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Fayette County History and Information
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Fayette County Facts

Fayette County was created on December 28, 1818 and was formed from Franklin and Wayne Counties and Unorganized Land. The County was named forthe Marquis de la Fayette, a French hero of the Revolutionary War.

The County Seat is Connersville. John Conner laid out the town that bears his name, Connersville, in 1817. See also County History for more historical details.

Counties adjacent to Fayette County are Henry County (north), Wayne County (northeast), Union County (east), Franklin County (south), Rush County (west).

Fayette County is divided into 9 Civil Townships as follows: Columbia, Connersville, Fairview, Harrison, Jackson, Jennings, Orange, Posey and Waterloo.

Cities, Towns and Communities include Baintertown, Benton, Bonneyville Mills, Bristol, Dunlap, Elkhart, Foraker, Goshen, Jamestown, Middlebury, Midway, Millersburg, Morehous, Nappanee, New Paris, Nibbyville, Packman, Simonton Lake, Southwest, Stony Creek, Vistula, and Wakarusa.

 

There are free downloadable and printable forms to help with your research. These include U.S. Census Extraction Forms, U.K. Census Extraction Forms, Research Calendar, Ancestral Chart, Research Extract, Correspondence Record , Family Group Sheet , Source Summary Form.

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Records at the Fayette County Courthouse

See Also Indiana Land Records, Marriage Records, Court & Probate Records

PLEASE READ!! Please call the clerk's department to confirm hours, mailing address, fees and other specifics before visiting or requesting information because of sometimes changing contact information.

NOTE: The date listed for each category of record is the earliest record known to exist in that county. It does not indicate that there are numerous records for that year and certainly does not indicate that all such events that year were actually registered. See also the Fayette County Courthouse History

   Fayette County Clerk has Marriage Records from 1819 , Probate Records from 1819 and Court Records from 1819 and is located at P. O. Box 607, Connersville, IN 47331; (765)825-1813
   The Clerk of the Circuit Court is a ministerial officer who is the custodian of the Clerk's record and seal, issues process, accepts filings of commencement of actions in litigation, enters judgments and orders of the court, receives money in his official capacity, makes certified copies of record, issues many miscellaneous licenses, and keeps a record of all wills and matters of trust in probate proceedings.

   Fayette County Recorder has Land Records from 1816 and is located at 401 CENTRAL AVENUE, PO Box 324, CONNERSVILLE, IN 47331; Phone - 765-825-3051.
   The county recorder's function is to maintain permanent public records involving a wide variety of instruments. These documents detail transactions involving real estate, mining, personal property, mortgages, liens, leases, subdivision plats, military discharges, personal bonds, etc. Generally, all of these instruments are recorded either for giving legal public notice of their existence or for safekeeping and future reference. The recorder maintains and preserves all legal documents affecting title to real property.

Search Online Click Here to Search Indiana Court, Land, Wills & Financial Records! - Researchers often overlook the importance of court records, probate records, and land records as a source of family history information.

   Fayette County Health Department has Birth / Death Records from 1882 and is located at 111 West 4th St., Connersville, IN 47331; (765) 825-4013

Below is a list of online resources for Fayette County Court Records. Email us with websites containing Fayette County Court Records by clicking the link below:

  • Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
  • Indianapolis Newspaper Index, 1848-1991: Select articles from 1848-1888 Indianapolis daily newspapers; heavily focused on deaths and marriages. Select articles from 1898-1991 about people, places, events, and topics in Indianapolis and the state of Indiana. Extremely limited for deaths; no coverage of marriages.  Card file also available in the Microforms Area, second floor.
  • Reference & Government Services CD Collection: Database to allow searching of the hundreds of CDs from the federal government and other sources, part of the collections of the Reference & Government Services Division.
  • Fayette County, Indiana Court Books at Amazon.com
  • Indiana Immigration & Emigration Records - Immigration records help the family historian to understand the movements of their ancestry as they relocated to different parts of the world.

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Fayette County Vital Records

See Also Vital Records in Indiana

Search Online Click Here to Search Indiana Birth, Marriage & Death Records! - Birth, marriage, and death records are connected with central life events. They are prime sources for genealogical information. Look also for baptism, christening, and burial records in this collection.

Some documents are just too important to wait 6 weeks for. With VitalChek Express Certificate Service you won’t have to. Birth, Marriage, Divorce & Death Certificates Signed. Sealed. Delivered. Often in as few as three business days!

  • Birth Certificates: The Division of Vital Records and Statistics maintains birth records that occur in Indiana since Oct 1907 to the present. Prior to October 1907, records of birth are filed only with the local health department in the county where the birth actually occurred.
    • Cost: Initial search and one certified copy or certification of the record or No Record Statement is $10.00 and $4.00 for each additional copy. Make your check or money order payable to "Indiana State Department of Health". Enclose a business-size self-addressed envelope. If no record is found or no copy is made, state law requires that we keep check amount for a searching fee. Please do not send cash in the mail.
    • In Person: The ISDH Vital Records office is located at 6 West Washington Street, Indianapolis, Indiana 46204. The office is open for walk-in requests from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., E.S.T., Monday through Friday (excluding official State Holidays). The cost for the first certificate is $10.00 and $4.00 for each additional copy. Average wait time is less than an hour.
    • Processing Time: 5 weeks when ordered by MAIL or 2-5 Days when you order ELECTRONICALLY
  • Death Certificates: The Division of Vital Records and Statistics maintains death records that occur in Indiana since 1900 to the present. Prior to 1900, records of death are filed only with the local health department in the county where the death actually occurred. For deaths occurring from 1900 to 1917, the city and/or county of death is required in order to locate the record.
    • Cost: Initial search and one certified copy or certification of the record or No Record Statement is $8.00 and $4.00 for each additional copy. Make your check or money order payable to "Indiana State Department of Health". Enclose a business-size self-addressed envelope. If no record is found or no copy is made, state law requires that we keep check amount for a searching fee. Please do not send cash in the mail.
    • In Person: The ISDH Vital Records office is located at 6 West Washington Street, Indianapolis, Indiana 46204. The office is open for walk-in requests from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., E.S.T., Monday through Friday (excluding official State Holidays). The cost for the first certificate is $8.00 and $4.00 for each additional copy. Average wait Time is less than an hour.
    • Processing Time: 5 weeks when ordered by MAIL or 2-5 Days when you order ELECTRONICALLY
      • Click Here to Search the Social Security Death Index for FREE
  • Marriage Certificates: Certified copies of marriage certificates are not available from the State Health Department. They are available from the Clerks of the Circuit Court in the county where the marriage was granted. Fees vary.
  • Divorce Certificates: Certified copies of divorce certificates are not available from the State Health Department. They are available from the County Clerk in the county where the divorce was granted. Fees vary.

Below is a list of online resources for Fayette County Vital Records. Email us with websites containing Fayette County Vital Records by clicking the link below:

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Fayette County Census Records

See Also Research In Census Records

Search Online Click Here to Search Indiana Voter Lists & Census Records! - Few, if any, records reveal as many details about individuals and families as do government census records. Substitute records can be used when the official census is unavailable.

  Countywide Records: Federal Population Schedules that exist for Fayette County, Indiana are 1820, 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930. Other Federal Schedules to look at when researching your Family Tree in Fayette County, Indiana are Industry and Agriculture Schedules availible for the years 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880. The Mortality Schedules for the years 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880. There are free downloadable and printable Census forms to help with your research. These include U.S. Census Extraction Forms and U.K. Census Extraction Forms.

  See Also Statewide Records that exist for Indiana

Below is a list of online resources for Fayette County Census Records. Email us with websites containing Fayette County Census Records by clicking the link below:

  • Indiana Census, 1790-1890: This collection contains the following indexes: 1790 (Northwest Territory) Federal Census Index; 1807 State Census Index; 1810 Wayne County Census Index; 1812 Census Index; 1820 Federal Census Index; 1830 Federal Census Index; 1840 Federal Census Index; 1840 Pensioners List; 1850 Federal Census Index; 1860 Federal Census Index; 1870 Federal Census Index; 1890 Veterans Schedule.
  • Fayette County, Indiana Census Books at Amazon.com

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Fayette County Maps & Atlases

   Genealogy Atlas has images of old American atlases during the years 1795, 1814, 1822, 1823, 1836, 1838, 1845, 1856, 1866, 1879 and 1897 for Ohio and other states.

  You can view rotating animated maps for Indiana showing all the county boundaries for each census year overlayed with past and present maps so you can see the changes in county boundaries. You can view a list of maps for other states at Census Maps
   You can view rotating animated maps for Indiana showing all the county boundary changes for each year overlayed with past and present maps so you can see the changes in county boundaries. You can view a list of maps for other states at County Maps

Below is a list of online resources for Fayette County Maps. Email us with websites containing Fayette County Maps by clicking the link below:

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Fayette County Military Records

See Also Military Records in Indiana

Search Online Click Here to Search Indiana Military Records! - Military and civil service records provide unique facts and insights into the lives of men and women who have served their country at home and abroad.

   The uses and value of military records in genealogical research for ancestors who were veterans are obvious, but military records can also be important to re-searchers whose direct ancestors were not soldiers in any war. The fathers, grandfathers, brothers, and other close relatives of an ancestor may have served in a war, and their service or pension records could contain information that will assist in further identifying the family of primary interest. Due to the amount of genealogical information contained in some military pension files, they should never be overlooked during the research process. Those records not containing specific genealogical information are of historic value and should be included in any overall research design.

Below is a list of online resources for Fayette County Military Records. Email us with websites containing Fayette County Military Records by clicking the link below:

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Fayette County Tax Records

See Also Research In Tax Records

   Records of county taxes were kept as early at 1842, although most were discarded. Remaining ones would be at the county courthouse. National Archives-Great Lakes Region has records of the Internal Revenue Service for Indiana for 1867 to 1873. These are tax assessment records, arranged by district and then chronologically.

Below is a list of online resources for Fayette County Tax Records. Email us with websites containing Fayette County Tax Records by clicking the link below:

  • Fayette County, Indiana Tax Books at Amazon.com

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Fayette County Genealogical Addresses

See Also Other Indiana Genealogical Addresses

   The Repositories in this section are Archives, Libraries, Museums, Genealogical and Historical Societies. Many County Historical and Genealogical Societies publish magazines and/or news letters on a monthly, quarterly, bi-annual or annual basis. Contacting the local societies should not be over looked. State Archives and Societies are usually much larger and better organized with much larger archived materials than their smaller county cousins but they can be more generalized and over look the smaller details that local societies tend to have. Libraries can also be a good place to look for local information. Some libraries have a genealogy section and may have some resources that are not located at archives or societies. Also, take a special look at any museums in the area. They sometimes have photos and items from years gone by as well as information of a genealogical interest. All these places are vitally important to the family genealogist and must not be passed over.

Below is a list of online resources for Fayette County Genealogical Addresses. Email us with websites containing Fayette County Genealogical Addresses by clicking the link below:

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Fayette County Church & Cemeteries

See Also Church & Cemetery Records in Indiana

Search Online Click Here to Search Indiana Obituary Records! - This database is a compilation of obituaries published in U.S. newspapers, collected from various online sources. Obituaries can vary in the amount of information they contain, but many of them are genealogical goldmines, including information such as names, dates, places of birth and death, marriage information, and family relationships.

   There are many churches and cemeteries in Fayette County. Some transcriptions are online. A great site is the Fayette County Tombstone Transcription Project.

Baptist records are found at Franklin College (in Franklin); Methodist at DePauw University (in Greencastle); Mennonite at Goshen College (in Goshen); Presbyterian at Hanover College (in Hanover); Disciples of Christ at their historical society in Nashville, Tennessee; and French Catholic at Vincennes University in the Byron R. Lewis Collection. There are also Catholic church histories and records at the Catholic Archives, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana. Quaker records are at Earlham College (at Richmond).

   The commissioner's office of each Indiana county may have burial records for soldiers, sailors, and marines. If available, the records should include name, age, date of enlistment, discharge date, and death date. Records begin about 1862.

The Indiana State Library holds records of inscriptions from some Indiana cemeteries. The "Indiana Cemetery Locator File," compiled by the Genealogy Division, is an alphabetical listing of cemeteries, indicating the location in the state and the designation in the Genealogy Division of the Indiana State Library where inscriptions may be found.

Below is a list of online resources for Fayette County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing Fayette County Cemetery & Church Records by clicking the link below:

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Family Trees & Genealogy Tidbits

Search Online Click Here to Search Indiana Family Tree Records! - The use of published genealogies, electronic files containing genealogical lineage, and other compiled sources can be of tremendous value to a researcher.

   When view family trees online or not, be sure to only take the info at face value and always follow up with your own sources or verify the ones they provide. Below is a list of online resources for Fayette County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information. Email us with websites containing Fayette County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information by clicking the link below:

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County History

1849 Adams County Retrospect - Based on "Indiana Gazetteer," published by E. Chamberlain

Fayette, and eastern county, organized in 1819, and named after General Lafayette, is bounded east by Union, south by Franklin, west by Rush, and north by Henry and Wayne counties, and contains 211 square miles. The population in 1830 was 9,112, in 1840, 9837, and at this time [1849] about 11,000. There are eight civil townships, viz: Connersville, Jennings, Jackson, Columbia, Orange, Harrison, Posey and Waterloo.

This county is divided nearly in the center, from north to south, by the West Fork of White Water, which feeds the canal, and with its tributaries affords an abundant supply of water power, at all seasons, for machinery. The surface of the country is rolling in the east and south, and level or gently undulating in the north and west, with a large proportion of bottoms, and every part of the county is susceptible of profitable cultivation. The dense and majestic growth of the forest, which consist principally of walnut, poplar, sugar, beech, hickory, oak, etc., and the unusually abundant crops indicate that the quality of the soil is not inferior to that of any part of the State, and for the size of the county, there is probably no one from which the exports are larger in proportion. They consist principally of hogs, cattle, horses, and grain, though since the completion of the White Water Canal, pork, beef and flour are exported on it, in large quantities.
Connersville

Connersville, the County Seat of Fayette County, was laid out by John Conner in 1817, from whom it took its name. It is very pleasantly situated on the White Water Valley Canal, having the river on the east and south, a beautiful range of hills on the west, from which there is a very fine view of the town, and a large scope of rich and well cultivated country stretching off to the north and east. From its pleasant location, the salubrity of its climate, its valuable water privileges, the productiveness of the surrounding country, and from the enterprise of its citizens, Connersville bids fair to be one of the best towns in eastern Indiana. It has now [in 1849] six lawyers, five physicians, four preachers, six teachers, two druggists, thirty merchants and 139 mechanics. There are in the town seventy brick and 160 frame dwelling houses, three churches, one each for Presbyterians, Methodists and Christians, fourteen stores, five warehouses, one woolen factory, three grist mills, three sawmills, and one oil mill. The new (see inset) Courthouse is one of the most spacious, convenient, and substantial buildings of its kind in the State, -- all the county officers are located on the first flour, in good sized office rooms. In connection with each office are ample fireproof rooms for the security of their books and papers. The Courtroom, and Juror rooms, (of which there are four), are all on the upper story. In the rear of the center building there is attached a wing two stories high, in which are constructed six dormitories, or cells, for prisoners. The prisoners can be taken to and from the Court from a rear passage by a door entering immediately into the Courtroom. The building was erected in the years 1848 and 1849, by John Elder, Architect, of Indianapolis, at the price of $20,000. The Commissioners who made the contract with Mr. Elder for its erection were David Moffit, Samuel White, and John Jameson. The population in 1847 was 1,500; it is now [in 1849] about 1,700, and is increasing. Connersville is fifty-six miles southeast of Indianapolis, twelve south of Cambridge City, eighteen north of Brookville, and twelve west of Liberty. The taxable land in the county is 129,903 acres, the aggregate value of assessed property, $2,292,596. In many respects the county of Fayette has no superior in the State.

1938 Adams County Retrospect - Based on "Indiana Review," published by the State Legislature

Fayette County was formed from parts of Franklin and Wayne Counties and originally included much of what is now Union County. Its present area is 216 square miles and the county is divided into nine townships. It is one of the eastern counties, located east and south of Indianapolis. Most of Fayette County's terrain is rolling land, though parts in the northwest are nearly level. The soil is adaptable to agriculture, much of it being rich river bottomland. The west fork of Whitewater River runs from north to south through the central part of the county.

The efforts of Jonathan McCarty and John Conner resulted in thes county's formal organization December 28, 1818. It was named in honor of the great French General, LaFayette. Connersville, named in honor of its founder, John Conner, has always been the County Seat.

The incorporated city is Connersville, 12,795, and the incorporated town is Glenwood, 374. Total county population in 1890 was 12,630; 1900, 13,495; 1910, 14,418; 1920, 17,142; 1930, 19,243.

Connersville is located in the west fork of Whitewater River twenty-two miles southwest of Richmond. Three railroads offer ample transportation facilities for its many manufactured products, including furniture, flour, automobiles, iron, carriages, automobile parts, knives, rotary blowers, axles, springs, vacuum cleaners, wagons, and pianos. Twenty-two manufacturing establishments employed 3,001 wage earners on pay rolls of $3,005,092, according to figures of the 1935 federal census. Value of the products was $13,283,055.

Some of the points of interest of Connersville are an old hotel on Fifth Street which formerly was an inn built in 1820; Elmhurst, a girls' school on Laurel Road, formerly the residence of J. N. Huston, who once was Secretary of the U. S. Treasury, and the Mrs. Will Hanson residence on Fourth Street, formerly a bank. The bank vault is still a portion of the Hanson residence.

Several markers have been erected, including two in honor of John Conner, the man who founded the city in 1808. Connersville's public schools as well as the library have supplemented the educational facilities with worthwhile collections of paintings and art prints.

Among the chief points of interest in the county are the first mill at Nulltown; the Whitewater Valley Canal; the first inn and post office, and the new bridge over the Whitewater River on State Road 1.

Notables in Fayette County history include John Conner; Caleb Smith, Secretary of Agriculture under Abraham Lincoln; John McCormick and Jacob Goodlander, Civil War veterans; Newton and Solomon Claypool; Captain Shipley, a famous naval officer; John Moore; J. N. Huston, former Secretary of the United States Treasury, and Olen H. Smith, railroad builder and later United States Senator.

Included among the contemporary persons of importance are Louis Ludlow, Congressional Representative of the Twelfth District, and Finly Gray, Congressman from the Tenth District.

The county had twenty-four manufacturing establishments, employing 3,126 workers in 1935.

This county had 1,076 farms averaging 122.9 acres and valued at $7,567,745. There were 51,364 head of livestock reported.

The county's tax valuation for the year 1936 was $22,138,600.

Courthouse History

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