Category Archives: Genealogy

Helen Eaton Jacoby collection

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A recently processed collection at the Indiana State Library from Helen Eaton Jacoby contains not only research and correspondence, but numerous interesting and well-composed photographs documenting both the Eaton, Jacoby and other related families and their descendants in the United States. Most photographs are of individuals or family groups, but there are several photographs that document the places where their families lived and worked. A selection of these photos were digitized and are available on the Indiana State Library’s digital collections page.

Helen Eaton Jacoby was born May 28, 1888, in Indianapolis, to Elias and Julia Eaton Jacoby. Her parents were both from Ohio and met each other at Ohio Wesleyan University.

Elias Jay Jacoby graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1884 and came to Indianapolis to be the assistant of Charles W. Fairbanks. Elias was an attorney for several railroad companies. He also was the attorney and director of the Railroadmen’s Building and Saving Association and, by 1931, he was elected the president and named to the board of directors. Elias J. Jacoby was the potentate of the Murat Shriners from 1907 to 1912. He helped oversee the construction of the Shrine in 1909.

The Indianapolis News, Dec. 23, 1922.

Julia Lillian Eaton graduated Ohio Wesleyan in 1884 and taught painting and music. Her voice and paintings were complimented several times in the Indianapolis papers.

Helen E. Jacoby graduated from Charles E. Emmerich Manuel Training High School in June 1905. While in high school she also took art classes at the Herron Art Institute. One of her instructors at Manual was Otto Stark who also taught a summer course at Herron.

Helen attended the University of Chicago, graduating in winter of 1909 with a degree in Art. She later took classes at the Pratt institute. She enjoyed art and design and entered her works in several local and regional exhibitions. Helen also designed the murals in the Egyptian Room, a 1922 addition to the Murat Shrine in Indianapolis. Her father Elias J. Jacoby was the potentate of the Murat Shriners from 1907 to 1912. He helped oversee the construction of the Shrine in 1909.

A birthday gift to Fidelia Anderson is one example of her work. Inside the book is a letter of appreciation with drawings of flowers she was familiar with. She also inserts fanciful illustrations of insects and fairies into the book.

Helen Eaton Jacoby card with letter to Fidelia Anderson. Indiana State Library digital collections.

Helen was a member of many clubs and organizations, including the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Fortnightly Club, both organizations to which her mother also belonged.

The Eaton and Jacoby families were both interested in their families’ genealogy and history. Elias and Helen would correspond with relatives – and possible relatives – to see what information they could provide on their shared ancestors and other family members. They would also travel to visit relatives and the places their ancestors once resided.

In a series of photos from 1922 and 1925, the family documents the parcels of land in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania that their ancestor John Jacoby once owned. The well composed images show both the land and the older buildings possibly built by John. They also took pictures of the current farm on the property along with the wife of the current owner.

Old homestead of John Jacoby. Indiana State Library digital collections.

On one of their visits to Pennsylvania, they photographed part of the town of Summit Station and the nearby area of Summer Hill. One of the images taken in Summer Hill is of a Union church that burned down a year after the photograph was taken.

Summer Hill. Indiana State Library digital collections.

Summit Station. Indiana State Library digital collection.

They traveled back often to Ohio to visit family, and while there they documented the homes of family members and the places they worshiped and were buried. The images of the home of James Eaton in Delaware County, Ohio, along with the burial of the Eaton and Caulkins families, are significant because both the houses and original burial sites were lost to the creation of a reservoir in the 1970s.

James Eaton home. Indiana State Library digital collections.

Caulkins family tombstones. Indiana State Library digital collections.

Eaton family tombstones. Indiana State Library digital collections.

Eaton family tombstones. Indiana State Library digital collections.

The home of Michael Jacoby, located in Marion County, Ohio, may have survived, as there is still a similar shaped home on the same site as the original, but the landscape of the surrounding area has changed due to the subdivision of property as the farmland was sold off and outbuildings were removed.

Michael Jacoby farm and Riverside cemetery. Indiana State Library digital collection.

In June of 1940, Helen Jacoby married Harold W. Evard. When he died later that year, she adopted her stepchildren and raised them. Helen J. Evard died in 1967 at the age of 79 in Indianapolis.

If you would like to see more from the collection, please visit the Indiana State Library’s  digital collection site, or visit the Genealogy Division in the Indiana State Library, located at 315 W. Ohio St. in downtown Indianapolis.

Blog written by Sarah Pfundstein, genealogy librarian, Indiana State Library. For more information, contact the Indiana State Library at 317-232-3689 or “Ask-A-Librarian.”

Genealogy for Night Owls returns to the Indiana State Library on May 21

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The Indiana State Library is once again hosting its popular Genealogy for Night Owls event on Wednesday, May 21, from 4:30-8 p.m.

The after-hours research event at the State Library will feature a library tour, a presentation on unique items in the library’s collections and Ask-an-Expert sessions with representatives from various local historical, genealogical and lineage organizations.

The schedule is as follows:

  • 5:10 p.m. – Library tour.
  • 5:30 p.m. – Presentation – “Unique Items from the Library Collections.”
  • 5:45 p.m. – Ask-an-Expert sessions begin.
  • 7 p.m. – Ask-an-Expert sessions end.
  • 8 p.m. – Program conclusion.

The tour and Ask-an-Expert sessions are optional. Attendees may spend the entire evening conducting their own research if they prefer. The Ask-an-Expert sessions are 15 minutes in length. Attendees should have questions prepared in advance. The library tour is roughly 20 minutes in length and will cover materials available for genealogy researchers at the Indiana State Library.

Genealogy Division librarians will be on hand to answer questions about the collection. They will also answer research and reference questions and assist in locating materials. The second floor microfilm area will be open and staffed by librarians from the Indiana Division. The Rare Books and Manuscripts and Reference Divisions will not be open during Genealogy for Night Owls. Librarians will not be able to retrieve manuscript collections during this event.

Registration is free and required. Click here to register.

The Indiana State Library is located at 315. W. Ohio St. in downtown Indianapolis.

Please contact Jamie Dunn, Genealogy Division supervisor at the Indiana State Library, with any questions.

This blog post was submitted by Michelle Sharp, collections and outreach manager at the Indiana State Library.

Probate records as a genealogy tool

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Probate and will records are important in genealogy because they can contain information that cannot be found in any other source. They can be more difficult to navigate than census or vital records, but they can be valuable, especially to anyone looking to glean more information about family relationships. Below is an example of a probate record that gives many specific details. It lists the full names of the deceased man’s surviving children as well as those of his grandchildren whose parent had already died. Several of the children listed never appear on a census record with their father as any federal census prior to 1850 only listed the head of household.

Robert Burnett probate record, Probate Record C, page 374, Fayette County Ohio, 1878.

In the example below, the probate record of Catharine Wall lists her children as Patrick Wall, Margaret Toban, Mary Gore and Ellen Hoban. This is the only record that links the four as siblings, because they never appear on a census record together and marriage records for the sisters, which would list their maiden names, cannot be located.

Catharine Wall probate estate case file, Washtenaw County, Michigan, 1870.

The record below contains the 1820 testimony of Fanny Shaw regarding her husband John, giving a brief biography and listing his heirs, including his daughter, Elizabeth. It also gives the full name of his first wife, Jane Jones. This information is particularly valuable in a period in which women were less commonly found in records.

Fanny Shaw affidavit, Order Book, 1818-1831, Shelby County, Kentucky, 1820.

Until recently, probate records were not always indexed and could require looking through many pages. However, FamilySearch’s new full-text capability has made searching through these types of records much easier. Learn more about this new function here.

This post was written by Laura Williams, genealogy librarian at the Indiana State Library.

Love lives in the library: Newspaper databases for finding love on the record

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Although Valentine’s Day has come and gone, love is always in the air when you’re a genealogist. Either that, or I’m looking for an excuse to feature some lovely marriage and anniversary announcements from a recent historic newspaper search.

Marriage records are the most frequently requested items in the Genealogy Division, but they typically only include basic information, like the couple’s names, date of marriage and name and title of the officiant. If you’re interested in learning more about an ancestor’s marriage, newspapers can include details you won’t find anywhere else. Through newspapers you can unearth specifics like what the bride and groom wore, what they ate and who was in the bridal party. A delightful example of this is the wedding of Christ Tsetse and Polixeni Gounaris, which was such a sensation there were numerous articles about the couple and their festivities. The Nov. 7, 1920 Fort Wayne Journal Gazette even includes a lovely photo of them in their wedding attire.

Fort Wayne News and Sentinel, Oct. 29, 1920.

Tsetse ran a bakeshop and grocery store on Graeter Street. He chose to wed Gounaris without meeting her after seeing a photograph sent from her mother, “…one glimpse at it was sufficient to convince him that she was just the girl for him.” Their civil ceremony took place right after she arrived in the U.S. at Ellis Island and was followed by a more traditional Greek Orthodox ceremony in Indiana. It’s easy to find yourself imagining you are a guest at this wedding when you read details like these, included in the Nov. 1, 1920 Fort Wayne News and Sentinel:

“It was a fantastic affair, beginning in the morning and continuing far into the night. The wedding guests assembled while a Romanian band played tunes so familiar in the old country and the jollification started when the bride entered and was escorted to a seat of honor at the front of the hall. Then the dancing began and it continued until almost noon when a Romanian priest arrived from Michigan to perform the ceremony. The services were concluded and next came the bridal banquet at which a gorgeous array of viands previously prepared in nearly every home in the Rolling Mills district was served to the guests. After the feast, the dancing and festivity broke out again with renewed enthusiasm, and the party continued for hours… Tsetse has furnished a home for his bride near his grocery on Graeter street.”

Tsetse and Gounaris had five children together and are buried side by side in the Lindenwood Cemetery in Fort Wayne.

Elaborate descriptions of what a bride and the bridal party wore on the wedding day were common for wedding announcements. On her wedding day the soon to be Mrs. Maria Vega wore, “a gown of white Chantilly lace, styled with a fitted bodice, a Peter Pan collar and a long satin train … Her fingertip veil fell softly from a beaded tiara and she carried a bouquet of stephanotis and dragon lilies.” The bridal party’s outfits were “trimmed with French lace peplums sprinkled with sequins … completed with the matching sprays of yellow and orchid gladiolus they wore in their hair and carried in bouquets.” The couple is pictured looking ahead, as if envisioning the bright future they will share together.

The Hammond Indiana Times, Aug. 31, 1949.

Although we imagine our ancestors having traditional or modest weddings, unconventional ceremonies aren’t exclusive to today’s couples. Donald E. Phelps and Margaret Reichenbach were flying high on their wedding day, literally! Newspapers reveal, “The ceremony will take place in a Fairchild cabin airplane over the Shockley airport in Kokomo, Ind.” The ceremony was infused with meaningful symbolism. Reichenbach is quoted, “We will make a four-leaf clover in the air. In each clover a vow will be made. Then after that two complete circles around the clover to bind the ceremony.” For most people in the 1930s riding in an airplane was considered an extraordinary and novel experience. This couple’s aerial wedding was likely a meaningful and memorable spectacle for family and friends.

South Bend Tribune, Sept. 4, 1930.

Indianapolis Star, July 13, 1915.

Long before the invention of the camcorder, Daniel M. Vandawalker Jr., assistant manager of a film company, and his bride, Lillian Kellison set trends by filming a motion picture of their wedding. Vandawalker is quoted accurately prophesizing, “Having motion pictures taken of the wedding was my own idea … for they will mean so much more than ‘still’ photographs. I think before long that it will become customary for motion pictures to be taken of weddings and other events, and families will have a valuable family history in pictures.”Mr. and Mrs. Vandawalker had two daughters and moved to California where Lillian was the owner of a confectionery store.

Indianapolis Recorder, Jan. 28, 1939.

Mr. and Mrs. Wager knew how to make a marriage last. The couple had been married for over 58 years when news of their anniversary was reported by the Indianapolis Recorder in 1939. The Wagners spent most of their lives in Indianapolis where they purchased land as early as 1885 and made it their home. They were such established citizens the street they lived on was named Wagner’s Lane, after the couple.

Indianapolis Journal, Sept. 3, 1885.

Baist Altas Plan 36, 1927.

According to Mrs. Wagner’s obituary, from the Dec. 8, 1955 Indianapolis News, she and her husband operated a dairy in the area. “She not only milked cows, she drove her own milk wagon to town and delivered milk.” Rev. Wagner was a pastor who helped organize Bethany Baptist Church.

Speaking of long lasting, the street named for them is still around, north of Raymond and west of Sherman. While their farm is no longer there, traces of them live on in the street which holds their name and the history of the area.

So, remember to include the library’s newspaper databases in your genealogy research. You never know, you may find your ancestor’s love story celebrated in print. Find these and the library’s other databases by clicking here.

This blog post is by Dagny Villegas, Genealogy Division librarian.

New technology opens up vast world of records through FamilySearch

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In 2023, FamilySearch debuted a new feature for researchers: Full-Text Search. Using handwriting recognition technology, FamilySearch is indexing and making searchable massive numbers of records that were unindexed and difficult to navigate before now.

At this time, Full-Text Search includes over 4,500 record sets from all seven continents (yes, including Antarctica). FamilySearch continues to add new record sets and to expand the number of records in currently indexed sets.

Indiana records currently included in Full-Text Search.

To access Full-Text Search, you will need a free FamilySearch account, which you can create at www.familysearch.org. Once you have an account, visit the FamilySearch Labs page to join Full-Text Search. Since it is currently in testing, it’s not part of the regular FamilySearch search experience. After joining, you can use Full-Text Search to search for any person, place, business or keyword.

FamilySearch Full-Text Search main page.

So how does it all work? Let’s look at an example. Suppose we are researching the Sipple family of Tippecanoe County, Indiana.

We start by searching for the surname Sipple. We can either limit our search to Tippecanoe County from the beginning using the location field, or we can filter our results after we search. In this example, we’re going to use the filters.

Search results.

Full-Text Search gives us 62 results for people named Sipple in Tippecanoe County. Looking at the Record Type filter, we can see there are Legal Records, Vital Records, Business Records and Government Records. Each of those can be further filtered by subtype. For example Vital Records may include birth, marriage and death records, depending on the place you’re researching. You can also filter your results by decade using the Year filter and by FamilySearch collection using the Collection filter.

Tippecanoe County General Index of Deeds, Volume 135: 1849-1970.

Let’s look at this deed index from Tippecanoe County. For this county, FamilySearch has only the deed indexes. For other counties and places, they often have the full deed records as well. You may also find other text-heavy records such as wills, probates, court records and more.

The name we searched is highlighted on the page so we can see where the relevant record is. There’s also a transcription of the records on the right, with our search terms highlighted. As you can see, there’s some unclear transcriptions here. Because handwriting can be so highly variable, the transcriptions are not always perfect, but they are usually quite good.

Once we have looked at the record to make sure it’s what we want, we can download the record as a PDF or JPG and have citations automatically included. We can also attach the record to the relevant person on the FamilySearch Tree.

Search results for Smith in Knox County, Indiana at home.

Search results for Smith in Knox County, Indiana at the Indiana State Library.

One thing to note about Full-Text Search is that although FamilySearch is freely accessible at home, there may be records that you cannot access just anywhere. Due to contractual restrictions, some records are available only at FamilySearch Centers and FamilySearch Affiliate Libraries. Fortunately, the Indiana State Library is an Affiliate Library and we have access to thousands of additional records compared to at-home users. To find a FamilySearch Center or Affiliate Library near you, visit the Find a FamilySearch Location page.

The examples given here all cover Indiana, but Full-Text Search includes records from across the United States and around the world. Records that previously had to be accessed page-by-page are now fully searchable and ready for researchers to make new discoveries about their families.

This blog post is by Jamie Dunn, Genealogy Division supervisor.

2024 Genealogy and Local History Fair recap

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On Oct. 26, genealogists and historians, as well as representatives from historical organizations, lineage societies and genealogical societies, visited the Indiana State Library to attend the biennial Genealogy and Local History Fair!

This year’s theme was “At the Crossroads of America: Westward Migration and Family History” where we looked at migration routes across the United States and how and where people traveled after they arrived in America.

Our speakers were professional genealogists and lecturers Annette Burke Lyttle and Eleanor Brinsko. Burke Lyttle presented “The National Road: America’s First Federal Highway” examining the route that took settlers from Maryland to Illinois and helped open up the Midwest. The National Road, known as Washington Street in Indianapolis, traces through the heart of downtown just two blocks from the library, so this topic was of particular local interest. Burke Lyttle also presented “How Advertising Brought Our Ancestors to the Midwest,” which looked at the many forms of marketing that were used to attract new settlers both from the East and from Europe.

Brinsko presented “Westward Ho: Migration Methods of the United States” exploring how people moved across the country and how the travel methods available to them influenced where they chose to go. Regardless of the time period, travel across the United States was often difficult and dangerous, and it was impressive to learn about the things our ancestors faced as they sought a place to live.

The Genealogy and Local History Fair will return on Oct. 24, 2026. We hope to see you there!

This blog post is by Jamie Dunn, Genealogy Division supervisor.

I always feel like someone is watching me – the citizen spies of the American Protective League

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The book “German Settlers and German Settlements in Indiana; a Memorial for the State Centennial, 1916” was written to celebrate German Americans in Indiana for the state’s 100th anniversary. Yet, by 1917, much had changed. The United States had entered World War I on April 6, 1917 and Germans in the country were under new scrutiny.

A Spy is Born
In 1917, an idea was birthed at Indiana’s doorstep in Chicago by Albert M. Briggs, a wealthy businessman. Briggs became concerned about the abilities of the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Investigation to handle the demands of their jobs; so he started a volunteer group of fellow businessmen to drive Bureau of Investigation agents in need of automobile transportation. The group, known as the American Protective League, eventually donated motor vehicles to the Bureau.

The gift of the automobiles opened the door to Briggs making a proposal to the chief of the Bureau that the American Protective League further assist the Bureau by looking for German spies.

Volume 1, Number 1, June 4, 1918.

Approval was given on March 20, 1917. Bureau of Investigation agents were informed that a volunteer committee was being formed to co-operate with the department for gathering information of those foreign persons unfriendly to the government. The American Protection League would provide information to the agents at the agents’ request and would also gather and provide information on their own volition.

The American Protection League’s day-to-day concerns involved tracking down draft dodgers – in the slang of the time, known as slackers – and German spies ensconced stateside. Specifically, the American Protection League was concerned with enemy aliens, first-paper aliens (i.e., those Germans that had filed their intention to become a naturalized citizen), pro-German “radicals,” native-born Germans, naturalized Germans, possible spies or German agents and pro-German applicants for government positions.

To achieve their many and varied goals, since they had no legal or official authority, agents would sometimes tar and feather suspects, drive the suspect out of town, burn down a suspect’s home or lynch the suspect. Complaints were made to the Attorney General’s Office that accused the American Protective League of wiretapping, illegal arrests, extortion, kidnapping, rape and murder.

Over concerns by the Attorney General that the American Protective League with their vigilante tendencies had violated individual rights – and since the war was over – the American Protection League was shut down and disbanded by the Federal Government in February of 1919. However, the American Protective League unofficially kept the hate alive by easily transferring the hatred from German Americans to Russian Americans suspected of being Bolsheviks.

Good Old Hoosier Hostile-ality
During World War I, all over the nation, anti-German sentiment was seen as patriotic, and Indiana was just as patriotic as any other state. In the Hoosier state, anti-German sentiment included the cessation of teaching German in schools, the death of German newspapers and the suspicion of German names.

The Hammond Lake County Times, April 9, 1918.

The Hoosier state saw German spies everywhere, as demonstrated by this editorial from the Richmond Palladium newspaper:

Richmond Palladium (Daily), Volume 42, Number 316, Nov. 16, 1917.

In Hammond, a girl turned in her boyfriend to the police whom she suspected of being a German spy; he also had a wife in Chicago.

German Hoosiers wrote letters to their local newspapers decrying their innocence of espionage.

Even Kurt Vonnegut’s grandmother Nannette Vonnegut was spied on by the family’s chauffeur.

The American Protective League in Indiana
American Protective Leagues were formed in many Indiana communities; including Howard County, Huntington, Elkhart, Evansville, Lake County and, of course, Indianapolis.

The Indianapolis Protection League boasted of the internment of 50 alien enemies and the handling of over a thousand cases.

The work of the Indiana American Protective League can be found in the American Protection League’s authorized history: “The Web – A Revelation of Patriotism:”

“Though wireless scares are most frequent on the seaboard, almost every city can boast several of them. An Indianapolis operative thought he had discovered certain wireless antennae on the property of a family with a German name. A pole was found fastened to the roof of a shed, wires being used to connect it with the attic of the house. It was noticed that the attic had close-drawn blinds, whence lights were occasionally seen. The whole thing simmered down to an outfit put up by some young men to practice telegraphy.”

And

“On this same expedition we stopped to see the Lutheran minister as private citizens, and told him that the people of Jasper County wanted no more German preaching and no more German teaching in the schools; also they would like to see Old Glory floating from the mast-head. We told him also that this was the last time that he would be notified. In about three hours we returned that way and stopped again. Old Glory was floating at the mast-head; the German school books had disappeared, and there has been no more German teaching nor preaching.”

If you are wondering if anyone in your family was accused of being a German spy or even someone that did the spying; you are in luck!

Ancestry – available for free when you visit the Indiana State Library – has the following collections: American Protective League Members Record Cards and Registers of Members, 1917-1919 (and yes it includes the state of Indiana!) and American Protective League Correspondence, 1917-1919 – Correspondence on Investigations.

The Indiana State Library also has in its collections the Indianapolis American Protective League Membership List; American Protective League of Indianapolis During World War; call number: [Vault] ISLV 940.3772 I388B.

You can also search the Indiana State Library’s various newspaper databases for ancestors’ names in the results that are returned with the words “German spy” and “American Protective League.”

This blog post is by Angi Porter, Genealogy Division librarian.

Additional Resources
Alien Enemy Index, 1917-1919.

American Protective League. Issues of the Newsletter “Spy Glass,” 06/04/1918–01/25/191. Series A1 16. NAID: 597894. Records of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1896–2008, Record Group 65. The National Archives in Washington, D.C.

“Genealogical Records of German Families in Allen County, Indiana 1918;” call number: ISLG 977.201 A425BL.

Genealogical Records of German Families in Allen County, Indiana 1918.

Huntington County in the World War. Volume 1, number 21 – American Protective League.

The Web – “A Revelation of Patriotism.”

“800 ARE NAMED AS ENEMY ALIENS: Complete List Given of Local Residents Affected by Government Order – Names of Unnaturalized Germans Registered Here;” The Indianapolis Star, December 7, 1917, page 12.

Genealogy Fair returns to Indiana State Library in October

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The popular Genealogy and Local History Fair will return to the Indiana State Library on Saturday, Oct. 26, from 10:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.

This year’s theme is “At the Crossroads of America: Westward Migration and Family History,” and will examine where the ancestors of many Americans went after they arrived in the United States, and how they got there. The fair will feature a full day of genealogy presentations and exhibitors.

Registration is not required but is preferred. Click here to register and to read more details about the presentations and speaker.

Indiana library staff can receive up to three LEUs for attending. Those seeking LEUs should register for recordkeeping purposes.

Parking validation will be available for attendees who park in the Senate Avenue parking garage directly across from the library and bring their ticket in for validation.

Eleanor Brinsko will present “Westward Ho: Migrations Methods of the United States.” Brinsko will focus on the people who have called the land called America “home” and the methods they chose to migrate across the country. Questions like “How did they get to their chosen place of settlement?” and “What modes of transportation were available?” will be answered.

Annette Burke Lyttle will present “How Advertising Brought Our Ancestors to the Midwest.” Business owners, land speculators and communities wishing to grow all turned to various forms of advertising to entice people to migrate to the Midwestern territories and states. Lyttle will look at what kinds of messages these ads used in order to make hard work and pioneer living seem attractive.

Lyttle will also present “The National Road: America’s First Federal Highway.” Built between 1811 and 1837, the National Road was the first federally-funded highway in America. Extending from Maryland to the frontier of Illinois, this migration route allowed thousands of people to settle in the Midwest.

Genealogy and Local History Fair, 2018.

Eleanor Brinsko is a genealogist who does European-American genealogy by looking at genealogical and social trends on both sides of the Atlantic. Eleanor has given lectures for the Wisconsin Historical Society and public libraries, genealogical societies and family reunions around the United States. She taught a graduate-level course on genealogy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s iSchool and is also a contributor to the show “PBS’ Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr.”

Annette Burke Lyttle, CG® owns Heritage Detective, LLC, providing professional genealogical services in research, education and writing. She speaks on a variety of genealogical topics at the international, national, state and local levels and loves helping people uncover and share their family stories. Annette is a course coordinator for the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy and the British Institute. She is a published writer whose research interests include Quaker ancestors and ancestral migrations in the U.S. She is past president of the Association of Professional Genealogists and editor of The Florida Genealogist.

For questions, or to register as an exhibitor, please email the Genealogy Division of the Indiana State Library.

This blog post is by Jamie Dunn, Genealogy Division supervisor.

Shirley family collection

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The Shirley family collection is a recently-processed collection that contains an interesting item. The collection consists of a copy of “Stemmata Shirleiana,” along with a photo album belonging to Ellen Shirley of Baltimore, Maryland. The book was purchased by the Indiana State Library in 1951. The bookseller gave the library the album since it was in the same lot of items that he had purchased. The photo album contains several images of not only Ellen Shirley’s immediate family, but also more distant relations of William Shirley.

William Shirley, Ellen’s husband, was born January 1816 in London. His family was involved in the crockery and glassware trade, something he followed in their footsteps by being sent to Brussels to learn the trade.

When William was 18, he immigrated to Baltimore and found a job in a crockery firm. His brothers John and Jesse Shirley also came to America and traveled to California where they were involved with the glassware and crockery business. Jesse Shirley died in March of 1862 in Sacramento, California, while John died in 1911 in San Francisco. In the album is a photograph of Jesse Shirley probably from around the 1850s, as well as a later photograph of his brother John in California.

William and Ellen Shirley had four children: Henry Clay, William Walter, Hannah and Eliza Ann Shirley. Some of the children are represented in the photo album. There are also two photographs of Henry Clay Shirley’s sons – Henry Clay, Jr. and Joseph Whitney Shirley – in the album wearing uniforms from the Pennsylvania Military Academy.

William Shirley’s maternal cousins are also featured in the book. John and William Arnold along with William’s wife Emma left England in 1831 for the United States arriving and living in New York, before traveling south to Baltimore in the 1840s. By the 1860 census both John, William and his family are living in Terre Haute. After William Arnold’s death in 1860, the family moved to Indianapolis where they are found in the 1870 census. Two of William’s daughters married men who were photographers. His oldest, Elizabeth, married Adam Rodabaugh Miller in December of 1851 while his youngest daughter Mary married William H. Salter in September of 1865.

William H. Salter was born in Indiana in 1839. He married Mary L. Arnold in September of 1865. By 1870, William was a partner in a photography studio with his wife’s brother-in-law Adam R. Miller. He worked with Miller until 1872 when he went out on his own. Around 1873, he partnered with Judd. Their partnership only lasted a few years and by 1877 William was back out on his own. William ran his own studio until December of 1882 when he died of typhoid fever. He was buried at Crown Hill cemetery. In the collection are several photographs of his daughters Emma and Bessie, these were taken during his time at Salter & Judd’s.

Adam R. Miller was born in Montgomery County, Ohio on June 9, 1827. He married Elizabeth Arnold in Montgomery County, Ohio in December of 1851. He moved with the Shirleys to Terre Haute, showing up on the 1860 census with the family. In Terre Haute, Adam ran a studio, but by the mid-1860s he had partnered with Francis L. Frank operating a studio in Indianapolis. He would later partner with William H. Salter running a studio for a couple years in the 1870s. He had one daughter with Elizabeth, Sarah Lydia Miller, who would die in 1882. Adam and Elizabeth had a tumultuous relationship getting married and divorced twice. He also had issues with creditors and landlords due to nonpayment of bills. By 1880, Adam had ended his photography business and was a real estate agent. There are two unlabeled photographs by him in Ellen Shirley’s photo album, one of a woman and the other a young girl who could possibly be Elizabeth Arnold Miller and Sarah Lydia Miller.

You can see more of the Shirley photographs by going to the Indiana State Library’s Digital Collections page and searching “Shirley,” or by visiting the State Library.

Blog written by Sarah Pfundstein, genealogy librarian, Indiana State Library. For more information, contact the Indiana State Library at 317-232-3689 or “Ask-A-Librarian.”

The Rock House

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The striking Rock House on State Road 252 in Morgantown, Indiana catches the eye of many a passer-by. It started life as a home for a local businessman and his very large family. Construction on the house began in 1894 and was completed two years later. James Smith Knight, the builder and owner, used cement blocks more than a decade before they became widely used in construction. He then embedded them not only with rocks and geodes, but also colored glass, keys, coins, dice, pottery, marbles, seashells and even doll heads. Most of the rocks came from nearby Bear Creek. Knight’s name, as well as that of his first wife Isabelle, were embedded into the house using small black stones. A side porch contained a block with a tusk of a wild boar that Knight had killed. The interior of the home included a dumbwaiter, laundry chutes and a bedroom designed for the delivery of Knight’s 22 children born between 1891 and 1932. The second story of the round tower was intended for the upkeep of Isabelle’s plant collection. The total cost of the construction was $9,000 or around $328,000 today.

The Rock House, courtesy of morgantown.in.gov.

There are several legends associated with the Rock House. Family lore holds that Knight was friends with the father of John Dillinger, and that Dillinger himself stayed in the house for a night along with a friend. Some of Knight’s children claimed that another man on the run from the law was hidden in the attic for several years. Certain versions of the story state that the man was driven out from his hiding place after he accidentally set a small fire.

James Smith Knight and his first wife Isabelle with their six oldest children: Fred, Regina, Charles, Inez, Nadene and Garnet, in 1903. Pallas Houser Collection, Genealogy Division.

Knight married Myrtle Settles after the death of his wife Isabelle in 1915, and they lived in the Rock House until James’ death in 1943. More information about Knight and his family can be found in the Pallas Houser Collection in the Genealogy Division.

This post was written by Laura Williams, genealogy librarian at the Indiana State Library.