Elkhart County, Indiana Genealogy

United States

Indiana

Elkhart County

Guide to Elkhart County, Indiana ancestry, genealogy and family history, birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

Indiana Online Genealogy Records

County Facts County seat: Goshen Organized: January 29, 1830 Parent County(s): Unorganized territory Neighboring Counties St. Joseph  • Marshall  • Kosciusko  • Noble  • La Grange  • Cass (MI)  • St. Joseph (MI) See County Maps Courthouse Location Map Adoption Adopt-a-wiki page This page adopted by: Indiana Genealogical Society who welcome you to contribute. Adopt a page today

County Information

Description

The origin of the name "Elkhart" came from an island at the confluence of the rivers that was known by the Potawatomi word for “elk’s heart,” which the county was said to resemble in shape. It is located along the north-central border of the state.

County Courthouse

Elkhart County Courthouse
Courthouse Square
Goshen, IN 46526-3297
Phone: 219-535-6430
County Website

Elkhart County Health Department
608 Oakland Avenue
Elkhart, IN, 46514
Health Officer: Lydia Mertz, MD
Phone Number: 877-523-2283
Fax: 574-295-6186
Email: cmast@elkhartcounty.com
Health Department

County Health Department has birth and death records.
County Clerk has marriage, divorce, probate and county court records from 1830.
County Recorder has land records.
Health Department has birth records and death records.

Elkhart County, Indiana Record Dates

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.

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1882	1830	1882	1830	1831	1830	1807
Statewide registration for births in 1907 and deaths in Oct 1899. General compliance by 1917.

Record Loss

There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

Boundary Changes

Parent County: Formed in 29 January 1830 from Unorganized territory. County Seat: Goshen Interactive Map of Indiana County Formation History (1790-1897) - animated maps illustrating Indiana county boundary changes Indiana Historical Boundary Changes - list of all boundary changes by county provided by Newberry Library

Populated Places

For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit HomeTown Locator. The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:

Cities
Elkhart	Goshen	Nappanee
Towns
Bristol Middlebury	Millersburg New Paris	Wakarusa
Unincorporated communities
Benton Bonneyville Mills Foraker Jamestown	Locke Midway New Paris	Southwest Vistula Waterford Mills
Census-designated places
Dunlap	Simonton Lake

Resources

Biographies

• Indiana Biography Index at Indiana State Library
• Pictorial and Biographical Memoirs of Elkhart and St. Joseph Counties, Indiana. 1893. Chicago, Goodspeed Brothers. Online at: FamilySearch Digital Library, Internet Archive.

Cemeteries

Cemeteries of Elkhart County, Indiana online and in print
Tombstone Transcriptions Online	Find A Grave INGenWeb Tombstone Project Indiana Interment Billion Graves
Tombstone Transcriptions in Print (Often more complete)	Family History Library WorldCat
List of Cemeteries in the County	Findagrave.com
See Indiana Cemeteries for more information.

 

Census Records

For tips on accessing Elkhart County census records online, see: Indiana Census.

Historical populations
Census	Pop.	%±
1830	935	—
1840	6,660	612.3%
1850	12,690	90.5%
1860	20,986	65.4%
1870	26,026	24.0%
1880	33,454	28.5%
1890	39,201	17.2%
1900	45,052	14.9%
1910	49,008	8.8%
1920	56,384	15.1%
1930	68,875	22.2%
1940	72,634	5.5%
1950	84,512	16.4%
1960	106,790	26.4%
1970	126,529	18.5%
1980	137,330	8.5%
1990	156,198	13.7%
2000	182,791	17.0%
2010	197,559	8.1%
Source: "Wikipedia.org".

• Index to Mortality Schedule (1860) at Indiana Genealogical Society ($)
• Index to Defective, Dependent & Delinquent Census (1880) at Indiana Genealogical Society ($)

Church Records

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.

Directories

• Directory of Businesses (1858, 1868) at Indiana Genealogical Society ($)

Land and Property Records

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 Elkhart County courthouse, where records are currently housed.

Local Histories

Local histories are available for Elkhart County. County histories may include biographies; church, school and government histories; and military information. For more information about local histories, see Indiana Local Histories.

• History of Elkhart County, Indiana. 1881. Chicago, Illinois : Chas. C. Chapman. Online at: FamilySearch Digital Library, Hathitrust, Internet Archive, Google Books; At various libraries (WorldCat). Index: EveryNameIndex.com, compiled by Cathy L. O'Connor, 2007.
• A Standard History of Elkhart County, Indiana. 2 volumes. 1916. Edited by Abraham E. Weaver. Chicago, Illinois : American Historical Society. Online at: Vol. 1 - FamilySearch Digital Library, Vol. 2 - FamilySearch Digital Library, Hathitrust, Vol. 1 - Internet Archive, Vol. 2 - Internet Archive, Vol. 1 - Google Books, Vol. 2 - Google Books; At various libraries (WorldCat).
• A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Elkhart County, Indiana. 1905. By Anthony Deahl. Chicago : Lewis Publ. Co. Online at: Hathitrust, Internet Archive, Google Books.

Maps and Gazetteers

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

• Historic Indiana Maps at IUPUI University Library
• Old Antique Atlases & Maps of Indiana

Military Records

• Military Record Series Index at Indiana Digital Archives

Civil War
Civil War service men from Elkhart County served in various regiments. Men often joined a company (within a regiment) that originated in their county. Listed below are companies that were specifically formed in Elkhart County

• 1st Regiment, Indiana Heavy Artillery, Company A
• 2nd Regiment, Indiana Cavalry, Company M
• 9th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company C, and Reorganized Companies C, and F
• 12th Regiment, Indiana Cavalry, Companies D, and I
• 13th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Reorganized D, and E
• 19th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company G
• 21st Battery, Indiana Light Artillery
• 23rd Battery, Indiana Light Artillery
• 29th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company B
• 30th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company K, and Reorganized C
• 44th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company I
• 48th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Companies A, G, H, and I
• 74th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Companies E, G, and I
• 88th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company I
• 100th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company D
• 129th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company E
• 136th Regiment, Indiana Infantry (100 days, 1864), Company K
• 142nd Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company D
• 152nd Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Companies A, and E
• 155th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company F

Civil War Books:

• "Military History", Chapter 10, in Dean K. Garber, Ivan Nunemaker, History of Elkhart County, Indiana, Together with Sketches of Its Cities, Villages and Townships, Educational, Religious, Civil, Military, and Political History, Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Representative Citizens. Chicago : C. C. Chapman, 1881. Pages 537-575 Online at: FamilySearch Digital Book; Internet Archive
• "Military History" Chapter 11 in O'Connor, Cathy L. Every Name Index to History of Elkhart County, Indiana, Together with Sketches of Its Cities, Villages and Townships, Educational, Religious, Civil, Military, and Political History, Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Representative Citizens. By Chas. C. Chapman & Co., 1881. Edwardsburg, Mich: Cathy L. O'Connor, 2007. Pages 535-574, Regiment, Companies. FamilySearch Digital Library; WorldCat

World War I

• 1919 Indiana, World War I, Enrollment Cards, 1919 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection

Naturalization and Citizenship

• Naturalization Record Series (for this county) at Indiana Digital Archives. Search by names.

Newspapers

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.

• Hoosier State Chronicles

Probate Records

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 Elkhart County courthouse. For more information, see Indiana Probate Records.

• 1798-1999 Indiana Wills and Probate Records 1798-1999 at Ancestry $

School Records

• Alumni of Middlebury High School (1886-1916) at Indiana Genealogical Society ($)
• Students of Elkart High School (1923, 1937 and 1945) at Indiana Genealogical Society ($)

Social Security Records

• 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

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.

Vital Records

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.

Marriage

• 1780-1992 Indiana Marriages, 1780-1992 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection
  
• 1800s-2007 Indiana, United States Marriages at FindMyPast $
• 1802-1892 Indiana Marriages, 1802-1892 at Ancestry $
• 1811-2007 Indiana Marriages, 1811-2007 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection

Death

• 1750-1993 - Indiana Deaths and Burials, 1750-1993 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection
  
• 1882-1920 Indiana, Death Index, 1882-1920 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection
  
• 1899-2011 Indiana, Death Certificates, 1899-2011 at Ancestry ($)

Divorce

• Index to Divorce Cases Filed in Elkhart County, Indiana (1846-1905) at Indiana Genealogical Society

Adoption

• Adoption Index, Elkhart County, Indiana, 1873-1914 at Indiana Genealogical Society

Research Facilities

Archives

Listed below are archives in Elkhart County. For state-wide archival repositories, see Indiana Archives and Libraries.

Family History Centers

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.

• Family History Center and Affiliate Library Locator

Local Centers and Libraries

South Bend Indiana Family History Center
930 Park Place
Mishawaka, IN 46545
574-243-1633
E-mail:IN_SouthBend@familyhistorymail.org
Website

Libraries

Listed below are libraries in Elkhart County. For state-wide genealogical societies, see Indiana Archives and Libraries.

Museums

Elkhart County Historical Museum
211 West Lincoln Ave.
Goshen, IN 46526-3280
Phone: 574-535-6458
Email: museum@elkhartcountyhistory.org
Website

Middlebury Community Historical Museum
301 West Bristol Ave / PO Box 270
Middlebury, IN 46540-0270
Phone: 574-825-0978
Email: info@mchm.org
Website

Goshen Historical Museum
124 S. Main St.
Goshen, IN 46526
Phone: 574-975-0033
Email: museum@goshenhistorical.org
Website

Societies

Listed below are societies in Elkhart County. For state-wide genealogical societies, see Indiana Societies.

Elkhart County Genealogical Society
PO Box 1031
Elkhart, IN 46515-1031
Phone: 574-848-1623
Email: info@elkhartcogensoc.org
Website

Elkhart County Historical Society
c/o Winifred Cosbey Library
State Road 120
PO Box 434
Bristol, IN 46507
Phone: 574-848-4322

Goshen Historical Society
124 S. Main St.
Goshen, IN 46526
Phone: 574-975-0033
Website

New Paris Historical Society
PO Box 101
New Paris, IN 46553-0101

Wakarusa Historical Society and Museum
403 Wabash Avenue
Wakarusa, IN 46573

Websites

• 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.
• Elkhart County INGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.
• Elkhart 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.

This website requires a paid subscription for full access.