Starke County, Indiana Genealogy

United States

Indiana

Starke County

Guide to Starke 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: Knox Organized: February 7, 1835 Parent County(s): St. Joseph Neighboring Counties Porter  • La Porte  • St. Joseph  • Marshall  • Fulton  • Pulaski  • Jasper 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

Starke County was named for Gen. John Stark, who commanded New Hampshire troops at the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775 in the Revolutionary War and defeated the British at the Battle of Bennington in 1777.The county is located in the north-central area of the state.

County Courthouse

Starke County Courthouse
PO Box 395
Knox, IN 46534
Phone: 574-772-9128
County Website

Starke County Health Department
108 N Pearl Street
Knox, IN, 46534
Health Officer: Thomas Browne, MD
Phone Number: 574-772-9137
Fax: 574-772-8035
Email: flynch@co.starke.in.us
Health Department

County Clerk has marriage, divorce, probate and court records from 1850.
County Auditor has land records from 1850.
County Health Department has birth and death 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.

Starke 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
1894	1850	1894	1850	1850	1850	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 7 February 1835 from St. Joseph County. County Seat: Knox 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:

Cities
Knox
Towns
Hamlet	North Judson
Unincorporated communities
Aldine Bass Station Brems English Lake	Grovertown Indian Hill Lomax Oak Grove	Ober Ora Toto Winona
Census-designated places
Bass Lake	Koontz Lake	San Pierre
Townships
California Center Davis	Jackson North Bend Oregon	Railroad Washington Wayne

Resources

Biographies

• Indiana Biography Index at Indiana State Library

Cemeteries

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

Historical populations
Census	Pop.	%±
1840	149	—
1850	557	273.8%
1860	2,195	294.1%
1870	3,888	77.1%
1880	5,105	31.3%
1890	7,339	43.8%
1900	10,431	42.1%
1910	10,567	1.3%
1920	10,278	−2.7%
1930	10,620	3.3%
1940	12,258	15.4%
1950	15,282	24.7%
1960	17,911	17.2%
1970	19,280	7.6%
1980	21,997	14.1%
1990	22,747	3.4%
2000	23,556	3.6%
2010	23,363	−0.8%
Source: "Wikipedia.org".

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

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.

Lutheran

St. Johannes Evangelical Lutheran Church, Knox

• 1887-1948 - St. Johannes Evangelical Lutheran Church, Knox, Baptism Index 1887-1948 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch. Batch C728181.
• 1887-1948 - St. Johannes Evangelical Lutheran Church, Knox, Marriage Index 1887-1948 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch. Batch M728181.

Directories

• Early County Officials of Starke County at Indiana Genealogical Society ($)

Funeral Homes

M.C. Smith Funeral Home

153 E Washington street

Knox, IN 46534

574-772-4211 mcsmithfuneralhome@hotmail.com

www.mcsmithfh.com

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 Starke County courthouse, where records are currently housed.

Local Histories

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

• McCormick's Guide to Starke County. 1902. By Chester A. McCormick. Knox, Indiana : C.A. McCormick. Online at: FamilySearch Digital Library, Internet Archive; At various libraries (WorldCat).
• A Standard History of Starke County, Indiana. 1915. By Joseph N. McCormick. Chicago, Illinois : Lewis Pub. Co. Online at: FamilySearch Digital Library, Internet Archive; At various libraries (WorldCat).

Maps and Gazetteers

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

• Old Antique Atlases & Maps of Indiana

• Historic Indiana Maps at IUPUI University Library

Military Records

• Military Record Series Index at Indiana Digital Archives
• Veterans in Starke County, Indiana (1913) at Indiana Genealogical Society ($)

Civil War

5th Regiment, Indiana Cavalry (90th Regiment, Indiana Volunteers), Company C

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.

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 Starke 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 Starke 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
  
• 1800-2007 Indiana, United States Marriages at FindMyPast ($)
• 1802-1892 Indiana, Compiled 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 Starke 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 Affiliate Libraries

Anderson Indiana Family History Center
200 W 46th St
Anderson IN 46013
765-608-1129
E-mail:IN_Anderson@familyhistorymail.org
Website

Libraries

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

Schricker Main Library
152 W. Culver Rd.
Knox, Indiana 46534
574-772-7323
Website for all Branch's

Hamlet Branch
6 North Starke Street
Hamlet, Indiana 46532
574 867-6033

Koontz Lake Branch
7954 North State Road 23
Walkerton, Indiana 46574
574 586-3353

San Pierre Branch
103 South Broadway
San Pierre, Indiana 46374
219 828-4352

Societies

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

Starke County Genealogical Society Of Indiana
c/o Starke County Public Library
152 West Culver Road
Knox, IN 46534
Website

Starke County Historical Society
1520 S Heaton Street
Knox, IN 46534
Phone: (574) 772-7242

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Website

Websites

• Starke County, Indiana Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
• 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 Select a county
• Every Name Index.com Online indexes for county histories. Select a county
• USGenWeb, Starke County
• INGenWeb, Starke 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.