Welcome to the Newton County -
Indiana's Youngest County
In March and April, 1996, a group of
genealogists
organized
the Indiana Comprehensive Genealogy Database. The idea was to provide a
single entry point for all counties in Indiana, where collected
databases would be stored. In addition, the databases would be indexed
and cross-linked, so that even if an individual were found in more than
one county, they could be located in the index. At the same time,
volunteers were found who were willing to coordinate the collection of
databases and generally oversee the contents of the web page. This site
was first created by Bob Williamson in 1996, with the help of the
INGENWEB group. This site is dedicated to his devotion to the
preservation of our heritage for future generations. Newton County
Historical Society member Beth
Bassett
is responsible for Newton County. Please contact her if you would like
to contribute to this database. If you would like to host a county,
contact the Indiana State
Coordinator, Katy Hestand.
NEW MT. AYR HISTORY
BOOK NOW IN THE WORKS!
THE HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF MT. AYR, INDIANA. JACKSON AND COLFAX
TOWNSHIPS
The Newton County Historical Society is in the beginning stages of
publishing a book with the history of the town of Mt. Ayr, Indiana,
Jackson Township and Colfax Township. County Historian Donna LaCosse is
heading up this committee and she has gathered together and uncovered
new items for the project.
We are looking in particular for family histories and photos. Old
historical photos and in need of the area, and you can email them to
us. We prefer a high resolution for publication. A JPG at max if you
scan them as 300 dpi work. Please tag each photo with description,
history that you know about them and so forth. All photos will be
returned as quickly as possible.
All
Submissions will be free, and we ask that you send photos with complete
identification and your family history to newtonhs@ffni.com or mail them to
the Newton County Historical Society,
P.O. Box 303, Kentland, IN 47951. For more information or to purchase a
copy of the book, contact
the Resource Center at 219-474-6944. Please leave your name and contact
info on voice mail. Thank you!
NEW GOODLAND AND GRANT TOWNSHIP
HISTORY BOOK NOW IN THE WORKS!
Karen
Schuette and Anne Meyer
are collecting photos, articles, memories regarding the town of
Goodland and Grant Township. They hope to publish their historical
collections by the end of next year. The guidelines for submission are
the same as above, and you can contact either of them directly, or
through the historical society contacts listed above. Please contact
them to purchase a copy of the book.
Search this site here!
- Many of the subjects on the page have their own SURNAME search.
Please utilize those as well.
Site
Index - Several
Items that appeared on this page are now within the Newton County
Historical Society Site - simply click link in index below for access.
Where can I get a copy of Newton
County Birth, Death, Marriage and other records?
Please contact the following county
offices for
documentation, and information. When writing for information, please
include a money order for up to $5.00 for postage and copies, depending
upon how many copies are needed and weight of mailing.
Birth and
Death Records - Held at the
Newton County Health Department
4117 S 240 W
Suite 500 Morocco Indiana 47963 Phone
(219) 285-2052 E-mail newtoncofd-vr@localhealth.in.gov
Records include some 1882 - present. Even though the State of Indiana
states that all birth records should be available beginning in 1907 and
death records in 1902, this may not necessarily be accurate. Please
contact this office for more information. They may be able to fax
information to you. Please submit appropriate form with inquiries.
Click here Death
Certificate form. Click here for Birth Certificate form.
Marriage
Records - Held at the Newton
County Clerk's Office
P.O. Box 49,
Kentland, Indiana 47951, Phone 219-474-6081; Records
include 1860 to present; Probate (wills, estates, guardianships) - 1860
to present; Civil Cases (divorces, lawsuits) - 1860 to present;
Election Records - 1904 or 06 to present.
Land Transfers
and Deeds - Held at the Newton County Recorder's Office
201 N. 3rd
Street, Kentland, Indiana 47951, Phone
219-474-6081; Records include: 1860 to present; Some
Cemetery Deeds and Surveys.
Road
Petitions and Records - Held at the Newton County Recorder's Office 201 N.
3rd Street, Kentland,
Indiana 47951, Phone 219-474-6081; Records
include: requests
to improve roads in early days; Commissioner's Minutes - 1860 to
present.
Submitted Family Histories – These family
histories are in hard copy form only, and are multiple pages. It may be
difficult to obtain copies, but every effort will be made to help with
your research. Please contact the Newton County Coordinator.
A
F
K
Kenoyer - several different generations
Kessler
Kessler-Goddard
Kindig
Newton
County Landowners, 1904
- Transcribed by Janet Miller from a map of Newton County, 1904,
landowners are listed
in each Township, also view individual Township maps with sections.
This record originally appeared as a feature in the Newton County
Historical Society's newsletter, "The Newcomer," beginning in 2002
through 2005. The records were transcribed by society member Janet
Miller. These are in PDF format, and may be searched through your
reader software.
1895 Map of
Newton County - Click
here: http://www.livgenmi.com/1895/IN/County/newton.htm
to view the Atlas of 1895, Newton County. Check the site out for other
Indiana and US Atlas Maps. Thanks to Pam Reitsch for downloading and
providing this link for us.
Newton
County Vital Records: Death Index
1800-1941
- These records were extracted from the World Projects Administration
(WPA) in 1941. Information includes: Surname, Given Name, Sex, Color,
Age, Death Month, Death Day, Death Year, County, Book, Page, Fiche. These are in PDF format, and may
be searched through your reader software.
The
walking and recording of these cemeteries was accomplished in 1997 by
members of the Newton County Historical Society.
The
majority of these records utilize a surname search found on the main
page. The following cemetery files are in PDF format, and may be
searched by utilizing the search tool in your pdf reader. Washington
Township:
Doran; Jefferson
Township: Pleasant Grove; McClellan:
Betz/Skinner/McClellan and Morgan/Tracy.
We
would like to thank Gary Clifton for his contribution of these
databases, Enlistment records for Company B, 51st Indiana Infantry, the
largest group of soldiers from Newton County, and the cemetery records
for the Strong or Powell Cemetery which is just inside Jasper County
but includes mostly people from Newton County.
His
Newton County Roots still run deep, and over the years, many people
have contacted him personally about their kin when they became aware
that he had these lists. Please contact him at clifton@gbis.com
regarding any questions. These
are in PDF format, and may
be searched through your reader software.
Members
of the Iroquois Washington Township
Preservation Committee (IWPC) are seeking obituaries for the burials at
Riverside Cemetery for publication in the near future. They are seeking
obituaries of those on this list. Please contact kidclerk@aol.com
with your information or any questions.These now appear as a web
page.
Newton County Cemetery Stone Restoration
Projects
Click on this site under
Projects,/Completed to see the cemetery listings: Stonehugger Cemetery Restoration,
Inc. Indiana
based, full-service cemetery restoration company specializing in repair
and renovation of pioneer cemeteries; owner Helen Wildermuth. Helen and
her partner Mark Davis spent many hours restoring Newton County
cemeteries.
If
you would like to contribute to this list, please send your obituary in
a text document to the Newton
County Coordinator.
If you have several for one family, we will break them into a seperate
list with a heading on this site. Individual obits submissions can
also
be
found in the Pioneer and Contributed Obituaries link below. The
information that is contained within family web sites and blogs are
properties of the invidual who submitted them to this site. Permission
for use of material contained within those sites/blogs must be obtained
from the webmaster/owner of that particular site.
Family Obituaries
Newton County Obituaries pertaining
to the following families:
Brown, Brownfield, Cox, David, Ellsworth, Gibbons, Mott, Newell, Page,
Sallee, Snow, Vayette
We can thank Susie
Hall for the current obituaries that are listed on this site. If you
would like to submit your obituary for this listing contact the Newton County Coordinator
and send a text or doc file or pasted within your email message.
Photos are also welcome with links to email address for genealogy
purposes. Please attach the photos as a seperate file to the
email.
Newton County Newspaper Obituary
Files
- Contact the Newton County Coordinatorfor
copies of indexed obituaries. In the early years of the county we found
very few mentions of deaths in the area. When "news from the area"
began appearing in the publications a mention could have been placed in
the local news column, seldom did you find a full obituary. Some of the
indexed names were found in such columns without any further obituary
appearing. We have included these in the indexes to provide researchers
with at least of date of approximate death of their ancestor.
Bound Copies of Local NewspapersAvailable
at the Newton County Historical Society Resource Center in Kentland,
Indiana.
The Morocco Courier – 1915-1988
Newton County Chronotype, 1861-1864
Newton County Union/Gazette 1862-1867
Newton County Democrat 1868-1873; Kentland Gazette 1867-1892
Newton County Enterprise 1892-1990
2003-present; Newton County Farm News
Newsletter of the Newton County Farm Bureau-Loose
copies – 1959 to January 1965
The Student Prints – Mt. Ayr High School Newspaper –
various editions
Newspaper on Microfilm
Available at the Newton County Historical Society Resource Center in
Kentland, Indiana.
The Morocco Courier – 1914-1928; 1929-2007
The Goodland Herald on microfilm only 1904-1954
The Lake Village Villager on microfilm only 1965-1975
The Newton County Enterprise 1860-1992
The Rensselaer Union on microfilm only 1868-1877
The Rensselaer Republican on microfilm only 1886-1892
The Old Gold and Black – Morocco High School Newsletter;
few loose issues
The Newton Gazette – John J. Yost Editor 1978-1979
Mike Holder recently completed an index of
obituaries from the Goodland
Herald from 1904-1935. It contains a data base of almost 2,800 death
notices and obituaries. Mike has worked on this project for the past
ten years, and wanted to make his research availble to the public. We
thank Mike for all of his efforts in this project. One index is a
complete listing of all obitiuaries, another is an index of "No
Name"
death notices, where only the local survivor's name was
mentioned.Copies of these obitiuaries can be obtained by contacting the
Newton County Coordinator.
The Newton County Historical Society's Resource Center, located at 310
E. Seymour Street, Kentland, Indiana, have all of the microfilms of the
Goodland Herald. A microfilm reader/printer is available for public
use. When requesting a copy via email/regular mail (send c/o Newton
County Historical Society, PO Box 303, Kentland, IN 47951) , please be
sure to include the date listed in the index.
The Goodland Herald was a weekly newspaper located
in the town of Goodland, Grant Township. It was published from
1904-1935. Click here to read a note
from Mike regarding the project.
Census on Microfilm Available at
the Newton County Historical Society Resource Center in Kentland,
Indiana.
Variety of Ohio 1790-1880’s
1850 Jasper County Federal Census
1860 Newton and Jasper County
1870 Newton and Jasper County
1880 Newton and Jasper County
1900 Newton and Jasper County (also on CD)
1920 Newton County; 1930 Newton County
Newton
County was formed from Jasper County in 1860. All census
records prior to that time would be listed under Jasper County. Special
thanks to Lori Strole-Myer who has transcribed the 1840 Jasper County
Census records for our site.
1930 Newton
County Census Records
Please contact Beth
Bassett
for look ups. These records are on CD of actual records, please include
the Township of Residence, or nearest town or village located to your
surname search. Thank you.
Please provide as much information as
possible - it will help her search the following records:
Newton Co, IN Census Records 1860-1930
Newton Co, IN Birth Records 1882-1920
Newton Co, IN death records 1882-1920
Please note that these are look up only - hard copies are not
available. Thank You Return to Site Index
Spanish
American War - Roster
for the State of Indiana - This link also contains other
state rosters. Thanks to Pam Reitsch for providing this link.
War of 1812 - Link to the Digital Collections of IUPUI
University Library - War of 1812 Collection
On-Going
Project! Newton
County Civil War Vet
Project - Newton
County Historical Society Member Kyle Conrad is attempting to place a
G.A.R. marker on the graves of all Newton County Civil War Vets buried
in Newton County. He has identified many unknown veteran burials
through this project, but still needs your help with many more. Click
here to read the article that appeared in the Winter 2008
Newcomer, newsletter of the Newton County Historical Society.
Newton
County School Photo Gallery - Check each school
section for Gallery Photos.
Do you have photo or
information to share with this site? Contact
us - we
welcome additions to the site! When
emailing, please attach
the picture seperately from
the document with your email. We cannot use images pasted into emails
and text documents. Thanks! Return to Site Index
Here is a link to the
National Register page of the State Historic Preservation Office.
This is a good place to go for questions about the National and State
Registers. Wanting to research your home for it's
history? Start by clicking here: Historic
Landmark Foundation of Indiana
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
