JCPL Genealogy & Local History

Printer-friendly

Welcome to the Jasper County Public Library Genealogy and Local History Department

The materials on these pages are presented by library staff to help you with your personal and local history inquiries.

Explore the index at left to see what is available on this site.

For more information, or to get help with your genealogy requests, please check out our online contact form and select the genealogy category that best matches the region of your inquiry.

Local History Collections Online

• General Milroy Collection - Original documents from a noted figure of the U.S. Civil War.
• Oral Histories - First-hand accounts of life in northern Jasper and Newton County at the start of the 20th century. Sponsored by DeMotte-Kankakee Valley Rotary Club - Oral History Project
• Local History News Files - Assorted records from our Microfilm and Vertical File Collection
• JCPL Archives - Collections from our vertical files - files may be restricted to on-site use only
• Records Links - GAR Records, Census Indexes, Obituary Indexes (incomplete), Microfilm Indexes and other online records
• Genealogy and Local History Books and eBooks - Rare and Exclusive titles concerning local history and genealogy records. Records marked where available as a downloadable ebook, including titles JCPL has turned into eBooks.
• NEW! Local Yearbook Archives - Hosted at the Internet Archive, these titles include
  • Rensselaer Central High Schools Yearbooks from 1911-present and
  • Other School Yearbooks -- KV, DeMotte, Wheatfield and CCHS from 1936-present.
• KV Post Obituaries 1930s – present
• Rensselaer Republican Obituaries 1910-1939, 1950-1959, 1990-1999

Vintage Views Index - An index of the articles written in each of the publications of the local history magazine Vintage Views. Issues are available for browsing only at the Rensselaer Library, or select issues can be purchased through Campbell Printing in Rensselaer.

Local History Collections available by request:

Catalogued from the KV Post-News and available at the DeMotte Library:

• Birth Announcements 1930s – present
• Marriage Announcements 1930s – present
• KV Post Obituaries 1930s – present

Catalogued from the Rensselaer Republican and available at the Rensselaer Library:

• Obituaries 1910-1939, selected years 1940-present

Newspapers on Microfilm

• The DeMotte Library has all of the back issues on microfilm of the KV Post-News.
• The Rensselaer Library contains several back issues on microfilm of various current and historical newspapers, including but not limited to: Rensselaer Republican, Jasper County Democrat, Rensselaer Standard.
• For more details, browse our complete Microfilm Collection Index.

Recommended Links

These sites should be helpful in exploring your personal or local history.

• Jasper County Historical Society -- monthly meetings and newsletter postings
• Lanewood Jasper County Genealogy Resources. Award-winning site.
• Jasper County Cemetery Records at Find a Grave.com Extensive records from the DeMotte area.
• Genealogy Web Sites Hand-Picked Links from free, local, state and government websites (via Delicious.com)
• Indiana Roots State geneaology records from Elkhart, Kosciusko, Lake and Porter counties