DeKalb County, Indiana Genealogy

United States

Indiana

DeKalb County

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

Indiana Online Genealogy Records

County Facts County seat: Auburn Organized: 1835 Parent County(s): Unorganized Territory Neighboring Counties Steuben  • La Grange  • Noble  • Steuben  • Allen  • Williams (OH)  • Defiance (OH) See County Maps Courthouse Location Map Adoption Adopt-a-wiki page This page adopted by: Indiana Genealogical Society who welcome you to contribute. Adopt a page today

Johann de Kalb.JPG

County Information

Description

DeKalb County was named for General Johann de Kalb, a Continental Army officer from Bavaria, who was fatally wounded at the Battle of Camden, South Carolina. The county is located in the northeastern area of the state.

County Courthouse

DeKalb County Courthouse
100 S Main Street PO Box 810
Auburn, IN 46706
Phone: 219-925-2112
County Website

DeKalb County Health Department
220 E. Seventh St, Ste. 110
Auburn, IN, 46706
Health Officer: Mark Souder, MD
Phone Number: 260-925-2220
Fax: 260-925-2090
Email: bsukala@co.dekalb.in.us
Health Department

County Health Department has birth and death records.
County Clerk has marriage and court records from 1837, probate records from 1855 and school records 1903-1932.
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.

DeKalb 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 Major County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1882	1837	1882	1837	1837	1855	1807
Statewide registration for births in 1907 and deaths in Oct 1899. General compliance by 1917.

Record Loss

1913 -- Courthouse burned and many records were damaged. For suggestions about research in places that suffered historic record losses, see: Burned Counties. By Michael John Neill at 24-7 Family History Circle. When the Records are Gone. By Arlene Eakle at Arlene Eakle's Tennessee Blog. Burned Counties Research in the FamilySearch Research Wiki.

Boundary Changes

Parent Counties: Formed in 1835 from unorganized territory (Allen/LaGrange) County Seat: Auburn

For suggestions about research in places that suffered historic record losses, see:

• Burned Counties. By Michael John Neill at 24-7 Family History Circle.
• When the Records are Gone. By Arlene Eakle at Arlene Eakle's Tennessee Blog.
• Burned Counties Research in the FamilySearch Research Wiki.

Populated Places

For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit HomeTown Locator. The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:

Cities
Auburn	Butler	Garrett
Towns
Altona Ashley	Corunna Hamilton	Saint Joe Waterloo
Unincorporated communities
Artic Auburn Junction Butler Center Cedar Concord Fairfield Center	Hopewell Moore New Era Newville Orangeville Saint Johns	Sedan Spencerville Stafford Center Summit Taylor Corner
Townships
Butler Concord Fairfield Franklin Grant	Jackson Keyser Newville Richland Smithfield	Spencer Stafford Troy Union Wilmington

Resources

Biographies

• Indiana Biography Index at Indiana State Library

Cemeteries

Cemeteries of DeKalb County, Indiana online and in print
Tombstone Transcriptions Online	Find A Grave INGenWeb Tombstone Project Billion Graves
Tombstone Transcriptions in Print (Often more complete)	Family History Library WorldCat
List of Cemeteries in the County	Findagrave.com
See Indiana Cemeteries for more information.

Census Records

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

Historical populations
Census	Pop.	%±
1840	1,968	—
1850	8,251	319.3%
1860	13,880	68.2%
1870	17,167	23.7%
1880	20,225	17.8%
1890	24,307	20.2%
1900	25,711	5.8%
1910	25,054	−2.6%
1920	25,600	2.2%
1930	24,911	−2.7%
1940	24,756	−0.6%
1950	26,023	5.1%
1960	28,271	8.6%
1970	30,837	9.1%
1980	33,606	9.0%
1990	35,324	5.1%
2000	40,285	14.0%
2010	42,223	4.8%
Source: "Wikipedia.org".

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

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.

Directories

• Directory of Businesses in DeKalb County, Indiana (1868) at Indiana Genealogical Society ($)

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 DeKalb County courthouse, where records are currently housed.

Local Histories

Local histories are available for DeKalb 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 DeKalb County, Indiana. 1885. Chicago : Inter-State Publishing Co. Online at: FamilySearch Digital Library, Hathitrust, Internet Archive, Google Books; At various libraries (WorldCat).
• History of Dekalb County, Indiana. 1914. Indianapolis : B.F. Bowen. Online at: FamilySearch Digital Library, Hathitrust, Internet Archive, Google Books; At various libraries (WorldCat).
• History of Northeast Indiana, Lagrange, Steuben, Noble, and DeKalb Counties. 2 volumes. 1920. By Ira Ford. Chicago, Illinois : Lewis Pub. Co. Online at: Vol. 1 - FamilySearch Digital Library, Vol. 2 - FamilySearch Digital Library, Hathitrust, Ancestry ($); At various libraries (WorldCat).

Maps and Gazetteers

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

• Historic Indiana Maps at IUPUI University Library
• Old Antique Atlases & Maps of Indiana

Military Records

• Military Record Series Index at Indiana Digital Archives

Civil War
Civil War service men from DeKalb 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 DeKalb County.

• 9th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company G
• 12th Regiment, Indiana Cavalry, Companies B, C, and I
• 13th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Reorganized Companies B, D
• 30th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company H, and Reorganized Companies C, and D
• 44th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company K
• 88th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company A, and H
• 100th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Companies A, and K
• 118th Regiment, Indiana Infantry (6 months, 1863-4), Company F
• 129th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company A
• 142nd Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Companies A, and D

Civil War Books:

• Sliger, Reba. Veterans' Cards for Veterans of DeKalb County Who Served in the Civil, Spanish-American, Mexican Wars: Copied from Records at the DeKalb County Courthouse,( Auburn, Indiana. Auburn, IN: The Chapter, 1990.) Available online at: FamilySearch Digital Library; 977.277 M2sFHL Collection; Internet Archive

• History of DeKalb 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. (Knightstown, Ind: The Bookmark, 1978.), page 90-117, 977.277 H2b FHL Collection other library Internet Archive

• 1885 History of De Kalb 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 with New Index.( Knightstown, Ind: The Bookmark, 1978.) page 333-400, 977.277 H2hiFHL Collection other library Internet Archive

• Hobson, Margaret. The Iron Men of Indiana's 44th Regiment, Book 1: Biographies and Statistics. This book contains a complete list of DeKalb County men in the 44th Indiana.

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.

• The Garrett Clipper Newspaper: Obituary database from 1975 through January, 2012 provided courtesy of the Garrett Public Library.
• Hoosier State Chronicles

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

• 1798-1999 Indiana Wills and Probate Records 1798-1999 at Ancestry $

School Records

• 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.

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
  
• 1800s-2007 Indiana, United States Marriages at FindMyPast $
• 1802-1892 Indiana Marriages, 1802-1892 at Ancestry $
  
• 1811-2007 Indiana Marriages, 1811-2007 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection

Death

• 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 DeKalb County. For state-wide archival repositories, see Indiana Archives and Libraries.

Family History Centers

Family History 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 family history center.

• Family History Center and Affiliate Library Locator

Local Centers and Libraries

Columbus Indiana Family History Center
3330 30th St
Columbus IN 47203
812-372-3679
E-mail:IN_Columbus@familyhistorymail.org
Website

Libraries

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

Societies

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

DeKalb County Indiana Genealogy Society
PO Box 6085
Auburn, IN 46706
E-mail: rozwells@sbcglobal.net
Website
Facebook

DeKalb County Historical Society
201 East Main Street
Butler, IN 46721-1409
260-868-0979

DeKalb Genealogical Society
c/o Eckhart Public Library
603 S. Jackson Dtreet
Auburn, IN 46706

Garrett Historical Society
PO Box 225
Garrett, IN 46738-0225
260-357-5575

Willennar Genealogy Center
700 S. Jackson St.
Auburn, IN 46706-2267
260-925-2414 Ext 420
Fax: 260-925-3635
E-mail: genealogy@epl.lib.in.us
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
• EveryNameIndex.com for Indiana Free online genealogy indexes for county histories. Select a county.
• USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.
• DeKalb 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.

This website requires a paid subscription for full access.