Allen County, Indiana Genealogy

United States  Indiana Allen County

This article is about a northeast Indiana county. For other uses, see Allen.

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

Allen County, Indiana
Map
Location of Indiana in the U.S.
Facts
Founded	December 17, 1823
County Seat	Fort Wayne
Courthouse
Address	Allen County Courthouse 715 S Calhoun Street #200 Fort Wayne, IN 46802 Phone. 260.449.7245 Allen County Website
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Historical Facts

Beginning dates for major county records
Birth	Marriage	Death	Land	Probate
1882*	1824*	1870*	1824	1825
*For earlier dates,  try... Church | Obituaries | Cemeteries

• Parent Counties: Formed December 17, 1823 from Delaware New Purchase and unorganized territory.
  
• County Seat: Fort Wayne
  

Neighboring Counties

DeKalb  • Noble  • Whitley  • Huntington  • Wells  • Adam  • Van Wert  • Paulding  • Defiance

Template:INAllen, Indiana Clickable Neighbors

Boundary Changes

For animated maps illustrating Indiana County boundary changes, "Rotating Formation Indiana County Boundary Maps" (1790-1873) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

• Allen County Development Map, 1823-1835

Record Loss

For a list of record loss in Indiana Counties see: Indiana Counties with Burned Courthouses

Resources

Cemeteries

• 190 Cemetery Names with links to a brief history, interments, and tombstone photographs
• Allen County cemetery book index
  
• Concordia (Old) Cemetery
• Fort Wayne Catholic Cemetery plat maps
• Fort Wayne Catholic Cemetery through 1993
• IOOF Cemetery, New Haven
• St. Paul's Cemetery, Fort Wayne BillionGraves
• Lindenwood Cemetery burial register, 1896-1918
• Lindenwood Cemetery burials, 1860-2014
• Lindenwood Cemetery plat maps
• Lindenwood Cemetery, Fort Wayne BillionGraves. Headstone photos, some more recent burials since 2005 will show here as the cemetery is photographed.
• Parker Cemetery, St. Joseph
• Prairie Grove Cemetery
• Prairie Grove Cemetery plat maps
• Riverview Cemetery

Census Records

• 1840-1880, 1900-1910 Population Schedules, African American
• 1850 Agricultural Schedule
• 1850 Manufacturing Schedule
• 1850 Mortality Schedule
• 1850 Population Schedule, omission from microfilm
• 1860 Agricultural Schedule
• 1860 Manufacturing Schedule
• 1860 Mortality Schedule
• 1864 Monroeville Local Census
• 1866 New Haven Local Census
• 1870 Agricultural Schedule
• 1870 Manufacturing Schedule
• 1870 Mortality Schedule
• 1880 Agricultural Schedule
• 1880 D-D-D Schedule
• 1880 Manufacturing Schedule
• 1880 Mortality Schedule
• 1910 Population Schedule
• 1940 Population Schedule
  

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

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.

General

• Allen County Church Burial Records. Years of coverage vary by church.
• Histories of 185 Churches prior to 1920
  

Catholic

• Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception records, 1831-1908 (ACGSI membership required)
  
• St. Peters Catholic Church baptisms, 1872-1929 (ACGSI membership required)
  

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

• West Creighton Ave. Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) membership record index, 1896-1998
  

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

LDS Ward and Branch Records

• Fort Wayne

Presbyterian

• 1845-1876 - First Presbyterian Church, Fort Wayne, Baptism Index 1845-1876 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch - free. Batch C524401.
• 1868-1873 - First Presbyterian Church, Fort Wayne, Marriage Index 1868-1873 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch - free. Batch M524401.

For more information about these major repositories, see Indiana Church Records.

Finding More Church Records

Additional church records can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Allen County, Indiana Genealogy Church Records in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
• FamilySearch Catalog (For instructions see FamilySearch Catalog Places Search).

Court Records

• Applications for Naturalization, 1844-1906. Information includes name, date of application, native country. Later ones also include age, port of embarkation, and date and place of arrival.

Directories

Fold3.com ($) has Fort Wayne City Directories 1902-1923 and miscellaneous years dating back to 1861 available online.

Ethnic and Religious Groups

• African-American Births, 1887-1920
• African-American Marriage Records, 1824-1920
• African-American Deaths, 1887-1920
• Genealogical Records of German Families in Allen County, Indiana, 1918. This index was taken from the "Enemy Alien Registration Files." German- or Austrian-born people who were not American citizens were required to file.

Funeral Homes

• Allen County Funeral Card Collection
  
• E. Harper & Sons (ACGSI membership required)
  
• Elzey-Dickey-Haggard (ACGSI membership required)
  
• McComb and Sons Funeral Home Records, 1926-1950

Historical Photos

• Allen County Communty Album
• Who Am I - Can You Identify People, Events, or Locations or donate digital copies of photos for future possible identification.

Histories

Local Histories

Local histories are available for Allen County, Indiana Genealogy. County histories may include biographies; church, school and government histories; and military information.

• Church histories of 185 churches prior to 1920
  

For more information about local histories, see the wiki page section Indiana Local Histories.

Land and Property

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.

After land was transferred from the government to private ownership, subsequent transactions were recorded at the courthouse, where records are currently housed.

See Indiana Land and Property for additional information about early Indiana land grants and patents.

Finding More Land Records

Additional land records can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Allen County, Indiana Genealogy Probate Records in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
• FamilySearch Catalog (For instructions see FamilySearch Catalog Places Search).

Maps

• Old Antique Atlases & Maps of Indiana
• Family Maps of Allen County, Indiana Genealogy (land patent maps) at HistoryGeo.com ($). Free surname search.
• Allen County development, 1823-1835
• Allen County, 1860
• Allen County, 1880
• Cemetery locations of 190 cemeteries on Google map
  
• Fort Wayne, panorama, 1857
• Fort Wayne Central Business District, 1929
• Kekionga, 1697-1824
• Suburban and Rural Additions, 1960
• Township Layout

Military Records

Civil War

Civil War service men from Allen 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 Allen County.

• 5th Regiment, Indiana Cavalry (90th Regiment, Indiana Volunteers), Company D
• 8th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Reorganized Company G
• 9th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company E
• 11th Regiment, Indiana Cavalry, Company C
• 11th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Reorganized Company H
• 12th Regiment, Indiana Cavalry, Company I
• 12th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Companies F, G, and Reorganized Companies B, G, and K
• 13th Regiment, Indiana Cavalry, Company G
• 13th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Reorganized Companies D, and K
• 14th Battery, Indiana Light Artillery
• 15th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company C
• 23rd Battery, Indiana Light Artillery
• 30th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Companies A, D, and Reorganized Companies A, and E
• 35th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company C
• 38th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Companies H, and K
• 44th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Companies C, D, G, and K
• 47th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company E
• 74th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company C
• 88th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Companies C, D, E, and F
• 91st Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Companies H, and K
• 100th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company K
• 129th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Companies B, C, and I
• 137th Regiment, Indiana Infantry (100 days, 1864), Company E
• 139th Regiment, Indiana Infantry (100 days, 1864), Company H
• 142nd Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Companies D, E, F, G, and H
• 152nd Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Companies G, and H
• 155th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company D
  

• Persons Exempt from Military Service, Sept. 1862
• Allen County Pensioners, Oct. 1883
• Allen County Area Servicemen & Servicewomen, 20th Century

Newspapers

Allen County, Indiana Genealogy newspapers may contain genealogical value including obituaries, births, marriages, deaths, anniversaries, family gatherings, family travel, achievements, business notices, engagement information, and probate court proceedings. The Indiana Division of the Indiana State Library has the state’s largest newspaper collection. Their newspaper microfilms are available through inter-library loan. For a county-by-county inventory of their 16,500 reels of Indiana newspaper microfilms, see their Indiana Collection.

Other places to access newspapers are Newspaper Archive ($)(may be free at your local library), public libraries, college or university libraries, the Library of Congress, or Google News.

For more Indiana newspaper information see the wiki page Indiana Newspapers.

Obituaries

• Obituary Index, 1841- July 2015 Web site shows name, date of obituary and name of newspaper and page for the Fort Wayne and Allen County areas. There are more than 542,000 records in the database.

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 Allen County courthouse. For more information, see Indiana Probate Records. Online Probate Reccords

• 1798 – 1999 Indiana Wills and Probate Records 1798-1999 at Ancestry.com — index and images $
• Guardianship Records, 1829-1905. Index gives the name of the ward and usually the name of the guardian, date of appointment, heir of, and volume/page of the original record.

Finding More Probate Records

Additional probate records can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Allen County, Indiana Genealogy Probate Records in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
• FamilySearch Catalog (For instructions see FamilySearch Catalog Places Search).
• South Bend Area Genealogical Society: Wills Index 1830-1971 for St. Joseph County

Repositories

Courthouse

Clerk Circuit Court has marriage records records from 1824, divorce, probate and court records from 1823.
County Recorder has land records.
County Board of Health has birth, death and burial records.

Libraries

The Allen County Public Library houses one of the largest genealogical record collections in the world.  They can be visited at: www.acpl.lib.in.us. Phone: 260-421-1252

Museums

• African/African-American Historical Museum
  
• Fort Wayne Firefighters Museum
  
• The History Center/Allen County-Fort Wayne Historical Society
  

Societies

• Allen County Genealogical Society
  
• Allen County Genealogical Society on Facebook
  
• Besancon Historical Society
  
• Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society
  
• Four Presidents Corners Historical Society
  
• Huntertown Historical Society
  
• Mary Penrose Wayne Chapter NSDAR
  
• Settlers, Inc.
  

Family History Centers

Family history centers provide one-on-one assistance and free access to premium genealogical websites. In addition, many centers have free how-to genealogy classes. See family history center for more information. Search the online FHC directory for a nearby family history center.

• Fort Wayne Indiana Family History Center

For additional nearby Family History Centers, search online in the Family History Center directory.

Taxation

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.

For more information see the wiki page Indiana Taxation.

Finding More Tax Records

Additional tax records can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Allen County, Indiana Genealogy Tax Records in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
• FamilySearch Catalog (For instructions see FamilySearch Catalog Places Search).

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.

• 1906-1937 Monroeville Vital Records (1906-1937)
• 1907-1937 New Haven Vital Records (1907-1937)
• 1907-1937 Woodburn Vital Records (1907-1937)
  
• 1916-1937 Grabill Vital Records (1916-1937)

Birth Records

• 1877-1920 African-American Births, 1877-1920 

Marriage Records

• 1780-1992  Indiana Marriages, 1780-1992 - FamilySearch
  

• 1802-1892  Indiana, Marriage Index, 1802-1892 - Ancestry.com $
  

• 1811-2007  Indiana Marriage, 1811-2007 - FamilySearch
   

• 1824-1920 African-American Marriage Records, 1824-1920

Death Records

• 1870s-1920s Allen County Death Index, 1870s-1920s
  
• 1882-1920 Indiana Death Index

FamilySearch

• 1887-1920 African-American Deaths, 1887-1920
• 1909-1937 Allen Co. Deaths (1909-1937)(sel.) (with record images)
• 1918-1920 Influenza Deaths (1918-1920)
• 1937-1948 Infirmary deaths (1937-1948)

Finding Vital Records at Other Repositories

Additional vital records can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Allen County, Indiana Genealogy Vital Records in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
• FamilySearch Catalog (For instructions see FamilySearch Catalog Places Search).

Web Sites

• Allen County, IN History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
• Indiana Genealogy Network Community on Google+
• Indiana Genealogy Network Group on Facebook
• Allen INGenWeb Project is part of the USGenWeb Project containing links to various county resources, Biographies, Cemetery information including names, map location, and tombstone photographs, Church names and locations, Historical Photos, Obituary information, Look Up requests, Queries, and more.
  
• FamilySearch Catalog
• Allen County, Indiana Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
• Allen County Genealogy (Indiana Genealogy)

Places

• 92 Towns Past and Present
  
• Aboite Twp.: Dunfee
• Adams Twp.: Adams Station, New Haven
• Cedar Creek Twp.: Cedarville, Grabill, Hamilton, Hursh, Leo, Urbana
• Eel River Twp.: Potter Station
  
• Jackson Twp.: Baldwin, Edgerton, Townley
• Jefferson Twp.: Besancon, Maples, Tillman, Zulu
• Lafayette Twp.: Aboite, Aboite Station, Nine Mile, Zanesville
• Lake Twp.: Arcola, Hadley
• Madison Twp.: Boston Corner, Centreville, Hoagland, Massilon
• Marion Twp.: Hessen Cassel, Middletown, Poe, Williamsport
• Maumee Twp.: Bluecast, Edwardsville, Woodburn
• Milan Twp.: Fairport, Gar Creek, Milan Center
• Monroe Twp.: Dixon (OH), East Liberty, Monroeville
• Perry Twp.: Carrolls, Huntertown, Hunterville, Royville
• Pleasant Twp.: Sheldon, Yoder
• St. Joseph Twp.
• Scipio Twp.
• Springfield Twp.: Cuba, Halls Corners, Harlan, Maysville
• Washington Twp.: Academie, Wallen
• Wayne Twp.: Fort Wayne, Kekionga, Lewisburg, South Wayne, Waynedale
  

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