Lake County Courthouse
Crown Point, Indiana
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Porter County Courthouse
Valparaiso, Indiana
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Welcome to the website for the Northwest
Indiana Genealogical Society! We are glad you are here. We are an active society
that is committed to preserving the history of Lake County and Porter County
in Indiana.
We have some great resources for you in your research. Many dedicated volunteers
have made these available to you. If you are local, we encourage you to attend
one of our monthly meetings. You can contact us directly at
nwigs@hotmail.com.
Sincerely,
Bill Schu, President
Recent News!
TWO NEW BOOKS NOW
AVAILABLE FROM NWIGS! - June 2008
CROWN POINT JUSTICES OF THE PEACE MARRIAGES
This is a two volume set which contains the
records of marriages performed by four Justices of the Peace in Crown
Point, Indiana, during the period when the city was known as a “Marriage
Mill.”
Those appearing before a Justice of the Peace could be married with a
wedding license issued from the County in which they lived. The major
significance of these records is that it records marriages of many people
who did not obtain a wedding license in Lake County, Indiana, of which
Crown Point is the County Seat and thus would not appear in the indexes of
marriage records for the county.
Approximately 42,400 names are indexed and arranged by Grooms and Brides.
We started this project assuming most people would be from Lake County,
but that was not the case.
The top states were:
1. Illinois 18,909 individuals
2. Indiana 18,061 individuals
3. Wisconsin 2,724 individuals
4. Michigan f 974 individuals
5. Ohio 257 individuals
6. Iowa 157 individuals
7. New York 131 individuals
8. Minnesota 116 individuals
9. California 103 individuals
10. Missouri 99 individuals
Overwhelmingly, the top city was Chicago 15,140. Milwaukee represented a
total 1,308, and 311 came from Detroit.
A 3-day waiting period was enacted in March 1940, thereby bringing the
“Marriage Mill” to an end.
Cost for this fully indexed, 1,100-page, two volume, hardbound set is
$150.00 plus $16.25 postage for a total of $166.25.
This book can be ordered
by contacting the Northwest Indiana Genealogical Society, PO Box 595, Griffith,
Indiana 46319, or by downloading, completing, and mailing an
order form.
AN INDEX OF LAND TRANSFER RECORDS
FOR CROWN POINT, LAKE CO., INDIANA
FOR THE YEARS 1928 - 1940
This book covers land transfers in and around the City of
Crown Point, Indiana, for the years 1928
through 1940. The years of 1936-1940 in this index also include key
numbers. If you desire to obtain additional information regarding any
particular parcel of land, the county clerks will require you to have a
key number for the parcel. Key numbers were not in place previous to that
time period.
The original deeds for these land parcels are housed at
the Lake County Government Center, Office
of the Recorder, 2293 North Main Street, Crown
Point, Indiana 46307.
Originally, land was purchased from the Federal Government (known as a
land grant or land patent). When the Federal Government wanted to "get out
of the land selling business," they gave grants for whatever land was
remaining in each state. The first land office for Lake County was in
LaPorte County (Lake County was formed from LaPorte and Porter Counties in
February 1837) from 1833 to 1839, at which time the LaPorte Land Office
was moved to Winamac, Pulaski County. In 1855, all land offices in the
State of Indiana were moved to Indianapolis. After the original purchase,
land was transferred between private landowners. All purchases of land
were recorded in the county clerk's office and then became known as Land
Transfers.
One of the best reasons for using land records for genealogy research is
to locate your ancestors and also become aware of surrounding neighbors.
Oftentimes, young couples met their spouses from one of the neighboring
farms, or relatives of these neighbors or even the adjoining farm/land.
This book is 375 pages, hardbound, fully indexed, and costs $60.00 plus
$3.75 postage for a total of $63.75. This book can be ordered by contacting the Northwest Indiana
Genealogical Society, PO Box 595, Griffith,
Indiana 46319, or by downloading, completing, and mailing an
order form. |
Upcoming
Society Meeting Information
The Society meets each month from 10:00 a.m.
to 11:30 a.m. in either the Valparaiso Branch of the Porter County Public
Library or the Lake County Library. Check the schedule below for the
location.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
10:00 am - “Finding the Children by Using the School Enumeration" by
Marlene Polster at the Porter County Public Library, Valparaiso Branch located at 103 Jefferson Street,
Valparaiso, Indiana [map]
Marlene Polster will show us how the school enumeration (census) can help
us find the children in our families. She will also show how migration patterns
can be followed by using this alternative source.
Saturday,
July 19, 2008
10:00 am - “Using PDF Files” by Gerard Dupczak at the Lake County Public Library, Merrillville Branch located at 1919
West 81st Avenue (US Route 30), Merrillville, Indiana [map]
Gerard Dupczak will show the ins-and-outs of using Adobe Acrobat PDF
files and how these types of files can assist us in the writing of our family
histories.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
10:00 am - Meeting topic to be announced, Porter County Public Library, Valparaiso Branch located at 103 Jefferson Street,
Valparaiso, Indiana [map]
Saturday,
September 20, 2008
The Annual Fort Wayne Bus Trip
We will be taking our annual bus trip to Allen County Library in Fort Wayne,
Indiana. This is a great way to travel to the largest public library for
genealogy in the country. We get a bus for 24 people on a first come first serve
basis. We leave Merrillville with a stop in Valparaiso for pick-ups and stay
until about 4:30 pm. We stop for dinner on the way back. Plan on join us!
Information will be forthcoming.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
10:00 am - Special Meeting at the Lake County Public Library, Merrillville Branch located at 1919
West 81st Avenue (US Route 30), Merrillville, Indiana [map]
The Northwest Indiana Genealogical Society will be co-hosting this
meeting with the Lake County Library. It will be a two session meeting
consisting of a boxed lunch between meetings. The NWIGS meetings will begin at
10:00 am with the usual business meeting. At 10:30 am our speaker, Eric Basir of
Photo Grafix of Evanston, Illinois, will speak on "Repairing our Photographs."
He will show us the dos-and-don'ts on photo scanning and how to make repairs to
those precious photos we have. He will be using a Photoshop-type program that is
available for home computers. We will break for lunch with Shirley Fields from
the Indiana Genealogical Society speaking during the lunch on "IGS Happenings."
Then at 1:15 pm, Eric Basir will speak again on "Dating Your Photo." Members are
asked to bring a photo along with them to this meeting and perhaps Eric will use
it to show us how to repair it. Watch this webpage for information concerning
how to sign up for your lunch at this meeting.
Saturday,
November 15, 2008
10:00 am - “Research Day" at the Porter County Public Library, Valparaiso Branch located at 103 Jefferson Street,
Valparaiso, Indiana [map]
Following a short business meeting, we will proceed upstairs at the
library and research for the remainder of the day. Someone will be available
should you need any assistance with any of your research.
YAHOO! Message List
We have an active message list for NWIGS located at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/InNWIGS/
Consider joining the list to keep informed about upcoming events, post
queries, and to
communicate with our members.
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