Research Resources

At the Carroll County History Museum you can find a host of family genealogies, information about Carroll County organizations, resources on the Canal Era in Carroll County. maps and more!

Click here to search our library of family genealogies available at the museum and then stop in to learn more. Members also have onsite access to Ancestry.com and Newspaperarchive.com!

Our county historian, Mark A. Smith has highlighted below some popular resources and references available at the museum:

History of Carroll County, Indiana with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers to Which is Appended Maps of its Several Townships; reprint Eastern Indiana Publishing Company, Box 85, Knightstown, Indiana Chicago; Kingman Brothers Lakeside Building, 1882; Author, Thomas Helm.

History of Carroll County, Indiana Its People, Industries, and Institutions by John C.Odell With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of The Families and Illustrations; 1916. B.F. Bowen and Company, Inc. Indianapolis, Indiana.

Recollections of the Early Settlement of Carroll County, Indiana by James Hervey Stewart, County Clerk for Twenty-Five Consecutive Years; Cincinnati, Printed by Hitchcock and Walden for the Author, 1872. This work is unique in that it contains the first fifteen Old Settlers Meetings with Stewart actually recording the proceedings verbatim as well as the first County Commissioner’s and City/Town Council Meetings of the City of Delphi, and Civil War Regiments.

History of the Wabash and Valley; Ben Stuart-From the Press of the Longwell Cummings Company. This contains some rich stories about the development of French Post Park, the Wabash and Erie Canal, Potowatomi Trail of Death, and other Wabash River related items. Stuart was instrumental in developing French Post Park and is laid to rest in Seceder Cemetery in Adams Township.

Carroll County, Indiana Postal History; Rural Settlement; Towns, Development of Modes of Travel; Townships by Dora Thomas Mayhill, 1954 Published by Banner Publishing Company; Knightstown, Indiana; Reprinted by the Bookmark, Knightstown, Indiana with some additional pictures and additional notes by Dora Thomas Mayhill on pg. 155. Dora was the historian-half of a couple which included her husband Bert who was a newspaper publisher and State Representative. Their son Thomas was a newspaper publisher at Knightstown. This contains some real rich stories about early day education in Carroll County and pertinent transportation lore, as well as vignettes of small towns and settlements in Carroll County. I like her entry on schools because this was written in the pre-consolidation days.

Old Wabash and Erie Canal in Carroll County and Pre-Canal History of the Wabash River by Dora Thomas Mayhill; 1953; Reprinted 1973 with corrections by Mayhill Publications, Knightstown, Indiana; Reprinted 1980 by the Bookmark, P.O. 74; Knightstown, Indiana. This is a real gem containing original allusions to descendants of that time period and the industries of their ancestors. There is copious mention made of the early-day native life of this area including the various treaties and reserves.

The Carroll County Sesquicentennial Publication 1824-1828-1974-1978; a Photographic Portrayal of Old Life in a Hoosier Community; The Pictorial History of Carroll County; June 1977; Copyright 1977, 1978 by C.E. Gerard and Michael G. Griffey under the Auspices of the Carroll County Sesquicentennial Committee. This is a favorite of mine and contains many of pioneer photographer Andrew Wolever’s photographic work as well as a smattering of that of the late Charles E. Gerard (now known for the Gerard Archive Room in the Opera House as well as the Niches Preserve which bears both his name and that of his mother Mary Iliene Gerard along the High Bridge Trail. Printed by Haywood Publishing Company, Inc. Lafayette, Indiana. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 77-152489. First Printing, June 1977; Second Printing June 1978.

Carroll County Indiana Rural Organizations 1828-1979 Volume I History. John C. and Doris Peterson Copyright 1980 ISBNl 6-9604376-0-6. Library of Congress Cat. Card # 80-822231. This is a favorite of mine having been acquainted with the authors in my childhood as they were involved in many community organizations. This contains a synopsis of many other county histories in its bibliography as well as a thorough recounting of the agricultural community including the REMC, Grange, 4-H Fair, Farm Progress Shows, and County Extension life of that day. John’s brother Joe and his wife Elizabeth were equally as involved.

Carroll County Indiana Legacy 1824-2005; Delphi, IN Carroll County Historical Museum 2005 xlviii, 341 p. ill.; maps. Layout-Anita L. Werling Copyright 2005. This gem contains biographical sketches of many families of Carroll County as well as vignettes of churches, schools, cemeteries, and towns of the area. First Families are also covered in the front of the book including ancestors and descendants There is an exhaustive index as well as a numbered cemetery map. I have worn mine out using it for reference since purchasing it when it was new!

Plat Maps: Historic;

Map of Carroll County, Indiana 1863 Drawn and Published by Skinner and Bennett; Delphi, Indiana Reprint sponsored by the Carroll County Historical Society. Second Reprinting 1979 by the Bookmark, P.O. Knightstown, IN. I like this because it’s the oldest such publication of plat maps of the County and is good to contrast this with later dates when the rails became a part of Carroll County life. This contains plat maps of Pittsburgh, Burlington, Camden, Rockfield, Lexington, Prince William, Mortonville, Carrollton (in Burlington and Carrollton Townships), and Xenia, many of which are faded dreams of settlement presently. Also featured are county officials of the time period, a delightful rendition of the second courthouse, as well as an 18t63 map of the City of Delphi. This includes the 1876 map of the county which wasn’t included in the 1863 Atlas.

Historical Atlas of Carroll County, Indiana Including 1874 Landowners Atlas; 1919 Landowners Atlas by the Delphi Journal and the Hoosier Democrat; 1939 Farm Plat Book by Joseph L. Brown and Historical Appendix Containing Information from Early Gazetteers, the 1876 Atlas and Old Photographs Edited by Thomas Mayhill and Margaret Mayhill. Reprinted 1980 by the Bookmark, P.O Box 74, Knightstown, Indiana. This work is good for comparing with the earlier 1863 Atlas as well as the World War One Atlas as a centerfold involving maps of our involvement in that war, enlistees, fatalities, etc. The pictures are delightful including turn-of-the last century views of both Flora and Delphi as well as early athletic teams.

American Soybean Association—Our First Soy Century-1920-2020, by Jill Wagenblast. This small but very well assembled work delineates the work of the Soybean Council which celebrated its centennial at the Fouts farm just recently.

Wabash and Erie Canal Notebook II-Cass, Carroll, and Tippecanoe Counties by Thomas E.Castaldi 1998. This work discusses the Canal legacy of all three of those counties including towns, cities, and structures on the Wabash and Erie Canal.

Early Pioneers of Carroll County, Indiana; Christopher R. Moore; University of Indianapolis Department of Archaeology. Copyrighted 2018. University of Indianapolis.

This Was Camden II; A History of Camden, Indiana by Lee Appleton Update 2016This publication contains both a pictorial and scripted history of Camden touching onmerchants, people, churches, bridges, and the medical community there as well as other cogent details.

Town of Camden; Our First One Hundred Years; A Historical and Pictorial Souvenir Booklet. This is a Sesquicentennial Publication containing histories of businesses, churches, history of Camden’s development, as well as a unique section of memoirs of that unique town.

Our Town: Freedom Day Festival; Burlington, Indiana 150 Years of Progress; 1828-1978; Sesquicentennial; Then; Now. This is another pictorial/narrative publication of the history of Burlington’s churches, merchants, schools, industries, and a pictorial section of notable citizens of the town as it was upon the publication of the work.

Pittsburg Landing; Hoosiers in Perspective; Authors R.R. McCormick and Reed “Snooks” McCormick. Here is another uniquely delightful tome on Pittsburg’s families and how they intertwined to create the once-lively canal town of Pittsburg.

The History of the Roadbed; Logansport, Crawfordsville, and Southwestern Railroad. This work by Lee Appleton delineates the development of the rail system which eventually became the Pennsylvania system.

Ghost Railways of Carroll County, Indiana by Ken Brownlee; Valley Enterprises, Atlanta, GA. This booklet captures the history of rail systems which are no longer in existence, including interurbans.

Books by James Rich:
- The History of Burlington High School; Polar Cubs Basketball; James Rich/John Barber, Coach;
- The History of Cutler High School Basketball-1911-1958; James Rich and Robert Bordner;
- The History of Deer Creek Crickets; High School Basketball-1909-1958; James Rich and Promoting Wildcat Valley. James is a local historian with a keen interest in local native life and athletics and in capturing the “pre-consolidation” fervor of the hardwood court and related small-town life.
- Millers on the Wabash; From Mahlon Shinn to Earl Haun and His Spanish Mansion; A Brief History of the Roller Mills and Earl Haun, Compiled by Myron Brubaker, Karina Fauble, and James Rich. This is another glimpse at grist milling in the Burlington area. Earl G. Haun was remembered for arranging power generation via his grist mill to illuminate the Burlington area and in constructing a rare home of Spanish architecture in the Burlington area.

Delphi: The Old Crop in Indiana. Sarah Smith Pratt. This rare glimpse at the City of Delphi through the eyes of a local author deals with social, church, and other life of Delphi notables of the day.

Candi Pastor Harrison: Doyennes of the Hill, One, Two, and Three, and Doyennes of the Hill. This series deals with the feminine side of life in South Delphi and how these ladies were to a certain extent the power brokers of their era and neighborhoods. Hill Kids; July 2019. This is a charming look at the juvenile side of the life of the South Delphi area and how these lads and lassies associated with each other. Artists on the Hill: This book contains sketches of many of the artists of that part of Delphi and their lives and works. The People on the Hill; Growing Up on the Delphi South Delphi Hill in The 1950’s and 60’s; Carroll County Artists; Past and Present; 2020.

Papa Said: Winona Ruth Gunther. This is a glimpse of a family with ties to Tippecanoe Township and the Pleasant Run area and their unfortunate move to Monticello due to loss of the farm there.

Wildcat Creek Kids: Madonna Jervis Wise. Madonna’s roots to the Cutler area are discussed via a tome dealing with the youngsters in her life there and their antics.

Juanita in Blue: A Cookbook with her mother’s name attached. She was the daughter of Doyle and Juanita Jervis from the Cutler area.

Flora Indiana Centennial; July 2-8, 1972; 1872-1972 Our First One Hundred Years; A Historical and Pictorial Souvenir Booklet. This was a publication of the Flora Citizenry to celebrate their first century of life. Businesses both past and present, churches, clubs, and schools are discussed. There are some unique pictures of both past and present-day Flora here in this unique publication of “Fountain City.”.