Hendricks 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 Hendricks County Courthouse History

Hendricks County Clerk has Marriage Records from 1824 , Probate Records from 1822 and Court Records from 1822 and is located at 355 South Washington Street, Danville, Indiana 46122; (317) 718-6056
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.

Hendricks County Recorder has Land Records from 1823 and is located at 355 South Washington Street, Danville, Indiana 46122; (317) 745-9224.
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.

Hendricks County Health Department has Birth / Death Records from 1882 and is located at 355 S Washington Str, Hendricks Co Government Center, P.O. Box 310, Danville, IN 46122; (317) 745-9271

Below is a list of online resources for Hendricks County Court Records. Email us with websites containing Hendricks 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.
Hendricks 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.

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

Hendricks County, Indiana Tax Books at Amazon.com

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

County Seat Genealogical Society, c/o Betty Hadley, treasurer, 1784 S. CR 225 E, Danville, IN 46122-8577
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

Hendricks 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 Hendricks County. Some transcriptions are online. A great site is the Hendricks 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 Hendricks County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing Hendricks 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 Hendricks County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information. Email us with websites containing Hendricks County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information by clicking the link below:

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Sites on USGenweb: [ Hendricks 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
Hendricks County INGenWeb Archives
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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.
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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
Hendricks County, Indiana Family Books at Amazon.com

County History

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

Hendricks County was organized in 1824 and was named for William Hendricks, who at that time was Governor of the State. It is bounded on the north by Boone, east by Marion, south by Morgan, and west by Putman and Montgomery counties, and being twenty miles square, it contains 400 square miles. Hendricks County is divided into ten civil townships, to-wit: Center, Washington, Guilford, Liberty, Franklin, Clay, Marion, Eel River, Middle and Brown. The population in 1830 was 3,967, in 1840, 11,264, and at this time [1849] about 15,000. The south side and northwest corner of the county are undulating while the other parts generally level. More than one half the soil is a rich loam, slightly mixed with sand; the balance is clay, interspersed with tracts too wet for profitable cultivation on first being cleared, but when drained they become very productive, and there is in reality, scarce an acre in the county which may not, with but little trouble, be made to produce good crops of grain or grass. No better timber is found in any part of the State than here. The surplus articles exported are wheat, hogs, cattle and horses, which are estimated to be of the value of $200,000 annually. There are in the county twenty dry good stores, two drug stores, eighteen grist mills, twenty-two saw mills, five woolen factories, one printing office, six lawyers, twenty physicians, twenty ministers of the Gospel, the usual proportion of mechanics, thirty-six churches, a flourishing County Seminary, and school houses in the common school districts. The prevailing religious denominations are Methodists, Baptists, Christians, Friends, Presbyterians and Lutherans. The land rated for taxation in the county amounts to 242,910 acres.

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

Hendricks County borders Marion County on the west and is comprised of twelve townships covering an area of 408 square miles. The incorporated towns are: Coatesville, 434; Clayton, 561; Lizton, 217; North Salem, 466; Pittsboro, 489; Plainfield, 1,617; Amo, 278, and Stilesville, 313. The county population in 1890 was 21,498; 1900, 21,292; 1910, 20,840; 1920, 20,291; 1930, 19,725.

Danville, the only incorporated city, has a population of 1,930 and is located eighteen miles from Indianapolis. It is the home of Central Normal College. This seventy-five-year-old school, one of the very few private normal colleges in the United States, was made possible by the abandonment of buildings by two of the earlier educational institutions of the county. These were the Hendricks County Seminary, opened soon after Hendricks County was organized, and the Danville Academy, established in 1858 by the Methodist Church. The Central Normal College was organized in 1876 by William F. Harper and Warren Darst at Ladoga, Indiana, and was known as the Central Normal School and Commercial Institute. Out growing the accommodations at Ladoga, the faculty and nearly two hundred students moved to Danville on May 1, 1878

The Courthouse, of Greek architectural style, was erected in 1914. In its east hall is a bronze tablet to the soldiers of the Revolution. Three miles south of Danville on the Clayton Road is the Vandergrift House, of Greek architecture, built in 1845. It was the early home of Mrs. Robert Louis Stevenson. Another point of historic interest in the county is the Old Log House two miles west of Pittsboro, a tavern in the days when stagecoaches ran between Indianapolis and Crawfordsville over the old state road.

The constitution of Indiana (1851, Article 9 Section 2) expressly declared that the state should provide houses of refuge for the correction and reformation of juvenile offenders. The first action of the General Assembly looking to this end was the law approved March 8, 1867, establishing "the House of Refuge for Juvenile Offenders." The institution was located on a farm nearly a mile southwest of the village of Plainfield and was occupied January 1, 1868. Its name was changed in 1883 to the Indiana Reform School for Boys (Laws 1883, p. 19), and twenty years later to the Indiana Boys' School (Laws 1903, p. 172). The school receives boys committed for crime from eight to sixteen years of age and for incorrigibility from ten to seventeen, no commitment being for a shorter period than until the boy attains the age of twenty-one.

The county from which he is committed pays one-half the cost of keeping and taking care of each boy. By rule of the institution, a boy may earn his release in eighteen months from the time of his commitment. The institution has its own schools, graded like those of the public schools and also affords manual and industrial training. The law of 1903, p. 251, provides for the transfer to the State Reformatory of any inmate of the Boys' School convicted of crime who is more than seventeen years old and whose presence is detrimental to the welfare of the school.

Plainfield, the "Town of Friendly Folks," has a number of interesting features. Here is located the Old Quaker Church, one of the few preserving its old customs, still maintaining its use of separate entrances for men and women. The town is also the site of the yearly meeting grounds of the Quakers. The Christian Church on Center Street is one of the states oldest, having been founded in 1828.

In Plainfield's Carnegie Public Library is a bust of Thomas Jefferson, sculptured by James Paxton Voorhees, son of Daniel Voorhees. Maple Hill Cemetery has a memorial to the soldiers of all wars, consisting of French artillery pieces and cannon balls. Indiana Boy's School, a state institution, is situated at Plainfield. One of the former officers of the school was the composer Thomas Payne Westendorf, who, while at the school, wrote, "I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen." One of the features of the institution is the Museum of Antiques, historical and pioneer curios.

The county had seven manufacturing establishments employing 53 wage earners, according to 1935 federal census figures. Pay rolls totaled $29,252. The value of manufactured products was $168,535.

The value of Hendricks County farms was $16,216,941. The county had 2,680, averaging 91.5 acres each. Total of 97,099 head of livestock was reported.

Total county tax valuation as of 1936 was $26,332,335.

Courthouse History

On January 9, 1907 the 1863 Hendricks County Courthouse in Danville met its demise when part of the roof over the circuit court collapsed. Thankfully the catastrophe occurred at 8:30 p.m., thus avoiding any injuries.1 Wasting no time, the County Council voted to construct a new building on February 3.

Clarence Martindale of Indianapolis used Indiana limestone in his design for the Neoclassical style building.2 Invoking authority, respect and confidence, the Neoclassical style remained a popular choice for public buildings throughout the early twentieth century. On the Hendricks County Courthouse a clock ornaments the pediment which is supported by Doric columns and pilasters. The current courthouse sits in the popular Shelbyville Square plan with streets intersecting at each corners of the square.

The interior of the Hendricks County Courthouse experienced its share of unsympathetic changes over the years. It’s hard to believe that maintenance solutions once consisted of painting over brass and hiding decorative stencils with white paint, but many counties did just that, often in the name of modernization. The 1990s saw a renaissance of courthouse restorations that uncovered original beauty. Fortunately that trend continues as more counties restore interior murals and decorative details. In 2003 workers began the restoration of stencils, woodwork, stained glass and light fixtures in the Hendricks County Courthouse. With restoration work completed in 2004 the courthouse once again reflects the brilliance intended by the county councilors.

Map of Indiana Historical Markers

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