Decatur County, Indiana Genealogy

United States Indiana Decatur County

Guide to Decatur County Indiana genealogy. Birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

Decatur County, Indiana
Map
Location of Indiana in the U.S.
Facts
Founded	1821,
County Seat	December
Courthouse
Address	Decatur County Courthouse 150 Courthouse Square Suite 5 Greensburg, In 47240 Phone: 812-663-8223
Template:Adoption Indiana Genealogical Society

Historical Facts

Beginning dates for major county records
Birth	Marriage	Death	Land	Probate
1882*	1822*	1882*	1822	1822
*For earlier dates, try... Church | Obituaries | Cemeteries

• Parent Counties: Formed in 1821 from unorganized territory.
  
• County Seat: Greensburg
  

Neighboring Counties

• Neighboring Counties: Decatur County, Indiana Genealogy residents may also have records in
  Rush (north) · Franklin (east) · Ripley (southeast) · Jennings (south) · Bartholomew (west) · Shelby (northwest)
  

The county is named after U.S. naval officer Stephen Decatur (1779-1820).

Boundary Changes

For animated maps illustrating Indiana County boundary changes, "Rotating Formation Indiana County Boundary Maps" (1790-1873) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Record Loss

For a list of record loss in Indiana Counties see: Indiana Counties with Burned Courthouses

Resources

Census Records

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

Index to Defective, Dependent & Delinquent Census for Decatur County, Indiana (1880) (members only database, 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.

For more information about these major repositories, see Indiana Church Records.

Finding More Church Records

Additional church records can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Decatur County, Indiana Genealogy Church Records in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
• FamilySearch Catalog (For instructions see FamilySearch Catalog Place-name Search).

Directories

• Directory of Businesses in Decatur County, Indiana (1858, 1868) (members only database, Indiana Genealogical Society)

Histories

Local Histories

Local histories are available for Decatur County, Indiana Genealogy. County histories may include biographies; church, school and government histories; and military information.

• Every Name Index to History of Decatur County, Indiana.  Every Name Index compiled by Cathy L. O'Connor, 2007; original text by Lewis A. Harding, Editor; published by B. F. Bowen, 1915.  EveryNameIndex.com

• Harding, Lewis A. 1915. History of Decatur County, Indiana its people, industries and institutions, with biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the old families. (Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen.)  977.216 H2h v. 1, 977.216 H2h v. 2 FHL US/CAN Book FHL Collection   other library   Vol. 1 INTERNET ARCHIVE,  Vol.2 INTERNET ARCHIVE   eBooksRead
  

• African Methodist Episcopal Church (Greensburg, Indiana) (Added Author), Negro Cemetery (Clarksburg, Indiana) (Added Author), Decatur County (Indiana). Historian (Added Author), Black history, Decatur County, Indiana,'(Salt Lake City, Utah : Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1987 ) FHL US/CAN Film 1531735 Item 18 FHL Collection 
  

• Baldwin, Jane (Main Author), Baker, Ray Stannard, b. 1870 (Added Author), A history of the Negro in Decatur County, Indiana, (Salt Lake City, Utah : Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1987)  FHL US/CAN Film 1531732 Item 6 FHL Collection 

For more information about local histories, see the wiki page section Indiana Local Histories.

Land and Property

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.

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

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

Finding More Land Records

Additional land records can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Decatur County, Indiana Genealogy Probate Records in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
• FamilySearch Catalog (For instructions see FamilySearch Catalog Place-name Search).

Maps

• Old Antique Atlases & Maps of Indiana
• Family Maps of Decatur County, Indiana Genealogy (land patent maps) at HistoryGeo.com ($). Free surname search.

Military Records

• List of Pensioners on the Roll January 1, 1883 Decatur County, Indiana (Source:Internet Archive)

Civil War

Civil War service men from Decatur County served in various regiments. Men often joined a company (within a regiment) that originated in their county. Listed below are companies that were specifically formed in Decatur County.

• 7th Regiment, Indiana Cavalry, Company I
• 7th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Companies B, F, and Reorganized Companies D, E, G 
• 13th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Reorganized H
• 20th Battery, Indiana Light Artillery
• 20th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Reorganized Companies E, and G
• 30th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Reorganized Company A
• 37th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Companies E, and H
• 52nd Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company A, and D
• 59th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company E
• 74th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company F
• 83rd Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company E
• 89th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Companies H, I, and K
• 93rd Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company D
• 123rd Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Companies A, B, C, D, H, and I
• 134th Regiment, Indiana Infantry (100 days, 1864), Companies B, C, D, and E
• 146th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Companies A, E, G, and H
• 156th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company C

Civil War Books

• "Civil War," in "Military Record," Chapter 17 of Harding, Lewis A. 1915. History of Decatur County, Indiana its people, industries and institutions, with biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the old families. (Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen.) (page 420-464, Regiment, Companies,  Name's) 977.216 H2h v. 1, 977.216 H2h v. 2 FHL US/CAN Book FHL Collection   other library   Vol. 1 INTERNET ARCHIVE,  Vol.2 INTERNET ARCHIVE   eBooksRead
  

World War I (The Great War), 1914-1918

• History of Decatur County's part in the World War, 1914-1918 (Source: Internet Archive)
• World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 Decatur County (Source: Explore Ancestry for free) ($)

World War II, 1941-1945

• Decatur County, Indiana World War II Casualties, Army and Army Air Corps (Source: AccessGenealogy)            (above was copy from Linkpendium)

Occupations

• Doctors of Decatur County (1821-1915) ($, Indiana Genealogical Society)

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

Finding More Probate Records

Additional probate records can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Decatur County, Indiana Genealogy Probate Records in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
• FamilySearch Catalog (For instructions see FamilySearch Catalog Place-name Search).
• South Bend Area Genealogical Society: Wills Index 1830-1971 for St. Joseph County

Repositories

See also a List of Indiana Archives, Libraries, Publications, Historical & Genealogical Societies

Courthouse

Decatur County Courthouse
150 Courthouse Square Suite 5
Greensburg, In 47240
Phone: 812-663-8223

County Clerk has marriage record from 1822,
divorce, probate and court records.
Board of Health has birth and death records.

Family History Centers

• Batesville Indiana Family History Center

For additional nearby Family History Centers, search online in the Family History Center directory.

School Records

• Directory of Teachers for Decatur County (1936) ($, Indiana Genealogical Society)

Taxation

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.

For more information see the wiki page Indiana Taxation.

Finding More Tax Records

Additional tax records can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Decatur County, Indiana Genealogy Tax Records in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).

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 Records

• Indiana Marriages, 1802-1892 - Ancestry.con $
  
• Indiana Marriages, 1780-1992  - FamilySearch
  
• Indiana Marriage, 1811-1959  - FamilySearch
  
• 1917-1922 - Decatur County Marriage Index 1917-1922 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch - free. Batches M004231 and M004233 .

Death Records

• Indiana State Digital Achives for Death, E-Publication, Instiution, Military, Misc Historical, Naturalization Records can be searched by person name (accessed 26 May 2011)
  
• 1873-1948 - Decatur County Death Index 1873-1948 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch - free. Batches B547141 , B546881 , and B547142 .
• 1882-1920 - Indiana, Death Index, 1882-1920 - FamilySearch

Finding Vital Records at Other Repositories

Additional vital records can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Decatur County, Indiana Genealogy Vital Records in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
• FamilySearch Catalog (For instructions see FamilySearch Catalog Place-name Search).

Web Sites

• Decatur County, IN History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
• Indiana Genealogy Network Community on Google+
• Indiana Genealogy Network Group on Facebook
• EveryNameIndex.com   Free online genealogy indexes for those big old county histories.
• USGenWeb project page for Decatur County. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county..
  
• Decatur County, Indiana Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)