Indiana genealogy records

Births and deaths

The Indiana Department of Health says its vital records office officially began recording births in 1907 and deaths in 1900. The State Library and the State Archives describe it a little differently: counties began keeping birth and death records in 1882, registration became mandatory in 1907, and before then nothing was collected at the state level. In practice, look to the state for deaths from 1900 and births from 1907, and to the county health office for anything from 1882 until then.

For births and deaths before 1882, the State Archives suggests local newspapers and the records of the family's church instead, and probate files for proof of relationships.

Access is limited for births. The State Library notes that under Indiana law birth records are not publicly accessible for 75 years. The Department of Health lists genealogy among the reasons it accepts for a request, with proof of death, and says the person named must be over 75 years old and deceased. Certified copies come only from the Department of Health or the county health department; the State Library and State Archives cannot certify anything.

Free certificate images at the State Library

The State Library's Genealogy Division lists statewide Indiana birth certificates from 1907 to 1940 and death certificates from 1899 to 2011 as full records on Ancestry Library Edition, free to use in the library, plus a death index for 2012 to 2017. The State Archives describes the online range for births as 1907 to 1945.

For the county years, the Works Progress Administration made indexes to births and deaths from 1882 to 1920. They cover 67 of Indiana's 92 counties, and the death index is free online at FamilySearch.

Marriages and divorces

Marriage records have always been required in Indiana, and each county began issuing licenses when it was created. The original record is with the clerk of court in the county that issued the license, which may not be the county where the ceremony took place. The state collected marriages only from 1958.

The State Library's free Indiana Legacy index covers marriages before 1850 and from 1958 to 2017, and the State Archives has a statewide marriage index for 1957 to 1992 on microfilm. Licenses from 1993 on can be searched in the courts' Marriage License Public Lookup. Online collections for the 1930s to 1950s are especially incomplete, so for those years go to the county.

Divorces from 1852 on are with the county clerks of court. Before the 1852 constitution, a divorce could only be granted by an act of the legislature.

Census records

The 1810 census of Indiana Territory is lost; the National Archives has no schedules for it. The federal census survives from 1820, though the National Archives lists the 1820 schedule for Daviess County as missing. The State Library's Genealogy Division holds federal census microfilm, and the State Archives holds special schedules, including agriculture from 1850 to 1880, manufactures from 1820 to 1880, social statistics, and the 1880 schedule of defective, dependent and delinquent classes.

Indiana's own state censuses were only head counts for the legislature. The State Archives says they produced statistics, not lists of names, so there is no state census to fill gaps in the federal one.

Land records

Indiana was a public domain state: almost every acre was surveyed and then sold or granted by the federal government, except the old French lands around Vincennes and Clark's Grant near Clarksville. Federal sales in Indiana began in 1801, through the Cincinnati land office, in the strip of southeastern Indiana called the Gore. The first land office inside Indiana opened at Vincennes in 1807, Jeffersonville followed in 1808, and central Indiana sales began in 1820.

The State Archives holds the surveyors' field notes, plat maps and the land office tract books that record each first purchase. Once you know the first buyer and the legal description, later sales are in the county recorder's deed books.

Probate, courts and military records

Probate records are a strong source for family relationships. They are with the county clerk where the case was heard, though some counties have moved theirs to the State Archives. Some Marion County and Posey County probate records are indexed by name in the Indiana Digital Archives.

The State Archives' military holdings run from the territorial period to 1988. More than 200,000 men served from Indiana in the Civil War, and many of the archives' military records are indexed in its Research Indiana index. The State Archives does not hold Mexican War or Civil War pension files; the State Library's Genealogy Division has an index to the federal pension files on microfilm, and the files themselves are ordered from the National Archives.

Newspapers

For births and deaths before 1882, newspapers are one of the few places to look. The State Library has many historic Indiana newspapers, and Hoosier State Chronicles, its statewide digital newspaper program, gives free online access to digitized Indiana papers.