GENEALOGY

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COUNTY RESOURCES

**Marriage & Wills**

You can find marriages, wills, and court records at the county clerk’s office in the Jennings County Courthouse in Vernon, Indiana. (2 miles south of North Vernon on Hwys. 3&7). This office is open Mon.-Fri., 8:00-4:00 p.m.(812) 352-3070.

**Birth & Death**

Birth and death records prior to 1880 do not exist. After 1880 they are at the Health Dept. **Located at 245 Norris Avenue, North Vernon, Indiana**. The Health Dept is open Mon.-Fri., 8:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m., (812) 352-3024.

**Land Records**

Located at the county recorder’s office in the Jennings County Courthouse Annex. The annex is a new building similar in style to the courthouse, located across the street from the courthouse in Vernon, Indiana, 1 block north of Hwy.7 on Brown St. The recorder’s office is open Mon.-Fri., 8:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m., (812) 352-3053. Visit https://jenningscounty-in.gov/recorder-1 for the recorders office.

RECORDS ON FILM

Newspapers on Microfilm (partially indexed) Beginning with the Vernon Banner 1859 some difficult to read – not all early issues are on microfilm, ending with Dec. 29 2022.

Obituary Card File Alphabetical Order – various obituaries & dates- thanks to the estate of Lillian Carmer donating some of her records to the Library we have just added 500 more obituaries to the card file. (Thank you Bonita Welch for all your help)

Montgomery Township Trustee’s Journals (1859-1884) Montgomery Township includes the towns of Paris, Paris Crossing and Commiskey – photo copies of actual journals, lists of heads of households with how many school age children were in the home, payments for work in the Township including building schools, and roads.

Local Histories Including the entire county, townships and towns, many first person accounts of who lived in the various areas, what they did. Some of these are bound books others are binders. If you find your ancestors in a certain township in census records be sure to check any township histories for them also.

Family Histories Books & Binders on various families connected to Jennings County, most were contributed by researchers and are in Genealogy format.

Marriage Indexes Gives the book and page where the records may be found at the Courthouse. Ancestry.com does not have all the marriages for Jennings County available. Caution here, the books at the Courthouse have changed from a letter to a number system. Go by the date range you want then the page numbers in the Index will be correct. Also do not just use the Index’s in the books at the Courthouse, there are some not in the book index that are in the books.

Gray Boxes Just what the name says, these are gray colored file boxes filled with records, there is an index searchable by surname in spreadsheet form on the Genealogy Room computer. Files contain contributed family files, research done by previous Librarians, newspaper clippings, local & church histories, copies of actual court documents, (wills, probate & civil court cases).

Also in Gray Boxes are copies of ORIGINAL COURT FILES in a separate database called Court documents copied & filed, also searchable by surname, with what type of record is involved and in some cases the date of the document. These boxes are numbered and in each box are many folders that are numbered. To find what you want search by surname then get the box number then the file number that is within the box.

Please put the files back in the boxes in numerical order so the next person can find them. I am finding some of these with papers missing, please make copies and leave the originals in the boxes for others to use.

Jennings County Death Records 1882-1910
Vernon Presbyterian Church Records, Minutes, 1825-1893 Roll of Members January 1, 1893
Graham Baptist Church Records from 1828-1888
Graham Presbyterian Minutes from 1817 to 1947
Sand Creek Baptist association Minute Book 1845-1907
Scrapbooks of R. W. Norris, Lockwood, – miscellaneous records including Maples, Lewis , Genealogy and much more.
Enrollment Cards for the Five Civilized Tribes 1898-1914: Index to the Final Rolls, and Final Rolls.
Daughters of the American Revolution Scrapbooks from Muscatatuck Chapter, which is no longer in existence – 6 books.
Maps including current plat maps.
Genealogy records in binders complied by previous librarians and volunteers.
Cemetery Indexes and transcriptions done by volunteers, some more detailed than others.
Dodd Funeral Home Records, Census Mortality Schedules, Photocopies of some records of the Paris Circuit of the Methodist Church, these include Dupont & Lancaster (Jefferson County) late 1800′s early 1900′s.
Fletcher Dowd Funeral Home Records 1901-1958, History of Coffee Creek School (Soldiers from Paris in the Civil War), Brief Early History of North Vernon, Brief History of Paris, Brief history of Bear Creek Baptist Church, History of the Henry Deputy family, Rabbit Plains School Reunion minutes, 1945, Wednesday Research Club Minutes.
Wednesday Research Club, Hayden Baptist Church Records, Mrs. Wohrer’s Scrapbook – History of Spencer Township, Hayden Baptist, Vernon Baptist Church, 1839-1877, 1877-1915
Vernon Cemetery, Vernon, IN., index-Robbins Family, Spencer, Tate, & McCammon-Bland Families, Ritz Family, Harrell Legacy, Also contains Hillcrest Cemetery, North Vernon & St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery, North Vernon.
Marion Township School records early 1900′s, students & teachers listed by school.
School Annuals & Alumni Books – only available when staff can open the locked case – pictures have been cut out of some of the books so use has to be restricted.