Hi, David,
What I would do in this situation would be to forego looking at Censuses
while there. You can obtain Census microfilms from the LDS Library for
rental and view at your local Morman Church (if it has a Family History
Center), or can be purchased on CD from
http://www.heritagequest.com/.
Additionally, if you are interested in just cemetery records, purchase the
book Hancock County, Indiana Tombstone Inscriptions: One Hundred Years,
1833-1933 by Sue Baker, Heritage Books, Inc. (1993). This you can do from
home.
The Greenfield Public Library, 700 N Broadway, Greenfield, IN, has
microfilms of almost all Hancock county newspapers. There is no index, so
you have to have an idea of when your person died, and check for the papers
for the week or two after. The newspaper print can be small and hard to
read, and sometimes an obituary is only a couple of lines. The length of the
obituary seemed to quite often depend on the social prominence of the
person. Looking at these newspapers can be a lengthy process. I suggest
going before 2 pm, because the sun comes in the windows of the library in
the afternoon, causing quite a glare on the microfilm machines.
The County Building is at 9 E Main St, Greenfield, IN, and contains the
Clerk's office (for marriages and wills), Recorder's office (for land
transfers), and Health Department (for births and deaths). I believe the
hours for these offices are from 9-4p.m., but you may want to call to make
sure. FYI, Indiana does not observe daylight savings time, so although it is
in the Eastern time zone, the time is as if it is in the Central time zone
right now.
I am a nut for obtaining information from the source, so I would spend a lot
of time (and have) in the County Building at these offices. If you obtain
book and page number information from indices for marriages, births, and
deaths before you go, you will save yourself a lot of time. Then you can go
directly and obtain the original records without having to spend time in the
County offices looking them up first. The Works Progress Administration
(WPA) published indices in the 1930s. They are available from the LDS, or
online at
http://www.genealogylibrary.com/. I believe this web site requires
a subscription, but it's well worth it when preparing for a trip like this.
I think you can get a month's subscription for about $10.
Good luck with your research, and I hope this helps.
Elizabeth VandenBerg
Listmaster
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Metcalfe" <dmetclf(a)yahoo.com>
To: <INHANCOC-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Sunday, July 01, 2001 2:26 AM
Subject: [INHANCOC] Hancock County Research Advice Sought
Folks,
I'll be visiting Hancock County for one day, and I
wish
your advice on where I can best spend my time for the
following research:
1) birth and death records for 1880-1900
2) cemetery records
3) newspaper obits from the 1880-1890
4) 1860, 1870, 1880 & 1900 census' for the county
Your input would be greatly appreciated.
David Metcalfe
P.S.: Any Heugels out there?
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