Brown County, Indiana Genealogy
Guide to Brown County, Indiana ancestry, genealogy and family history, birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.
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County Information[edit | edit source]
Description[edit | edit source]
Brown County was named for Gen. Jacob Brown, who defeated the British at the Battle of Sackett's Harbor in the War of 1812.[1] The county is located in the south-central area of the state.[2]
County Courthouse[edit | edit source]
Brown County Courthouse
Main St and Van Buren Street
Nashville, IN 47448
Phone: 812-988-5510
County Website
Brown County Health Department
201 Locust Lane, P.O. Box 281
Nashville, IN, 47448
Health Officer: Norman Oestrike, MD
Phone Number: 812-988-2255
Fax: 812-988-5601
Email: bchealth@browncounty-IN.us
Health Department
County Health Department has birth and death records from 1882.
County Clerk has marriage and probate and court records from 1836 divorce records from 1850, court ordered birth records from 1942.
County Recorder has land records from 1874. [3]
Health Department has birth records and death records filed.
Copies may be obtained from the county health department or the Indiana State Division of Vital Records.
Brown County, Indiana Record Dates[edit | edit source]
Information for this chart was taken from various sources, often containing conflicting dates. This information should be taken as a guide and should be verified by contacting the county and/or the state government agency.
| Marriage | Court | Land | Probate | Census | ||
| 1882 | 1836 | 1882 | 1836 | 1874 | 1836 | 1807 |
Record Loss[edit | edit source]
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Courthouse destroyed by fire in 1873, all records except some clerk's files were lost. For suggestions about research in places that suffered historic record losses, see:
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Boundary Changes[edit | edit source]
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Populated Places[edit | edit source]
| Towns | ||
| Unincorporated communities | ||
| Census-designated places | ||
| Townships | ||
| Ghost towns | ||
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History Timeline[edit | edit source]
Resources[edit | edit source]
Bible Records[edit | edit source]
Biographies[edit | edit source]
Business, Commerce, and Occupations[edit | edit source]
Occupations
- Roster of Civilian Conservation Corps, Nashville, Brown County, Indiana (1938) at Indiana Genealogical Society ($)
Cemeteries[edit | edit source]
Census Records[edit | edit source]
For tips on accessing Brown County census records online, see: Indiana Census.
| Historical populations | ||
|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± |
| 1840 | 2,364 | — |
| 1850 | 4,846 | 105.0% |
| 1860 | 6,507 | 34.3% |
| 1870 | 8,681 | 33.4% |
| 1880 | 10,264 | 18.2% |
| 1890 | 10,308 | 0.4% |
| 1900 | 9,727 | −5.6% |
| 1910 | 7,975 | −18.0% |
| 1920 | 7,019 | −12.0% |
| 1930 | 5,168 | −26.4% |
| 1940 | 6,189 | 19.8% |
| 1950 | 6,209 | 0.3% |
| 1960 | 7,024 | 13.1% |
| 1970 | 9,057 | 28.9% |
| 1980 | 12,377 | 36.7% |
| 1990 | 14,080 | 13.8% |
| 2000 | 14,957 | 6.2% |
| 2010 | 15,242 | 1.9% |
| Source: "Wikipedia.org". | ||
Church Records[edit | edit source]
Most church records are held by individual churches. For contact information, check a phone directory, such as SearchBug or Dex Knows. Some denominations are gathering their records into a central repository. For more information about these major repositories, see Indiana Church Records.
Court Records[edit | edit source]
Directories[edit | edit source]
Emigration and Immigration[edit | edit source]
Ethnic, Political, and Religious Groups[edit | edit source]
Funeral Homes[edit | edit source]
Genealogies[edit | edit source]
Guardianship[edit | edit source]
Land and Property Records[edit | edit source]
Land and property records can place an ancestor in a particular location, provide economic information, and reveal family relationships. Land records include: deeds, abstracts and indexes, mortgages, leases, grants and land patents. See Indiana Land and Property for additional information about early Indiana land grants and patents.
After land was transferred from the government to private ownership, subsequent transactions were recorded at the Brown County courthouse, where records are currently housed.
Local Histories[edit | edit source]
Local histories are available for Brown County. County histories may include biographies; church, school and government histories; and military information. For more information about local histories, see Indiana Local Histories.
- Counties of Morgan, Monroe, and Brown, Indiana. 1884. Charles Blanchard, Editor. Chicago, Illinois : F.A. Battey. Online at: FamilySearch Digital Library, Hathitrust, Internet Archive, Google Books, Ancestry ($); At various libraries (WorldCat).
Maps and Gazetteers[edit | edit source]
for more resources
- Old Antique Atlases & Maps of Indiana
- Brown County, Indiana: Maps and Gazetteers - Linkpendium
Migration[edit | edit source]
Military Records[edit | edit source]
Civil War
Civil War service men from Brown County served in various regiments. Men often joined a regiment or a company (within a regiment)that originated in their county. Listed below are the military units that were formed in or had many men from Brown County.
- 22nd Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company B
- 82nd Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Companies D, and H
- 120th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Companies I, and K
- 145th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company K
Civil War Books:
- Indiana Genealogical Society. Indiana Veterans Enrollment List. 1890 Brown County. [Indiana]: (Indiana Genealogical Society, 2006.) CD-ROM no. 4168 Computer US/CAN DesktopFHL Collection other library
- "Military History" in Blanchard, Charles. Counties of Morgan, Monroe, and Brown, Indiana. Historical and Biographical. (Chicago: F.A. Battey & Co, 1884.) page 703-713,977.2 FamilySearch Digital Book; other library INTERNET ARCHIVE
World War I
Naturalization and Citizenship[edit | edit source]
- Naturalization Record Series (for this county) at Indiana Digital Archives. Search by names.
Newspapers[edit | edit source]
Indiana newspapers may contain genealogical value including obituaries, births, marriages, deaths, anniversaries, family gatherings, family travel, achievements, business notices, engagement information, and probate court proceedings.
For more Indiana newspaper information see the wiki page Indiana Newspapers.
- 1800s-1999 U.S., Newspapers.com Marriage Index, 1800s-1999 at Ancestry - index ($)
- Hoosier State Chronicles
Obituaries[edit | edit source]
- Brown County, Indiana Obituary and Death Notice Collection Free from GenealogyBuff.com. Obits and death notices from Various Funeral Homes in the Hamblen, Nashville, and Helmsburg areas.
Other Records[edit | edit source]
Periodicals[edit | edit source]
Probate Records[edit | edit source]
In most counties in Indiana, probate records have been kept by the county clerk of the circuit court. They include wills, fee books, claim registers, legacy records, inheritance records, probate ticklers, and dockets. The records are available at the Brown County courthouse. For more information, see Indiana Probate Records.
- 1798-1999 Indiana Wills and Probate Records 1798-1999 at Ancestry $
School Records[edit | edit source]
Social Security Records[edit | edit source]
- 1935-2014 United States Social Security Death Index at FamilySearch - How to use this collection; index. Also at Ancestry, findmypast, Fold3, GenealogyBank, MyHeritage, and Steve Morse. Click here for more information.
- 1936-2007 U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 at Ancestry ($) — index, click here for more information.
Tax Records[edit | edit source]
Indiana tax records complement land records and can be used in place of censuses or to supplement the years between censuses. Because only persons who owned taxable property were listed, many residents were not included in tax lists. There may also be gaps of several years in the tax records of some counties. For more information see the wiki page Indiana Taxation.
- Tax List of Brown County, Indiana (1848, 1858, 1864, 1875, 1890) at Indiana Genealogical Society ($)
Vital Records[edit | edit source]
Vital records consist of birth, death, marriage and divorce records. Indiana law in 1882 required registration of births and deaths in counties. The Indiana Department of Health has birth records filed after October 1907 and death records filed after January 1900 for deaths. Copies may be obtained from the county health department or the Indiana State Division of Vital Records.
Birth[edit | edit source]
Marriage[edit | edit source]
- 1800s-2007 Indiana, United States Marriages at FindMyPast $
- 1811-2007 Indiana Marriages, 1811-2007 at FamilySearch- How to Use this Collection
Death[edit | edit source]
- 1750-1993 - Indiana Deaths and Burials, 1750-1993 at FamilySearch- How to Use this Collection
- 1882-1920 Indiana, Death Index, 1882-1920 at FamilySearch - Index only - How to Use this Collection
- 1899-2011 Indiana, Death Certificates, 1899-2011 at Ancestry $
Divorce[edit | edit source]
Research Facilities[edit | edit source]
Archives[edit | edit source]
Listed below are archives in Brown County. For state-wide archival repositories, see Indiana Archives and Libraries.
Family History Centers[edit | edit source]
Family History Center and Affiliate Library Locator map - search for local Family History Centers or Affiliate Libraries
- Family History Centers provide one-on-one assistance, free access to center-only databases, and to premium genealogical websites.
- FamilySearch Affiliate Libraries have access to most center-only databases, but may not always have full services normally provided by a family history center.
Local Centers and Affiliate Libraries
Bloomington Indiana Family History Center
4235 W Third St
Bloomington IN 47403
812-332-0560
E-mail:IN_Bloomington@familyhistorymail.org
Website
Libraries[edit | edit source]
Listed below are libraries in Brown County. For state-wide genealogical societies, see Indiana Archives and Libraries.
Museums[edit | edit source]
Societies[edit | edit source]
Listed below are societies in Brown County. For state-wide genealogical societies, see Indiana Societies.
- Brown County Genealogy Society
PO Box 1202
Nashville, IN 47448-1202
Phone 812-597-5636
E-mail:radunn1953@aol.com
Facebook
Website
Wayback machine Website
- Brown County Historical Society
PO Box 668
90 E. Gould Street
Nashville, IN 47448-0668
Phone 812-988-2899
E-mail:admin@browncountyhistorycenter.org
Facebook
Website
Websites[edit | edit source]
- Indiana Digital Archives Search by name in all records or specific collections
- Indiana Historical Society Digital Collections Search by county or keyword
- Indiana Memory Click the map or select a statewide collection
- List of indexes and databases at Indiana State Library
- Indiana Genealogical Society Databases Free and Members-only. Select a county
- EveryNameIndex.com for Indiana Free online genealogy indexes for county histories. Select a county.
- USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.
- Brown County, Indiana Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
- FamilySearch Catalog – The FamilySearch catalog contains descriptions and access information for all genealogical materials (including books, online materials, microfilm, microfiche, and publications) in their collection. Use Historical Records to search for specific individuals in genealogical records.
Research Guides[edit | edit source]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Genealogy Trails History Group, “Brown County, Ohio Genealogy and History”, http://genealogytrails.com/ind/brown/ accessed 3/01/2017.
- ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Brown County," in Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_County,_Indiana accessed 3/01/2017.
- ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), Indiana.At various libraries (WorldCat); FHL Book 973 D27e 2002.
- ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), Indiana.At various libraries (WorldCat); FHL Book 973 D27e 2002.
- ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), Indiana.At various libraries (WorldCat); FHL Book 973 D27e 2002.
- ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Brown County, Indiana" in Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_County,_Indiana (accessed 10 May 2012).
