Denise,
Oddly enough, the deed book was used in Morgan County to record diverse transactions. For
example, one of the early entries is the purchase made by a free black woman. She bought
her husband, who was a slave, and recorded the sale in the deed book. Morgan County
History and Genealogy Association is considering indexing or abstracting the first and
maybe second deed books to show these unusual entries.
I don't know when probate courts were established, but they were likely established
after there was sufficient population owning land that needed to be left to someone. I
know the probates in Parke County begin in 1834. Maybe they began about the same time or
earlier in Morgan County. I think Courts of Common Pleas came later, because (again,
working in Parke County), we found few references in the early probate boxes. Later we
found many of these cases stuffed into the probates, probably because no one knew what
else to do with them. Prior to the establishment of county courts, much of the legal work
was done in each township by Justices of the Peace. These men acted on issues and brought
the records to the county seat occasionally. Whether they recorded their work in order
books or not, I can't say. I suspect many of their records were lost.
I think Order Books should coincide with the establishment of the probate and other
courts. Sadly, a significant number of Morgan County records (including original probate
files) were destroyed many years ago. Others are hard to obtain, but there is a microfilm
department in the Court House which should have copies of existing relevant records.
Morgan County has sent some original records to the Indiana State Archives, both microfilm
and originals, which are available through that agency.
Sharon
----- Original Message -----
From: "Denise Wells" <scindianagenweb(a)gmail.com>
To: inmorgan(a)rootsweb.com
Sent: Sunday, January 5, 2014 6:05:15 PM
Subject: Re: [Morgan Co IN] Help with Indiana source book reference
Why would he look I'm the Deed Book?
I'm not sure how name changes took place back that far in time; however, in Indiana,
while I lived there prior to 2001, all name changes in Indianapolis were handled through
the Probate Court. I'm not sure what courts were in place In Morgan County in that
time period.
Now, if he owned real property (real estate, as opposed to personal property) he may have
had to file a new deed transferring the title from his name Peacock to Lamb. So
Yes, those would definitely be recorded in the Deed recorders office.
Also, documents that needed to be recorded otherwise would be published in Order Books or
some other specific type of record book.
It's a shame that all these records are not available back that far.
I have seen some very interesting records recorded in Arizona when I was doing bankruptcy
work for an AZ attorney.
Denise, State Coordinator
INGenWeb
www.ingenweb.org
On Jan 5, 2014, at 5:14 PM, s.m.mills(a)comcast.net wrote:
Ryan,
I suspect you have all the relevant information in the reference. Since the IHS has
microfilm, you could pursue a copy from them. I am not sure if the record made it back to
Morgan County, but if it did, I still think the Recorder's office would be the logical
place to inquire. If it's not in an early deed book, it might be in
"Miscellaneous Records", another type of book kept in that office.
You will need to have great patience in requesting information or help from the Archives.
They are always short-handed.
You are welcome. I learned something from checking into your post.
Sharon
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ryan Cramer" <cramerryan(a)hotmail.com>
To: inmorgan(a)rootsweb.com
Sent: Saturday, January 4, 2014 11:06:04 PM
Subject: Re: [Morgan Co IN] Help with Indiana source book reference
Thank you very much Sharon. This is very useful information. I will check with the
Indiana a State Archives first. It sounds like Morgan county may not have the information
if the state legislature handled this matter. But I will certainly check the county deed
records if I can't find anything through the early legislative sessions.
Ryan
> Date: Sun, 5 Jan 2014 03:07:57 +0000
> From: s.m.mills(a)comcast.net
> To: inmorgan(a)rootsweb.com
> Subject: Re: [Morgan Co IN] Help with Indiana source book reference
>
> I don't have your complete answer, but I think I have a start for you. Before
courts of common pleas were set up, there were a couple of ways citizens could take care
of legal business. Maybe more. One was to ask the township JP to write something up and
take it to the Court House. Another was to have a non-deed published in the deed book that
was current, say deed books 1 or 2. In the case of divorces and other personal matters,
one could petition the state legislature. I think this may be what the Peacock family did.
> I would still check the Morgan County deed book of 1826-1827 to see if the matter is
mentioned; however, a useful call for you would be the Indiana State Archives, where a
researcher could help you to understand the formation and nature of the "Indiana
Historical Collection", which is the reference from which your reference about the
"Laws 1826-1827" was taken.
> I looked at Source Book III, your resource, and found the information was an
extractions of names of citizens and their legal actions from (it appears to me) early
legislative sessions.
> Clearly this was a very serious attempt to document early citizens and this aspect of
their lives.
> Sharon Mills
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ryan Cramer" <cramerryan(a)hotmail.com>
> To: inmorgan(a)rootsweb.com
> Sent: Saturday, January 4, 2014 9:26:42 PM
> Subject: [Morgan Co IN] Help with Indiana source book reference
>
> Hi!
>
> I found a reference in the "Indiana source book" regarding one of my
wife's ancestors who lived in Morgan County. It mentions that John Peacock, his wife
susannah, and children Louisa, Madison, and Betsy changed their last name to Lamb. I
wanted to find out what the original document said, so I wrote to the Morgan County court
to get a copy of it. The reference in the Indiana Source Book is:
>
> Under Morgan County:
> Laws, 1825-26, pp 42-43
>
> The court said that they did extensive research into the civil order books, but
couldn't find anything, but they don't know exactly what the citation means.
>
> Does anyone have any idea where I could look to find this document?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Ryan Cramer
>
>
> -------------------------------
>
> MORGAN COUNTY, INDIANA MAILING LIST
>
> LIST TOPIC: The discussion and research of genealogy or history information
pertaining to Morgan County, Indiana at any point in its history.
>
> WHEN REPLYING to any list post please remember to snip most of the earlier message
before you post any reply.
>
> LIST INFORMATION PAGE: Contact the List Admin at inmorgan-admin(a)rootsweb.com or to
search the list archives, get information on subscribing or unsubscribing, or to obtain
other useful information to help you use the list more effectively, please click on the
following link to the list information page online:
>
>
http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/usa/IN/morgan.html
>
> -------------------------------
> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to INMORGAN-request(a)rootsweb.com
with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the
message
>
> -------------------------------
>
> MORGAN COUNTY, INDIANA MAILING LIST
>
> LIST TOPIC: The discussion and research of genealogy or history information
pertaining to Morgan County, Indiana at any point in its history.
>
> WHEN REPLYING to any list post please remember to snip most of the earlier message
before you post any reply.
>
> LIST INFORMATION PAGE: Contact the List Admin at inmorgan-admin(a)rootsweb.com or to
search the list archives, get information on subscribing or unsubscribing, or to obtain
other useful information to help you use the list more effectively, please click on the
following link to the list information page online:
>
>
http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/usa/IN/morgan.html
>
> -------------------------------
> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to INMORGAN-request(a)rootsweb.com
with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the
message
-------------------------------
MORGAN COUNTY, INDIANA MAILING LIST
LIST TOPIC: The discussion and research of genealogy or history information pertaining to
Morgan County, Indiana at any point in its history.
WHEN REPLYING to any list post please remember to snip most of the earlier message before
you post any reply.
LIST INFORMATION PAGE: Contact the List Admin at inmorgan-admin(a)rootsweb.com or to search
the list archives, get information on subscribing or unsubscribing, or to obtain other
useful information to help you use the list more effectively, please click on the
following link to the list information page online:
http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/usa/IN/morgan.html
-------------------------------
To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to INMORGAN-request(a)rootsweb.com with
the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the
message
-------------------------------
MORGAN COUNTY, INDIANA MAILING LIST
LIST TOPIC: The discussion and research of genealogy or history information pertaining to
Morgan County, Indiana at any point in its history.
WHEN REPLYING to any list post please remember to snip most of the earlier message before
you post any reply.
LIST INFORMATION PAGE: Contact the List Admin at inmorgan-admin(a)rootsweb.com or to search
the list archives, get information on subscribing or unsubscribing, or to obtain other
useful information to help you use the list more effectively, please click on the
following link to the list information page online:
http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/usa/IN/morgan.html
-------------------------------
To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to INMORGAN-request(a)rootsweb.com with
the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the
message
-------------------------------
MORGAN COUNTY, INDIANA MAILING LIST
LIST TOPIC: The discussion and research of genealogy or history information pertaining to
Morgan County, Indiana at any point in its history.
WHEN REPLYING to any list post please remember to snip most of the earlier message before
you post any reply.
LIST INFORMATION PAGE: Contact the List Admin at inmorgan-admin(a)rootsweb.com or to search
the list archives, get information on subscribing or unsubscribing, or to obtain other
useful information to help you use the list more effectively, please click on the
following link to the list information page online:
http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/usa/IN/morgan.html
-------------------------------
To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to INMORGAN-request(a)rootsweb.com with
the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the
message