Notes from the
JENNINGS COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY











ATTENTION-The Jennings County Public Library remodel is now complete and the Grand re-opening was November 19, 2011. We are now an officially an affiliate of FamilySearch.org so you can order and view the microfilm records they have available here at the Library! We have the first two here now (early Catholic Church records). If you are in the area please come by and see our improvements.   Sheila

This page is to help with finding and using the resources available at the Jennings County Public Library. We have some that are NEW  Feb. 2012 additions to the Local History and Genealogy Room, including Franklin County Cemetery records, Civil War letters of Hagerman Tripp Wagner, 500 new Obituaries in the Obituary file, a large map of early Indiana railroads (loaned to the Library by Stephen Malone), I am working through some of our archive items which will be available to view when I am in the room. One I am excited about is a 1850 probate record book (still in the original leather binding) an Index to this book is at the bottom of this page. I am also digitizing it so it can be viewed without actually handling the book itself.  April 1, 2012 - Record books of the North Vernon Knights of Pythias late 1800's early 1900's - shows deaths of members and their families. "History of Batesville Indiana". "The Guirl Family in Indiana" a book containing Civil War letters written by James Guirl and mentions of the families neighbors in Bigger Township. The Descendants of Rev. John Shepherd. Another new book is Three Dobbins generations a frontiers by Robert Z. Callaham. The Dobbins & Callaham families were involved in founding of the Vernon Presbyterian Church.

Presently my hours are Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday 9:00 to 1:00 and Wednesday 5:00 to 9:00, also 9:00 to 4:00 the first Saturday of each month.

   There are over 5,000 items in the Local History & Genealogy section of the Jennings County Public Library. Copies are permitted and the cost is 10 cents each, payable at the main desk. This list is a work in progress and I will add more items as I find them. There will also be some things from the library records. These will show up for you to click on toward the bottom of this page.  

RECORDS ON MICROFILM

Vernon Presbyterian Church Records, Minutes, 1825-1893  Roll of Members January 1, 1893

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.

Jennings County Death Records 1882-1910 

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.

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.

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. 2009.

OBITUARY CARD FILE - Alphabetical Order - various obituaries & dates-UPDATE! 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)
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 you 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.
MONTGOMERY TOWNSIP TRUSTEE'S JOURNALS   1859-1884  Montgomery Township includes the towns of Paris, Paris Crossing and Comiskey - 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.
Daughters of the American Revolution Scrapbooks from Muscatatuck Chapter which is no longer in existance - 6 books.
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 who lived in Jennings County, most were contributed by researchers and are in Genealogy format.
Maps including current plat maps.
Genealogy records in binders complied by previous librarians and volunteers.
Marriage Indexes giving what book and page the records may be found in at the Courthouse. 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 but they are in the books.
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 Curcuit of the Methodist Church, these include Dupont & Lancaster (Jefferson County) late 1800's early 1900's.
Marion Township School records early 1900's, students & teachers listed by school.
Tobacco & Alcohol Tax Stamps - 1876
Births and Deaths    For 1919 listed in the January 1920 North Vernon Sun Newspaper      
Transcription      record of the Tripton Band 1898 - 1911
List of delinquent taxpayers      For the year 1865
James Hill vs Benjamin R. Sutton Lawsuit      1871 - lists heirs of Benjamin R. Sutton - picture of actual document
Sandcreek Township Pioneers    Old newspaper Articles - unknown authors
History of Campbell Township by J. C. Cope
Probate Book 2 Index to Complete Probate Book 2   
Family Histories Family Books and Binders donated to the Library by researchers. NEW

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