Montgomery County, Indiana Genealogical Records Information

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Montgomery County History and Information

Montgomery County Facts

Montgomery County was created on March 1, 1823 and was formed from 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 Gen. Richard Montgomery, killed during the Battle of Quebec (1775) during the Revolutionary War. The County Seat is Crawfordsville . See also County History for more historical details.

Counties adjacent to Montgomery County are Tippecanoe County (north), Clinton County (northeast), Boone County (east), Hendricks County (southeast), Putnam County (south), Parke County (southwest), Fountain County (west).

Montgomery County is divided into 11 Civil Townships as follows: Brown, Clark, Coal Creek, Franklin, Madison, Ripley, Scott, Sugar Creek, Union, Walnut and Wayne

Cities, Towns and Communities include Alamo, Ames, Beckville, Bowers, Browns Valley, Cherry Grove, Crawfordsville, Darlington, Darlington Woods, Elmdale, Fiskville, Garfield, Hybernia, Kirkpatrick, Ladoga, Lapland, Linden, Linnsburg, Mace, Manchester, New Market, New Richmond, New Ross, North Union, Parkersburg, Pine Hills, Taylor Corner, Smartsburg, Waveland, Waynetown, Wesley, Whitesville, Wingate and Yountsville.

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

Montgomery County Clerk has Marriage Records from 1823 , Probate Records from 1822 and Court Records from 1822 and is located at 100 E. Main Street,PO BOX 768 (mailing address), Crawfordsville, IN 47933; Pho: (765) 364-6430, Fax: (765) 364-6355
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.

Montgomery County Recorder has Land Records from 1821 and is located at 100 E. Main Street, Crawfordsville, IN 47933.
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.

Montgomery County Health Department has Birth / Death Records from 1882 and is located at Vital Records office, 110 West South Boulevard, Crawfordsville, IN 47933; (765) 364-6440

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

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

Montgomery County, Indiana Tax Books at Amazon.com

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

Montgomery County Historical Society, % Crawfordsville District Public Library, 205 S Washington St., Crawfordsville, IN 47933
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

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

Search 60 Years Of Everton Data : For the first time ever you can get access to more than 150,000 pedigree files and family group sheets from Evertons. Learn More
Sites on USGenweb: [ Montgomery 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
Montgomery 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
Montgomery County, Indiana Family Books at Amazon.com

County History

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

Montgomery County, named in honor of General Richard Montgomery, was organized in 1823. It contains 504 square miles, and is bounded north by Tippecanoe, east by Clinton, Boone and Hendricks, south by Putnam and Parke, and west by Fountain. It has eleven civil townships, viz: Clark, Scott, Brown, Walnut, Union, Franklin, Wayne, Cole Creek, Sugar Creek, Ripley and Madison. The population in 1830 was 7,376, in 1840, 14,438, and at this time [1849] about 18,000. The western part of the county, and near the principal streams is somewhat hilly and broken, the north and central part undulating, and the east and south level. The timber is generally of a good quality, and the soil, with scarce any exception, rich and well adapted to corn, wheat, grass, fruit and all the products common to the climate. There are several good prairies in the north part of the county, now mostly in cultivation, and occasionally barrens or oak openings, but two-thirds of the county were originally covered with heavy timber.

The surplus articles annually exported from the county are wheat 150,000 bushels, corn 100,000 do., 20,000 hogs, 3,000 cattle, 400 horses, and 200 mules, estimated to be worth $250,000. There are in the county eight gristmills, twelve sawmills, three woolen factories, one oil mill, thirty-three stores and groceries, thirteen lawyers, thirty-six physicians, thirty preachers, thirty-six churches, mostly Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterians, two printing offices, and the usual proportion of mechanics. The Wabash College is in this county, while the Female Institute and the County Seminary are in a good condition, and there are common schools in most of the school districts.

The taxable land in the county amounts to 300,000 acres. The completion of the Crawfordsville and Lafayette Railroad, which has been commenced with much spirit, will make Montgomery among the richest and best counties in the State.

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

Within the 501 square miles of Montgomery County is some of the best agricultural land in the state and an enormous supply of shale, used in the manufacture of paving and building brick. On several occasions Montgomery County has ranked the nation in the production of livestock.

The incorporated city is Crawfordsville, population 10,335; towns: Ladoga, 829; Darlington, 690; Waynetown, 664; Waveland, 542; Linden, 541; Wingate, 408; New Richmond, 391; New Ross, 350; New Market, 330, and Alamo, 163. Population of Montgomery County in 1890 was 28,025; 1900, 29,338; 1910, 29,296; 1920, 28,490; 1930, 26,980.

Crawfordsville is twenty-eight miles south of LaFayette and is served by three railroads. Although it is essentially a college town, it has a number of industries including those manufacturing lumber, matches, wire nails, roofing, fencing, paving bricks, caskets, automobile accessories, acetylene lighting plants, steel culverts, and gloves. According to the figures of the 1935 federal census, Crawfordsville had twenty-six manufacturing establishments employing 995 wage earners on payrolls totaling $1,007,796.

This city has been called the "Athens of America," not only because Wabash College is located at Crawfordsville but also the county was the birthplace of a number of writers. Among the writers were General Lew Wallace, soldier, statesman, and author of "Ben Hur"; Meredith Nicholson, outstanding contemporary author and at present United States Ambassador to Nicaragua; Maurice Thompson, of "Alice of Old Vincennes" fame; Mary Hannah; Caroline Kraut, and playwrights Kenyon Nicholson, Maurine Watkins, and Katherine Kingston. Caleb Mills, known as the "father of the Indiana public school system," was a resident of Crawfordsville.

Wabash College owes its origin to a few friends of sound learning who were the first settlers of the upper Wabash Valley. When it was founded there were but two colleges in the state, and both in the southern part. Educated men themselves - among them graduates of Dartmouth in the east and Miami in the west - the founders felt the necessity of bringing the college to the doors of the sons of pioneers and who could afford the expense of seeking the older and more distant institutions.

So it was that in the fall of 1832 a meeting was held in Crawfordsville, at which "it was resolved unanimously that such an institution be established, at first a classical and English high school, rising into a college as soon as the wants of the country demanded." Trustees were chosen, a frame building was erected - which still stands - and in December 1833, the first classes were formed under the direction of the Reverend Caleb Mills, a graduate of Dartmouth and Andover Theological Seminary. He was known as the father of the "Public School System of Indiana."

It was first charted as "Wabash Manual Labor College and Teachers Seminary," and in 1838, it conferred the degree of A.B. on two men, and since that time has turned out its quota of full-fledged graduates annually, with the exception of one year, 1841. The manual labor feature seems never to have been carried out fully, perhaps for want of suitable equipment. Very soon, Wabash was offering the regular curriculum, which was the standard among colleges.

Many of the professors have served long terms, John Lyle Campbell having been a member of the faculty fifty-five years, from 1849 to 1904.

Wabash is one of the few western colleges which does not admit women, and its list of graduates numbers more than 1,200 which is only a small fraction of those who have studied here one, two or three years. Among its alumni are Vice-President Marshall and Judge Anderson, and among those no longer living were Judge William Allen Woods, John A. Finch, John Maynard Butler and General John Coburn. Among its non-graduates were General Lew Wallace, E. R. S. Canby and Bayless W. Hanna.

From the first Wabash has been a Christian College without being under the control of any denomination. George L. Mackintosh, an alumnus of the college is the President.

Another of the distinguished sons of Crawfordsville was Governor Henry S. Lane. His residence is among the city's features. The home and study of General Lew Wallace is an outstanding point of interest to people from all parts of the world. A statue of General Wallace marks the residence, which is located on the estate. This statue was modeled after the one in the U. S. Hall of Fame.

There are many war memorials in and about Crawfordsville. Eight miles southwest, at Offield's Creek, is a boulder marking he site of the first white settler's cabin, built in 1821. In the town of Waveland there is a memorial to the arrival to the artist, T. C. Steele, whose boyhood home was here. Near Waveland is one of the county's chief points of interest, "Shades of Death," a natural beauty spot.

According to the figures of 1935 federal census the county had thirty-one manufacturing establishments. A total of 1,119 wage earners were employed on payrolls totaling $1,080,448. The value of the products was $5,651,036.

The county had 2,560 farms averaging 96.2 acres each. The value of these was $17,126,205. A total of 113,355 head of livestock was reported. The total county tax valuation for 1936 was $31,203,423.

Courthouse History

In days gone by some counties believed the cure for a faulty clock tower was decapitation. And while it might have saved a little money, sadly it erased a lot of the grandeur. Such was the case in Montgomery County in the 1940s when a leaning condition, which some found invisible, led to the clock tower’s demise. Fortunately county commissioners saw fit to leave the remaining building in its Neoclassical glory, and for over a decade Montgomery County citizens have been working to replace the tower.

The present courthouse is the third in a series. It joins the ranks of five other Indiana courthouses designed by the prolific architect George W. Bunting. After Civil War general, lawyer and author Lew Wallace spoke at the cornerstone dedication in 1875, the building opened for business in 1876. Ironically it was a Union Army general who laid the cornerstone on a building designed by a Confederate Army colonel.1

Even without its clock tower, the Montgomery County Courthouse exhibits classical elegance through the use of sandstone, brick, and a two-story portico supported by columns and crowned by a pediment. Among Indiana courthouses, the placement of the building is unusual in that it does not occupy an entire block, but rather sits close to Washington Street on a quarter of a block surrounded by commercial buildings.

In 1906 the county erected a towering bronze and stone war memorial designed by Rudolf Schwartz. Schwartz is perhaps best known as the sculptor for the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Indianapolis. The 1906 monument honors casualties dating back to the Revolutionary War; Montgomery County officials continued to add the names of subsequent fatalities through the Vietnam War.

The Montgomery County Courthouse and Soldiers and Sailors Monument are listed in the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Crawfordsville Commercial Historic District.

Map of Indiana Historical Markers

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