Clinton County, Indiana Genealogy

United States

Indiana

Clinton County

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

Indiana Online Genealogy Records

County Facts County seat: Frankfort Organized: March 1, 1830 Parent County(s): Tippecanoe County Neighboring Counties Carroll • Howard • Tipton • Hamilton • Boone • Montgomery • Tippecanoe See County Maps Courthouse Location Map

County Information

Description

Clinton County was named in honor of DeWitt Clinton, the seventh Governor of New York State and architect of the Erie Canal. The county is located in the central area of the state.

County Courthouse

Clinton County Courthouse
265 Courthouse Square
Frankfort IN 46041
Phone: 765-659-6335
County Website

Clinton County Health Department
400 East Clinton Street
Frankfort, IN, 46041
Health Officer: Stephen Tharp, MD
Phone Number: 765-659-6385
Fax: 765-659-6387
Email: jfearnow@clinton.com
Health Department

County Health Department has birth and death records.
County Clerk has marriage and probate records from 1830, divorce and court records from 1888.
County Recorder has land records.
Health Department has birth records and death records.
Copies may be obtained from the county health department or the Indiana State Division of Vital Records.

Clinton County, Indiana Record Dates

Information for this chart was taken from various sources, often containing conflicting dates. This information should be taken as a guide and should be verified by contacting the county and/or the state government agency.

Known Beginning Dates for Government County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1882	1830	1882	1888	1829	1830	1807
*Statewide registration for births in 1907 and deaths in Oct 1899. General compliance by 1917.

Record Loss

There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

Boundary Changes

Parent County: Clinton County was organized in March 1, 1830 from Tippecanoe County County Seat: Frankfort Indiana Individual County Chronologies - Newberry Library list of all boundary changes by county Indiana Historical Borders - Map at Newberry Library Atlas of Historical County Boundaries; Also at: mapofus.org - animated maps illustrating Indiana county boundary changes

Populated Places

Cities
Frankfort
Towns
Colfax Kirklin	Michigantown Mulberry	Rossville
Unincorporated communities
Antioch Avery Beard Boyleston Cambria Cyclone Edna Mills	Fickle Forest Geetingsville Hamilton Hillisburg Jefferson Kilmore	Manson Middlefork Moran Pickard Reagan Scircleville Sedalia
Townships
Center Forest Jackson Johnson Kirklin	Madison Michigan Owen Perry Ross	Sugar Creek Union Warren Washington
Ghost towns
Berlin	Mortonsville	Prairieville

Resources

Bible Records

• Hannah Whitesell Miller Family Bible at USGenWeb Archives

Biographies

• Indiana Biography Index at Indiana State Library
• A Portrait and Biographical Record of Boone and Clinton Counties, Indiana. 1895. Chicago, Ill. : A.W. Bowen & Co. Online at: FamilySearch Digital Book; Hathitrust; Internet Archive.

Cemeteries

Cemeteries of Clinton County, Indiana online and in print
Tombstone Transcriptions Online	BillionGraves Find a Grave Interment.net RecordAGrave Index USGW Tombstone Transcription Project
Tombstone Transcriptions in Print (Often more complete)	FamilySearch Catalog WorldCat.org
List of Cemeteries in the County	BillionGraves FamilySearch Places Find a Grave
See Indiana Cemeteries for more information

Census Records

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

Historical populations
Census	Pop.	%±
1830	1,423	—
1840	7,508	427.6%
1850	11,869	58.1%
1860	14,505	22.2%
1870	17,330	19.5%
1880	23,472	35.4%
1890	27,370	16.6%
1900	28,202	3.0%
1910	26,674	−5.4%
1920	27,737	4.0%
1930	27,329	−1.5%
1940	28,411	4.0%
1950	29,734	4.7%
1960	30,765	3.5%
1970	30,547	−0.7%
1980	31,545	3.3%
1990	30,974	−1.8%
2000	33,866	9.3%
2010	33,224	−1.9%
Source: "Wikipedia.org".

• Index to Mortality Schedule (1860) at Indiana Genealogical Society ($)
• Index to Defective, Dependent & Delinquent Census (1880) at Indiana Genealogical Society ($)

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.
List of Churches and Church Parishes

• FamilySearch Places
  

Court Records

• 1818-1954 Indiana Court Cases at MyHeritage — index ($)
• 1840-1920 Clinton County Circuit Court Civil Order Books, 1840-1920(*); Circuit and Probate Court at FamilySearch Catalog — index & images
• 1857-1873 Clinton County, Court of Common Pleas Civil Order Books, 1857-1873(*); Court of Common Pleas at FamilySearch Catalog — index & images

Directories

• 1970-2024 United States, Residence Database, 1970-2024 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index, coverage may vary

• 20th Century Atlas of Clinton County, Indiana : Containing Maps of Villages, Cities and Townships of the County, of the State, United States and World, Farmers Directory, Business Directory and General Information...(*) at FamilySearch Catalog — images

Ethnic, Political, and Religious Groups

• 28th US Colored Troops, Addition Recruits for Colored Troops
  

Funeral Homes

• Archer-Weston Funeral Home and Cremation Center in Frankfort.
• Day and Genda Funeral Home in Frankfort.
• Goodwin Funeral Home in Frankfort.

Land and Property Records

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

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

Online Land Indexes and Records

• Full-Text Search - Land Records at FamilySearch - index & images; dates, records, and places vary; How to Search

Local Histories

Local histories are available for Clinton County. County histories may include biographies; church, school and government histories; and military information. For more information about local histories, see Indiana Local Histories.

• History of Clinton County, Indiana. 1886. Chicago, Illinois : Inter-state. Online at: FamilySearch Digital Library, Hathitrust, Internet Archive; At various libraries (WorldCat).
• History of Clinton County, Indiana. 1913. By Joseph Claybaugh. Indianapolis, Ind. : A.W. Bowen & Company. Online at: FamilySearch Digital Book, Internet Archive; At various libraries (WorldCat).

Maps and Gazetteers

• Historic Indiana Maps at IUPUI University Library

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

• Old Antique Atlases & Maps of Indiana
• FamilySearch Places: Map of cities and towns in this county - How to Use FS Places

Military Records

• Military Record Series Index at Indiana Digital Archives

Civil War
Civil War service men from Clinton 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 Clinton County.

• 3rd Regiment, Indiana Cavalry, Company E
• 3rd Battery, Indiana Light Artillery
• 4th Regiment, Indiana Cavalry, Company I
• 7th Regiment, Indiana Cavalry, Company K
• 10th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company C, and Reorganized Company C
• 11th Regiment, Indiana Cavalry, Company M
• 12th Battery, Indiana Light Artillery
• 30th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Reorganized Company D
• 40th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Companies C, and E
• 51st Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company B
• 72nd Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company K
• 86th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Companies G, and H
• 100th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company I
• 135th Regiment, Indiana Infantry (100 days, 1864), Companies B, C, F, and H
• 139th Regiment, Indiana Infantry (100 days, 1864), Companies B, C F, and H
• 150th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Companies D, F, I, and K
• 154th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Companies E, F, I, K
• 28th US Colored Troops, Addition Recruits for Colored Troops
  

Civil War Book:

• "Slavery, And Indiana In The War Of The Rebellion" and "The Civil War" Chapter 9 in History of Clinton County, Indiana: Together with Sketches of Its Cities, Villages and Towns, Educational, Religious, Civil, Military, and Political History, Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Representative Citizens Also a Condensed History of Indiana. (Evansville, Ind: Unigraphic, Inc, 1977.) page 144-198; 373-393; 977.2553 H2h FS Library US/CAN Book FS Library Collection other librariesINTERNET ARCHIVE

World War I

• 1919 Indiana, World War I, Enrollment Cards, 1919 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection

Naturalization and Citizenship

• Naturalization Record Series (for this county) at Indiana Digital Archives. Search by names.

Newspapers

Indiana newspapers may contain genealogical value including obituaries, births, marriages, deaths, anniversaries, family gatherings, family travel, achievements, business notices, engagement information, and probate court proceedings.

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

• 1800s-Current Indiana, U.S., Newspapers.com™ Stories and Events Index, 1800's-Current at Ancestry — index & images ($)
• 1800s-1999 U.S., Newspapers.com Marriage Index, 1800s-1999 at Ancestry - index ($)
• Hoosier State Chronicles

Voting Records

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 Clinton County courthouse. For more information, see Indiana Probate Records.

Online Probate Indexes and Records

• 1798-1999 Indiana Wills and Probate Records 1798-1999 at Ancestry ($)
• 1831-1921 Clinton County Probate Records, 1831-1921(*); Circuit Court at FamilySearch Catalog — index & images
• 1830-1904 Clinton County, Indiana, Will Records, 1830-1904, Bks. 1-4. By Slevin, Ruth M. n.p. : n.p.. 1978. Online at: FamilySearch Digital Library.
• Full-Text Search - Wills and Probate Records at FamilySearch - index & images; dates, records, and places vary; How to Search

School Records

• Graduates of Kirklin High School (1901-1927) at Indiana Genealogical Society ($)
• [http://www.indgensoc.org/membersonly/county/index.php#clay Students and Teachers of Kirklin High School (1951) at Indiana Genealogical Society ($)
• Students and Teachers of Frankfort High School (1922) at Indiana Genealogical Society ($)
• Directory of Teachers (1936) at Indiana Genealogical Society ($)

Social Security Records

• 1935-2014 United States Social Security Death Index at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index. Also at Ancestry, findmypast, Fold3, GenealogyBank, MyHeritage, and Steve Morse. Click here for more information.
• 1936-2007 U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 at Ancestry ($) — index, click here for more information.
• 1936-2007 United States, Social Security Numerical Identification Files (NUMIDENT), 1936-2007 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index

Tax Records

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.

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.

Marriage

• 1780-1992 Indiana Marriages, 1780-1992 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; Also at: MyHeritage ($)
• 1800s-2007 Indiana, United States Marriages at Findmypast $
• 1811-1959 Indiana, Marriages, 1811-1959 at MyHeritage - index & images ($)
• 1811-2007 Indiana Marriages, 1811-2007 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection
• Marriage records Book H-7 (1882-1888) InGenWeb

Death

• Pre-1882 WEB: Indiana, Deaths, Pre-1882 at Ancestry - index, (Free collection)
• 1750-1993 Indiana Deaths and Burials, 1750-1993 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection
  
• 1882-1920 Indiana, Death Index, 1882-1920 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection
  
• 1899-2011 Indiana, Death Certificates, 1899-2011 at Ancestry - ($)

Research Facilities

Archives

Listed below are archives in Clinton County. For state-wide archival repositories, see Indiana Archives and Libraries.

FamilySearch Centers

FamilySearch Center and Affiliate Library Locator map - search for local FamilySearch Centers or Affiliate Libraries

• FamilySearch Centers provide one-on-one assistance, free access to center-only databases, and to premium genealogical websites.
• FamilySearch Affiliate Libraries have access to most center-only databases, but may not always have full services normally provided by a FamilySearch center.
  

Local Centers and Affiliate Libraries

• Brownsburg Indiana FamilySearch Center
• Crawfordsville Indiana FamilySearch Center
• Kokomo Indiana FamilySearch Center
• West Lafayette Indiana FamilySearch Center
• Hamilton East Public Library - Noblesville - an affiliate library.
• Kokomo-Howard County Public Library - an affiliate library.
• Sullivan Munce Cultural Center - an affiliate library.

Libraries

Listed below are libraries in Clinton County. For state-wide genealogical societies, see Indiana Archives and Libraries.

Frankfort Community Public Library
208 West Clinton Street
Frankfort, IN 46041
Phone: 765-654-8746
Email: fcpl@myfcpl.org
Website

Museums

Clinton County Historical Society and Museum
301 E Clinton Street
Frankfort, IN 46041
Phone: 765-659-2030
Email: cchsm@live.com
Website
Facebook

Societies

Listed below are societies in Clinton County. For state-wide genealogical societies, see Indiana Societies.

Clinton County Genealogical Society
Frankfort Community Public Library
208 West Clinton Street
Frankfort, IN 46041
Phone 765-654-8746
Email: clintoncogensoc@gmail.com
Facebook

Clinton County Historical Society and Museum
301 East Clinton Street
Frankfort, IN 46041
Phone: 765-659-2030
Email: cchsm@live.com
Website

Websites

• Indiana Digital Archives Search by name in all records or specific collections
• Indiana Historical Society Digital Collections Search by county or keyword
• Indiana Memory Click the map or select a statewide collection
• List of indexes and databases at Indiana State Library
• Indiana Genealogical Society Databases Free and Members-only. Select a county
• USGen Archive project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county.
• USGenWeb IN Project
• Clinton County, Indiana Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
• FamilySearch Catalog – The FamilySearch catalog contains descriptions and access information for all genealogical materials (including books, online materials, microfilm, microfiche, and publications) in their collection.  Use Historical Records to search for specific individuals in genealogical records.