Monroe County, Indiana Genealogy

Guide to Monroe 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 from Orange County 14 January 1818.
 * County Seat:  Bloomington

Description
The county was named for James Monroe, fifth President of the United States, who was serving at the time the county was organized. The County Seat is Bloomington and was founded 1818. It is located in the Central area of the state.

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:

Neighboring Counties
Morgan •  Brown  •  Jackson  •  Lawrence  •  Greene  •  Owen

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
There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

Cemeteries
Cemetery records often reveal birth, marriage, death, relationship, military, and religious information.

See Indiana Cemeteries for more information.


 * Cemeteries for Monroe County - Linkpendium
 * Monroe County Cemeteries -INGenWeb

Census Records

 * Index to Mortality Schedule for Monroe County (1860) ($, Indiana Genealogical Society)
 * Index to Defective, Dependent &amp; Delinquent Census for Monroe County (1880) ($, Indiana Genealogical Society)
 * Index to Census of Males for Clear Creek Township, Monroe County (1919) ($, Indiana Genealogical Society)

Court Records

 * Index to Court Records for Monroe County (1818-1875) (free, Indiana Genealogical Society)

Local Histories

 * Blanchard, Charles. Counties of Morgan, Monroe, and Brown, Indiana. Historical and Biographical. (Chicago: F.A. Battey Co, 1884.) 977.2 H2b FHL US/CAN Book, Other Libraries, INTERNET ARCHIVE


 * History of Monroe County - Linkpendium
 * Monroe County History - USGenWeb
 * Monroe County, Indiana, Family Heritage Book, published by the Monroe County Historical Society in 1987. Contains an every-name index.
 * Monroe County, Indiana, Family Heritage Book, published by the Monroe County History Center in 2007. Contains an every-name index. Material does not overlap with the book by the same name published in 1987.
 * Index to History of Harrodsburg (1964) (free, Indiana Genealogical Society)
 * Index to History of Stinesville (1955) (free, Indiana Genealogical Society)

Land and Property

 * Earliest Landowners in Monroe County (Indiana Genealogical Society)
 * Several online indices for land records in the 1800s are available online at Monroe County History Center.

Maps

 * Old Antique Atlases &amp; Maps of Indiana
 * Maps and Gazetteers - Linkpendium

War of 1812

 * Hopkins, T. M. Reminiscences of Col. John Ketcham of Monroe County, Indiana (Salt Lake City, Utah 1989)

Mexican-American War

 * Monroe County in the Mexican-American War, INGenWeb

Civil War
Civil War service men from Monroe 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 Monroe County.


 * 9th Battery, Indiana Light Artillery
 * 10th Regiment, Indiana Cavalry, Company I
 * 14th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company K
 * 18th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company H
 * 22nd Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company I
 * 31st Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company G
 * 38th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company G
 * 50th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company D
 * 52nd Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Reorganized Company E
 * 54th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company A
 * 67th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company B
 * 82nd Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Companies D, and F
 * 93rd Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company F
 * 97th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company C
 * 110th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company D
 * 112th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Company A
 * 117th Regiment, Indiana Infantry (6 months, 1863-4), Company I
 * 133rd Regiment, Indiana Infantry (100 days, 1864), Company K
 * 137th Regiment, Indiana Infantry (100 days, 1864), Company K
 * 145th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, Companies A, D, and E
 * 28th US Colored Troops, Addition Recruits for Colored Troop

Civil War Books


 * "Military History" in Blanchard, Charles. Counties of Morgan, Monroe, and Brown, Indiana. Historical and Biographical. (Chicago: F.A. Battey Co, 1884.) page 413-451, 977.2 H2b FHL US/CAN Book, Other Libraries, Internet Archive

Civil War Databases

 * Index to Civil War Soldiers' Discharge Papers, Indiana Genealogical Society (free)
 * Index to Draft Enrollment List for Monroe County, Indiana (1862),Indiana Genealogical Society (free)

Pension Files

 * William M. Alexander Civil War Pension File, INGenWeb
 * List of Pensioners on the Roll January 1, 1883 Monroe County, Indiana, Internet Archive
 * African American Veterans in Monroe County, Indiana (1890), Indiana Genealogical Society (members only database)

World War I

 * Gold Star Honor Roll A Record of Indiana Men and Women who Died in World War I - 1914-1918, Genealogy Trails History Group
 * World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 Monroe County, Ancestry.com ($)
 * Index to World War I Soldiers' Discharge Papers, Indiana Genealogical Society (free)<br
 * 1919 - at FamilySearch — index and images

World War II

 * Monroe County, Indiana World War II Casualties, Army and Army Air Corps, AccessGenealogy (free)

Newspapers

 * The Genealogy Library at Monroe County History Center at Sixth and Washington in Bloomington has a clipping file containing more than 73,000 clippings from newspapers mostly between 1880 and 1930. These clippings are not available online and overlap only minimally with the clippings archived at Rootsweb listed next.


 * Many thousands of newspaper clippings, some as early as 1824, are also available in the INMONROE Rootsweb list archive. Select Advanced tab. Enter INMONROE in the "List" query box for clipping index.


 * The Monroe County Public Library at Bloomington has an online obituary index. Choose "Obituary Index" within the box on the left labeled INDIANA ROOM at . Most of the obits come from a single newspaper.Consequently, if the obit you seek is not found in the index, try one of the other local newspapers from the same date. The index dates from 1824 through the current month.

County Courthouse
Monroe County Courthouse 301 N. College Avenue; PO Box 547 Bloomington, IN 47402-0547 Phone: 812-349-2600 County clerk has marriage, divorce and court records from 1818, probate records from 1831. County Health Department has birth, death and burial records from 1882. County Recorder has land records.

As of a date earlier than August 2012, many of the offices and the records related to the offices in the courthouse are temporarily housed in the Showers Building while the courthouse is under construction.The Clerk's Office is permanently located in the Justice Building at Seventh and College.

Family History Centers

 * Bloomington Indiana Family History Center

For additional nearby Family History Centers, search online in the family history center directory.

Societies
Monroe County Genealogical Society E 6th St. & Washington Bloomington, IN 47401

Monroe County Historical Society 202 East Sixth St. Bloomington, IN 47408 Telephone Number: 812-332-2517 Website

Probate Records
Online Records
 * 1798 – 1999 Indiana Wills and Probate Records 1798-1999 at Ancestry.com — index and images $
 * Index to Will Records for Monroe County (1818-1904) ($, Indiana Genealogical Society)

School Records

 * Students and Teachers of Bloomington High School (1913) - Indiana Genealogical Society - $
 * Index of Alumni of Smithfield Schools (1913-1939) - Indiana Genealogical Society - $
 * Index to Yearbook of Smithville High School - Indiana Genealogical Society - $

Taxation

 * Index to Tax Duplicates for Monroe County (1842) (free, Indiana Genealogical Society)

Vital Records

 * Indiana State Digital Archives

Marriage Records

 * 1800s-2007 Indiana, United States Marriages at FindMyPast — index $
 * 1780-1992  - FamilySearch
 * 1802-1892 Indiana Marriages - at Ancestry $
 * 1811-2007  - FamilySearch

Death Records

 * 1882-2016 Monroe County History Center
 * 1882-1920 at FamilySearch Historical Records - Index only
 * 1899-2011 Indiana, Death Certificates, 1899-2011 at Ancestry - ($), index and images
 * 1927-1930 Deaths in the Bloomington Weekly Star - Indiana Genealogical Society
 * Indiana State Digital Archives
 * INGenWeb, Monroe County Deaths

Websites

 * INGenWeb. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county.
 * , Monroe County
 * Monroe County, Indiana Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
 * Monroe County History Center has a number of databases and area photographs that contain a wealth of information.
 * Monroe County, IN History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
 * Indiana Genealogy Network Community on Google+
 * Indiana Genealogy Network Group on Facebook