LaGrange County, Indiana Genealogy

United States

Indiana

LaGrange County

Guide to LaGrange 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: LaGrange Organized: February 2, 1832 Parent County(s): Unorganized Territory (Allen/Elkhart) Neighboring Counties Elkhart  • Noble  • DeKalb  • Steuben  • Branch (MI)  • St. Joseph (MI) 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

County Information

Description

LaGrange County was named in respect to the residence of General LaFayette, in France. It is located in the northeastern area of the state.

County Courthouse

LaGrange County Courthouse
105 N Detroit Street
LaGrange, IN 46761-1853
Phone: 219-463-6371
County Website

LaGrange County Health Department
304 North Townline Road, Ste#1
LaGrange, IN, 46761
Health Officer: Thomas Anthony Pechin, MD
Phone Number: 260-499-4182
Fax: 260-499-4189
Email: agarcia@lagrangecounty.org
Health Department

County Health Department has birth and death records from 1882.
County Clerk has marriage, divorce, probate and court records from 1832.
County Recorder has land records from 1832.
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.

LaGrange 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	1832	1882	1832	1832	1832	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 Counties: Formed from unorganized territory (Allen/Elkhart) in 1832 County Seat: LaGrange Interactive Map of Indiana County Formation History (1790-1897) - animated maps illustrating Indiana county boundary changes Indiana Historical Boundary Changes - list of all boundary changes by county provided by Newberry Library

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:

Towns
LaGrange Shipshewana	Topeka	Wolcottville
Unincorporated communities
Beatys Beach Brighton Brushy Prairie Eddy Elmira Emma Gravel Beach Greenfield Mills Greenwood Hartzel Honeyville Indianola Lakeside Park Lakeview	Mongo Mount Pisgah Northwood Oak Lodge Ontario Pashan Plato Ramblewood River Oaks Scott Seyberts Sha-Get Acres Shady Nook	South Milford Star Mill Stony Creek Stroh Tall Timbers Timberhurst Twin Lakes Valentine Webers Landing Witmer Manor Woodland Hills Woodland Park Woodruff
Census-designated places
Howe
Townships
Bloomfield Clay Clearspring Eden	Greenfield Johnson Lima Milford	Newbury Springfield Van Buren

Resources

Biographies

• Indiana Biography Index at Indiana State Library

Cemeteries

Cemeteries of LaGrange County, Indiana online and in print
Tombstone Transcriptions Online	Find A Grave INGenWeb INGenWeb Archives Tombstone Project Indiana Interment 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 LaGrange County census records online, see: Indiana Census.

Historical populations
Census	Pop.	%±
1840	3,664	—
1850	8,387	128.9%
1860	11,366	35.5%
1870	14,148	24.5%
1880	15,630	10.5%
1890	15,615	−0.1%
1900	15,284	−2.1%
1910	15,148	−0.9%
1920	14,009	−7.5%
1930	13,780	−1.6%
1940	14,352	4.2%
1950	15,347	6.9%
1960	17,380	13.2%
1970	20,890	20.2%
1980	25,550	22.3%
1990	29,477	15.4%
2000	34,909	18.4%
2010	37,128	6.4%
Source: "Wikipedia.org".

• Index to Mortality Schedule for LaGrange County, Indiana (1860, 1870) at Indiana Genealogical Society ($)
• Index to Defective, Dependent & Delinquent Census for LaGrange County, Indiana (1880) at Indiana Genealogical Society ($)

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 LaGrange County, Indiana (1868) - 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 LaGrange County courthouse, where records are currently housed.

• Newbury Township land patent map

Local Histories

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

Local Histories

• 1882 History of LaGrange County, Indiana: from the original History of LaGrange and Noble county. 1979. Knightstown, IN: The Bookmark. Online at: FamilySearch Digital Library; Internet Archive
• Counties of LaGrange and Noble, Indiana : Historical and Biographical. 1882. Chicago, Illinois : F.A. Battery Co. Online at: FamilySearch Digital Library, Hathitrust, Internet Archive; 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, Vol. 2 - Internet Archive, Vol. 1 - Google Books, 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 LaGrange 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 La Grange County.

• 1st Regiment, Indiana Heavy Artillery, Company A
• 7th Regiment, Indiana Cavalry, Company H
• 12th Regiment, Indiana Cavalry, Companies B, C, I, and M
• 13th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Reorganized Company C
• 30th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Reorganized Company G
• 44th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company H
• 88th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company G
• 100th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company C
• 129th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company C
• 152nd Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company F

Civil War Books:

• The Call to Arms; Chapter 4 in 1882 History of LaGrange County, Indiana: from the original History of LaGrange and Noble county. 1979. Knightstown, IN: The Bookmark. Online at: FamilySearch Digital Library; Internet Archive

Civil War Databases

• Residents of LaGrange County Who Died in the Civil War - Indiana Genealogical Society ($)

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.

• 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 LaGrange 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 for LaGrange County (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 LaGrange County. For state-wide archival repositories, see Indiana Archives and Libraries.

Barb Mulholland, County Genealogist
5250 E. 580 S
Wolcottville, IN 46795
Phone (260) 854-4311
Email: bmulholland@embarqmail.com

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

Sturgis Michigan Family History Center
1111 North Galyn St
Sturgis MI 49091
Phone: 269-651-4467
Email: MI_Sturgis@familyhistorymail.org
Website

Libraries

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

LaGrange County Public Library
203 West Spring Street
Lagrange, IN 46761
Phone: 260-463-2841
Website

Societies

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

LaGrange County Historical Society
P.O. Box 134
LaGrange, IN 46761
Facebook Website

Topeka Area Historical Society
123 Indiana St
P.O. Box 33
Topeka, IN 46571
Website

Shipshewana Area Historical Society
315 Morton Street / P.O. Box 929
Shipshewana, IN 46565
Phone: 260-768-3030
Email: sahs@ligtel.com
Website

Websites

• Indiana Digital Archives Search by name in all records or specific collections
• Indiana Historical Society Digital Collections Extensive - keyword searches suggested
• 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. Scroll the list.
• INGenWeb May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county.
• Lagrange County, Indiana: Family History & Genealogy, Census, Birth, Marriage, Death Vital Records & More at Linkpendium
• EveryNameIndex.com for Indiana Free online genealogy indexes for county histories. Select a county.
• 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.