Did you know that if you have an ancestor who lived in Floyd, Clark, or Harrison County, Indiana before 1841, you qualify to become a member of the First Families of that county? This presentation walks you through how to fill out the application to join this project of the Southern Indiana Genealogical Society and highlights what resources are available in the Indiana Room of the Jeffersonville Township Public Library to help you with your Clark County genealogy research.

1. Joining First Families
of Floyd, Clark,
& Harrison Counties
Allison Fredrickson
Jeffersonville Township Public Library
January 12, 2016

2. What Is First Families?
O Lineage project of the Southern Indiana
Genealogical Society
O To honor the memory of pioneers and first
families who lived in Floyd, Clark, or Harrison
Counties before December 31, 1840

3. Do I Qualify?
O Was your ancestor here before December
31, 1840?
 1840 census (and earlier)
 Deeds (1840 and earlier)
 Mentioned in legal records (civil or criminal
court, probate, wills)
 Church records
 County histories

4. How To Apply
O Application has 5 components:
1. Lineage List
2. Source List
3. Family Group Sheets
4. Biography
5. Documentation
O Residence, relationships, BMD
O $15 for first ancestor (per applicant)
O $5 for each additional ancestor (per applicant)
O Rolling deadline: August 1st
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~insigs/FF_2014/ffproject.htm

5. Hoosier History
& Heritage Celebration
O Thursday, October 6, 2016
O Newlin Hall, Floyd County 4-H
Fairgrounds
O 6 pm – 7 pm: Pioneer Social
O 7 pm: First Families Certificates

6. The Application
Application to join through John Pettit (2015) and
Johnathan J. Carr, Benjamin Perry Butts, and
Hannah Butts Lee (2014)

7. Application: 3 Ancestors
Each ancestor listed
individually
Earliest year they were in
Floyd / Clark / Harrison
County
Paid $25:
$15 for Jonathan J. Carr
$5 for Benjamin Perry Butts
$5 for Hannah Butts Lee
Your contact
information
Spell your name as it should
appear on your certificate!

8. Application: 1 Ancestor
Paid $15 for single
ancestor
Ancestor’s
Name
County in
which
they
settled
Year in which
they settled
Document that
proves the year and
county

9. 1. Lineage List
Start with your
Pioneer
Ancestor
Documents don’t
have to be included
in numerical order!
Generation 2 is the
pioneer’s child you
directly descend
from

10. 2. Evidence List

11. 3. Family Group Sheets
Include a
separate
family group
sheet for
each
generation
in your
lineage list!
Information about
the husband
Information about
the wife
Information about
their children –
can continue onto
2nd page if
necessary
We will accept
printouts from
genealogy software
for these sheets

12. 4. Biography
Henry and Elizabeth Phillipi immigrated to
Clark County, Indiana, in 1838 with their
children and Elizabeth’s extended family.
They came from Guilford County, North
Carolina, by covered wagon. Henry and
Elizabeth were 54 and 48 years old and
they were farmers. They probably attended
the Mt. Vernon Presbyterian Church and are
buried in the cemetery there.
Keep it SHORT, this will be read aloud at the Hoosier History
and Heritage Celebration in October!

13. 5. Documentation
O Include photocopies of the documents
listed in your Evidence List
O Don’t need originals or “certified” copies
O If citing a book, include a photo copy of
the title page
O Pedigree charts do NOT count as
acceptable sources
A copy of your application will be kept on file at JTPL and
at the New Albany library for reference by other
researchers!

14. Sample Documentation:
Deed
Make sure to
label every page!

15. Sample Documentation:
County History

16. Finding Evidence
Resources to help you at the
Jeffersonville Township Public Library

17. Census
O Ancestry Library
Edition: 1790 – 1940 
only available at the
library (Jeffersonville &
Clarksville)
O HeritageQuest Online:
1790 – 1940 
available at home and
at the library
O Microfilm: 1790 – 1930

18. Death Records
O Indexes in print: 1882 – 1920
O Microfilm: 1882 – 1971 (Clark
County)
O Jeffersonville: 1921 –
1956
O Clarksville: 1907 – 1939
O Charlestown: 1907 – 1937
O Sellersburg: 1911 – 1937
O Borden: 1913 – 1937

19. Obituaries
Microfilm
O Evening News/News & Tribune:
1872 – present
O National Democrat: 1872 –
1916
O Jeffersonville Star: 1914 – 1921
O Courier-Journal: 1975 – 1998
Obituary Indexes
O 1872 – 1900: Evening News &
National Democrat
O 1914 – 1921: Jeffersonville Star
O 1950-51; 1998 – 2014: Evening
News/News & Tribune *

20. Wills & Probate
Wills
O Clark County wills: 1805 – 1875
(7 vols.)
O Early Clark County wills &
executor’s records: 1801 – 1833
O Index to Indiana Wills: vol. 1
(through 1850), vol. 2 (1850 –
1880)
O Microfilm: 1801 – 1833; 1852 –
1895
Probate
O Microfilm: 1817 – 1852
O Microfilm: Indexes for most
books A – Z

21. Cemetery Records
O Registers
O Eastern: 1880 – 1910; 1937
– 1959
O St. Anthony’s: through 1989
O Transcriptions
O Walnut Ridge
(Jeffersonville)
O Walnut Hill (Borden)
O Old Borden/New
Providence Cemetery
(Borden)
O Misc. for all Clark townships
(blue binders)
O Hoosier Journal of Ancestry
O Hoosier Genealogist

22. Marriage Records
O Clark County: 1801 –
present
O Microfilm: 1808 –
1901
O Print indexes: 1808 –
1920
O Applications not
attached until 1905
O Gretna Green

23. Birth Records
O Microfilm of
Registers: 1882 –
1922
O WPA Print index:
1882 – 1920
O Pre-1882 Indiana
Births from
Secondary Sources
(2 vols.) by Dawne
Slater-Putt

24. Land Records
O Deeds (Microfilm)
O Grantor indexes:
1860 – 1900
O Grantee indexes:
1870 – 1900
O Jeffersonville Land
Entries, 1808 – 1818
O Jeffersonville district #7,
book 1, from Original
Returns, Federal land
sales in Indiana

25. Church Records
O St. Luke’s Evangelical
Reformed Church
(Jeffersonville)
O 1870 – 1916
O 2 volumes
O St. Paul’s United
Church of Christ
(Sellersburg)
O 1890 – 1995
O 2 volumes

26. Legal Records
O Microfilm
O Court of Common Pleas:
O Order Books: 1801 – 1817
O Minute Books: 1801 - 1814
O Circuit Courts:
O Minute Books: 1815 – 1816
O Order Books: 1824 – 1831
O Court of General Quarter
Sessions:
O Minute Books: 1801 – 1808
O Estray Book: 1802 – 1818
O Indexes
O Court of Common Pleas,
1801 – 1805; 1808 – 1814
O Circuit Court, 1815 – 1816;
1832 – 1835
O County Commissioners,
1817 – 1820

27. African American Research
O Clark County Register of
Negroes
O 1805 – 1810
O http://indianadigitalarchi
ves.org/TitleInfo.aspx?TI
D=33
O Clark County Register of
Negroes and Mulattos
O 1853 – 1864: Males
O 1853 – 1864: Females
O http://indianadigitalarchi
ves.org/TitleInfo.aspx?TI
D=34

28. County & Local Histories
O History of the Ohio Falls cities and their
counties (1882)
O Baird’s history of Clark County,
Indiana (1909)
O A brief informal history of Clark County,
Indiana (1985)
O This place we call home (2007)
O Clark County, Indiana index of names of
persons and of firms (1938)
O Biographical and historical souvenir for
the counties of Clark, Crawford,
Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings,
Scott, and Washington, Indiana (1889)
O A handbook on Clark County, Indiana
(1950)

29. Family Histories
O Published/bound
histories
O Family files
O Contents range
greatly
O Always welcome
new files!

30. City Directories
O Earliest: 1859
O Business-only directories:
1870/71, 1875/76, and
1893/94
O Missing:
O Most of 1880s (except
1880/81, 1884/85, &
1888/89)
O Most of 1890s (except
1892/93 and 1893/94)
O 1925 – 1934
Available on Ancestry.com and
Ancestry Library Edition in
“U.S. City Directories, 1821-
1989”

31. Yearbooks
O Jeffersonville High School: 1913
– 2012
O Clarksville High School: 1960 –
1992
O Our Lady of Providence High
School: 1969 – 1995
O River Valley Middle School:
1981 – 2002
O Parkview Middle School: 1987
* dates aren’t inclusive *
O All are kept in the reference
office; ask me if you want to see
any. Many now digitized!

32. Military Records
O Rosters of Revolutionary
Veterans and Patriots buried
in Indiana
O Also just buried in Clark
County
O Book of Civil War veterans
from Indiana
O Book of Indiana volunteers
for Spanish-American War
O Indexes to pension records
for Revolutionary War, 1812,
etc.
O DAR family files
O 1812 ancestor files
O Roll of Honor (in print)

33. Maps
O Clark County land owner map (1875)
O Index/abstract for townships
O Sanborn Fire Insurance maps:
Jeffersonville
O 1898, 1925 (1952) in print
O 1886, 1898, 1904, 1911, 1925 on
microfilm
O Illustrated Historical Atlas of Indiana
(1876)
O Historic maps
O Jeffersonville
O Louisville
O Indiana
O Clark County plat books 3, 4, and 5

34. Charlestown Libraries
Resources in other libraries in Clark County

35. Charlestown-Clark County
http://www.clarkco.lib.in.us/
O Charlestown
O Sellersburg
O Borden
O New Washington
O Henryville

36. Online Resources
O Main page:
http://charlestown.boundless.ly/?page_id=64
O In the library:
http://charlestown.boundless.ly/?page_id=482
O Charlestown Family Files:
http://charlestown.boundless.ly/?page_id=1105
O Sellersburg Family Files:
http://charlestown.boundless.ly/?page_id=1097
O Digitized on Indiana Memory:
http://charlestown.boundless.ly/?page_id=162

37. Clark County Resources
Resources at the county courthouse and county
health department in Jeffersonville

38. County Courthouse
O Recorder’s office
O Deeds
O Mortgages
O Copies: $1/page
O (812) 285 – 6235
O Richard Jones
O Records Department
O Marriages &
Divorces
O Wills & Probate
O Civil & Criminal
Courts
O Naturalizations
O Copies: $0.10/page
O (812) 285 – 6384
O Dave Paris
http://www.co.clark.in.us/directory.html
Clark County Government Center
501 East Court Avenue, Jeffersonville, IN 47130

39. Health Department
O Birth records:
O 1882 – present
O Death records:
O 1882 - present
O $5 for lookup (5
names)
O $11 for death record
O $10 for birth record
http://www.clarkhealth.net/genealogy.htm
Clark County Health Department
1320 Duncan Avenue, Jeffersonville, Indiana 47130

40. Getting Help

41. SIGS
O Programs: 1st Thursday of the month at 7 pm
O Strassweg Auditorium, New Albany – Floyd
County Public Library
O Board meetings: 4th Thursday of the month at
7 pm
O Indiana Room, New Albany – Floyd County
Public Library
O http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~insigs
O sigsvolunteer@gmail.com

42. JTPL
O Jeffersonville Township Public Library
O 211 E Court Avenue
O Jeffersonville, IN 47130
O Allison Fredrickson, Genealogy and Local
History Librarian
O (812) 285 – 5641
O afredrickson@jefflibrary.org