Porter County, Indiana Genealogy

United States Indiana  Porter County

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

Historical Facts

 * Parent Counties: Formed 7 February 1835 from La Porte and Newton Counties.
 * County Seat:  Valparaiso

Neighboring Counties
Lake •  Jasper  •  Starke  •  La Porte

Boundary Changes
For animated maps illustrating Indiana County boundary changes, "Rotating Formation Indiana County Boundary Maps" (1790-1873) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Record Loss
Dec. 1934 Courthouse destroyed by fire; all records saved.

Census Records

 * Index to Defective, Dependent &amp; Delinquent Census for Porter County, Indiana (1880) (members only database, Indiana Genealogical Society)

Courtesy of the Porter County Public Library System:


 * Enumeration of Males in Porter County IN:
 * 1937 Liberty Townships Enumeration of Males in Porter County, Indiana
 * 1943 Morgan Township Enumeration of Males In Porter County, Indiana
 * Porter County 1930 Census Index

Directories

 * Directory of Businesses in Porter County, Indiana (1884) (members only database, Indiana Genealogical Society)

Local Histories

 * History of Porter County INGenWeb


 * Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, and Charles Blanchard. Counties of Porter and Lake, Indiana: Historical and Biographical.(Chicago: F.A. Battey, 1882.)FHL US/CAN Film 934917 Item 1    other librariesINTERNET ARCHIVE


 * Lewis Publishing Company. cn. 1911. History of Porter County, Indiana : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests FHL book 977.298 H2h FHL US/CAN BookINTERNET ARCHIVE

Maps

 * Old Antique Atlases &amp; Maps of Indiana

Military Records

 * Veterans in Porter County (1894) (free, Indiana Genealogical Society)

War of 1812

Civil War

Civil War service men from Porter 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 Porter County.


 * 4th Battery, Indiana Light Artillery
 * 5th Battery, Indiana Light Artillery (Simonson's)
 * 5th Regiment, Indiana Cavalry (90th Regiment, Indiana Volunteers), Company I
 * 7th Regiment, Indiana Cavalry, Companies A, H, and K
 * 9th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company B, and Companies B, E and H
 * 12th Regiment, Indiana Cavalry Companies A, and M
 * 20th Battery, Indiana Light Artillery
 * 20th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company I, and Reorganized Company D
 * 37th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Reorganized Company A
 * 63rd Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company B
 * 73rd Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Companies E, and I
 * 99th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company C
 * 128th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Companies E, and H
 * 138th Regiment, Indiana Infantry (100 days, 1864), Company C
 * 151st Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Companies B, and E
 * 28th US Colored Troops, Addition Recruits for Colored Troops

Civil War Books


 * "Military History", Chapter 6 in Lewis Publishing Company. cn. 1911. History of Porter County, Indiana: a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests 977.298 H2h FHL US/CAN Book(page 101-120; Regiment, Company)INTERNET ARCHIVE

World War I

World War II


 * Residents of Porter County One World War II Honor Roll ($, Indiana Genealogical Society)
 * Residents of Porter County Who Died in World War II (1942-1946) ($, Indiana Genealogical Society)
 * Residents of Porter County Who Served in World War II ($, Indiana Genealogical Society)

Newspapers
Courtesy of the Porter County Public Library System:


 * Vidette-Messenger &amp; Vidette-times Obituary Index 1938-Jan., 2011
 * Porter County Herald Index 1933-1938

Probate Records
Online Records
 * 1798 – 1999 Indiana Wills and Probate Records 1798-1999 at Ancestry.com — index and images $

Courtesy of the Porter County Public Library System:
 * Guardianship Court Cases
 * Combined Probate Estates

School Records

 * Directory of School Officials and Teachers of Porter County (1917) (free, Indiana Genealogical Society)
 * School Enumeration of Liberty Township (1919, 1924) ($, Indiana Genealogical Society)
 * Students and Teachers of Chesterton Junior-Senior High School (1952) ($, Indiana Genelaogical Society)

County Courthouse
Porter County Courthouse 16 E Lincolnway #209 Valparaiso, IN 46383 Phone: 219.465.3450

Attached to St. Joseph County prior to organization 6 Feb 1836. County Health Department has birth and death records. County Clerk has marriage, divorce, probate and court records from 1836. County Auditor has land records.

Family History Centers

 * Valparaiso Indiana Family History Center

For additional nearby Family History Centers, search online in the Family History Center directory.

Societies and Libraries
Porter County, Historical Society Of 153 Franklin Street Valparaiso 46385 Phone 219-465-3595 Website

Beverly Shores Historical Society P.O. Box 242 Beverly Shrs, IN 46301-0242 Phone: 219-874-8000 Email:[mailto:bevshrshist@bevshrshistsoc.org]

Duneland Historical Society P.O. Box 2034 Chesterton, IN 46304 Phone: 219-921-0963 Email:[mailto:dunelandhistoricalsociety@gmail.com] Website

Hebron Historical Society P.O. Box 679 Hebron, IN 46341-0679 Phone: 219-996-3192

Historical Society of Ogden Dunes 115 Hillcrest Road Suite 101 Portage, IN 46368-8503 Phone: 219-764-7526 Email:[mailto:martinken@att.net] Website

Kankakee Valley Historical Society 22 W. 1050 S. Kouts, IN 46347 Email:[mailto:jophod@gmail.com] Website

Portage Community Historical Society Alton Goin Museum 5250 U.S. Highway 6 Portage, IN 46368 Phone: 219-762-8349 Email:[mailto:pchs.1@frontier.com] Website

Westchester Township History Museum 700 W. Porter Ave. Chesterton, IN 46304 Phone: (219) 983-9715 Email:[mailto:serena@wpl.lib.in.us] Website

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The Valparaiso Branch of the Porter County Library (VPL) 103 Jefferson Street Valparaiso, Indiana Hours: 9am-9pm Monday through Thursday, 9-5 Friday, and 9-6 Saturdays

The library has a genealogy department located on the second floor headed by Larry Clark, Porter County genealogist, and is always staffed with at least two librarians. It is the second largest public library genealogical collection in the state, second to the well known Allen County Public Library in Ft. Wayne.

The library contains many family histories, and many local histories on the county and Northwest Indiana area. VPL also subscribes to many genealogical periodicals.

There is a collection of historical newspapers on microfilm in the genealogy department. They are all non-circulating and all are on microfilm. The earliest local paper VPL has is the Western Ranger. As time went by the paper’s name was changed or was merged with other papers so that the library holds continuous newspaper coverage for Porter County from 1847-2010. Names were changed from the Western Ranger to the Valparaiso Republican to the Valparaiso Messenger to the Valparaiso Vidette, to the Vidette Times, to now just The Times.

VPL has a manuscript collection located in the Genealogy Department. It is included in their Indiana collection, also referred to as the vertical files. It contains donated family histories, Indiana genealogies, family genealogies, obituaries cut from newspapers, photographs, and other miscellaneous documents that patrons have donated. It is indexed by file description and this index is located in the front of the file cabinets and is not available on their online catalog. Sometimes this manuscript collection is also referred to as their special collections.

The Porter county library catalog is available on computers in the library or online through their websitethe exception being the manuscript collection that was mentioned previously. The library has 3 photocopiers. One located in the genealogy department, one in the youth department, and the other is on the main floor by the reference desk. The library has five microfilm readers and three microfiche readers in the genealogy department along with four reader printers that can also be used as readers.

The library has many online databases some subscription, some not, some are accessible from home, others available only at the library. Those available at home are Porter County 1930 Census, Porter County Obituary Index 1938-2010, Porter County Marriage Index 1921-1946, and Porter County Herald Index 1933-1938. The following are available only in the library 1937 Liberty Township and 1943 Morgan Township enumeration of males in Porter County, and 1920-1921 Milk producers Association in Porter County. The following subscription sites are available at home with a valid library card: Historic Map Works, InspireIndiana.gov, ReferenceUSA, and ProquestObituaries.com. The following subscription sites are usable in the library only: Ancestry, Heritage Quest, Access Newspaper Archives, BooksinPrint.com, AmericanAncestors.org, and Politicalfamilytree.org.

The Porter County library does participate in the interlibrary loan program through INCOLSA available at the reference desk on the main floor. A patron must have a valid Porter County library card and a $2.00 fee per item is charged. Items are loaned for 1-5 weeks depending on the lending library’s rules. The library does not loan out their collection of newspapers, but refers all inquiries to Indiana State Library which has copies of all the newspapers from the state and they will loan the papers to participating libraries. Our library does, however, put in requests for newspapers in the genealogy department and will receive them for patrons, usually these are on microfilm. If actual papers are received, and this is rare, they are to be read in the library and are not to be removed from the reading room. The loaning library sets the fees and time limits for the loans.

The genealogy department of Porter County Library also has many other records of significant value to the genealogist. In addition to the US Census on microfilm, and a large microfilm collection, they have the original Porter County sheriff records from 1907-1989, court dockets, marriage records, and probate records that are on extended loan from the Porter county courthouse. They also have high school yearbooks beginning from the early 1900’s and many original family histories that were privately published and donated to the library. These histories are rarely found elsewhere as they were written and copied only for family members. They also have copies of all Porter County Catholic and Presbyterian Church records that were sent to their church headquarters out of state. The Valparaiso branch of Porter County Library also has lending privileges from the Family History Library (FHL) in Salt Lake City. This allows them to order films for patrons from the FHL and keep them on extended loan if the correct lending fees are paid. The library has done this for all vital records for the state of Indiana up to 1920. All extended loan films are on their catalog.

Vital Records

 * Indiana State Digital Archives

Marriage Records

 * 1802-1892 Indiana Marriages, 1802-1892 - Ancestry.com $


 * 1780-1992 - FamilySearch


 * 1811-2007 - FamilySearch

Death Records

 * 1882-1920 - FamilySearch

Courtesy of the Porter County Public Library System


 * Porter County Databases Marriage Index: 1921-1946
 * Index to Divorce

Porter County, Indiana Web Sites

 * Porter County, IN History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
 * Indiana Genealogy Network Community on Google+
 * Indiana Genealogy Network Group on Facebook
 * Porter County, Indiana: A Part of the Indiana GenWeb Project
 * Swedish Farmsteads of Porter County, Indiana
 * Porter County, Indiana Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
 * Porter County, Indiana Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)