Indiana Genealogy Search

Indiana family history is well served by two institutions: the Indiana State Library in Indianapolis, whose Genealogy Division is one of the largest in the Midwest, and the Indiana Archives and Records Administration, whose Indiana Digital Archives site indexes county marriages, naturalizations, institutional records and more free online. Indiana counties, formed from 1790 onward, kept marriages from their founding, and county health departments kept births and deaths from 1882, before statewide registration began in 1907.

Indiana took no full state censuses, but the state's enumeration of Civil War soldiers in 1886 and 1890 and the county tax lists fill the 1890 gap.

Official sources on this page were checked on September 25, 2026.

Indiana statewide genealogy links

• Indiana State Archives Genealogy ResourcesState Archive Resources and Databases
• Indiana State Digital ArchivesOnline Database of Illinois Archives
• Archived Vital Record Collections at Indiana Commission on Public RecordsIllinois Vital Records
• Indiana State Archives and Libraries SearchIndiana Archives and Libraries Search
• Military Records at Indiana State ArchivesIndiana Military Records
• Supreme Court Case Records DatabaseIndiana Supreme Court Cases
• USGenWeb Archives IndianaSearch Indiana GenWeb Archives
• National Archives for Indiana in the Great Lakes RegionIndiana Genealogy Research at the National Archives

Indiana began statewide birth registration in 1907 and death registration in 1900, with county health officers keeping births and deaths from 1882, and the Indiana Department of Health's Vital Records division holds the certificates, with the county health departments holding the earlier registers. Birth records are restricted for 75 years, access to death certificates depends on the record series and how it is requested, and the State Library's death index and the county health records are the open route for genealogy. Marriage records go back to each county's founding, with the Indiana Digital Archives indexing many counties, and divorce records sit with the county clerk.

• Indiana Digital ArchivesFree indexes to Indiana marriages, naturalizations and institutional records, checked September 25, 2026
• Indiana Department of Health Vital RecordsBirth and death certificates from 1907 and 1900, checked September 25, 2026
• Indiana Vital Records guideHow to order certificates and what is public

The Indiana State Library's Genealogy Division holds county histories, family files, newspapers, city directories, the Indiana Marriages through 1850 index, Indiana military rosters from the War of 1812 through World War I and the Indiana Civil War soldiers database. The Indiana Archives holds state institution records, the 1886 and 1890 enumerations of Civil War veterans, land office records for Indiana's federal land sales and naturalization records from many county courts, all indexed on the Indiana Digital Archives. The Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne houses the second largest genealogy collection in the country. The National Archives at Chicago holds Indiana federal court records.

• Indiana State Library Genealogy DivisionFamily files, county histories, military rosters and indexes, checked September 25, 2026
• Allen County Public Library Genealogy CenterOne of the largest genealogy collections in the country, checked September 25, 2026
• Bureau of Land Management General Land Office recordsFederal land patents for Indiana from 1800 onward, checked September 25, 2026
• FamilySearch Indiana research guideFree indexed Indiana records and images, checked September 25, 2026

Indiana county clerks hold marriage licenses, probate files, divorce cases and naturalization records from each county's founding, county recorders hold deeds and mortgages, and county health departments hold the birth and death registers from 1882. Most recorders post deed indexes online, and the Indiana Archives holds microfilm of older county books. The State Library's county guides list what survives in each of the 92 counties, and courthouse fires in Blackford, Clay, Jasper, Ripley and other counties destroyed early books that the tax lists and federal land records replace.

• Indiana County Public RecordsCounty clerks, recorders and health departments for all 92 counties
• Indiana Court RecordsMyCase searches and probate records

These federal and national sources complement Indiana's state-level records. They are the authoritative sources you should cross-check when Indiana state records are incomplete or out-of-state activity matters.

NARA, National Archives The federal government's primary archive. Holds the U.S. census (1790, 1950), ship passenger lists, naturalization records, military service files, and land entry files.

FamilySearch Free online genealogy platform operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Digitized microfilm copies of many county and state records worldwide.

Library of Congress, Local History & Genealogy The LoC's research guides, city directories, newspapers, and Civil War records, most accessible free online through loc.gov.