Genealogy

The North Madison County Public Library System offers several resources for doing genealogical research. Housed within our Indiana Rooms, you will find local, county, and state history, as well as additional genealogy resources.

Ancestry

Patrons can search birth, marriage and death records, census and voter lists, immigration and military records, family trees and is available only on devices connected to the library’s network.

MyHeritage Database

The MyHeritage database contains over 6 billion historical records, including census, military, newspapers, birth/marriage/death records, directories, family trees, and many other record types. The record collections are most comprehensive for North America and Europe, but the database does contain hundreds of millions of records from other regions.

Fold3 – Historical Military Records

Fold3 Library Edition by Ancestry provides convenient access to US military records, including the stories, photos, and personal documents of the men and women who served.  This continually-growing collection contains millions of records from world-class archives, many of which are exclusively available on Fold3.

You can access this resource at home using your library barcode number, or on an in-house library computer.

North Madison County Historical Database

This database contains an index to obituaries that have been published in Elwood’s newspapers beginning in 1893.  Obituaries found in this index can be requested via mail for $.10 per page plus the price of postage or free of charge via e-mail. You will also find hundreds of historical photos and postcards depicting mostly Elwood Indiana.

Obituary Request

To request an obituary, e-mail the Adult Services department at  elwoodlibrary16@gmail.com with the name and source date of the obituary listed. The cost to have any obituaries mailed to you is $.10 per page plus the price of postage. E-mailing the obituary to you is free.

Microfilm

The following Elwood newspapers are available on microfilm at the Elwood Public Library.

  • Daily Press: January 1st, 1893 – October 31st, 1896
  • Daily Record: December 13th, 1896 – December 31st, 1910, and August 1911
  • Elwood Free Press (weekly paper): January 6th, 1893 – December 30th, 1909
  • Elwood Call-Leader: June 1st, 1904 – 2018

Elwood Call Leader Archives

The Elwood Call-Leader Archives are available online(requires staff login). Ask a staff member for assistance. These archives include:

The Elwood Free Press – 1886 – 1909
The Elwood Daily Record – 1897 – 1911
The Elwood Call-Leader – 1904 – May 2013 (partial)

For Call-Leader newspapers from May 2013 (partial) to present, please see a staff member for assistance.

For Elwood Call Leader archives from 1904 to 1963, see Newspapers.com – Indiana Collection.

Newspapers.com – Indiana Collection

The Newspapers.com Indiana Collection of online archival newspapers is available online at the library as well as at home using your library barcode number.

This collection includes:

The Elwood Free Press – 1886 – 1909
The Elwood Daily Press – 1893 – 1896
The Daily Labor Record – 1896 – 1897
The Elwood Daily Record – 1897 – 1911
The Call Leader – 1904 – 1963 For a full list of Indiana newspapers and their corresponding years available through this resource, please click this link:
Newspapers.com Indiana Collection Title List

NewspaperArchive.com

Access Indiana Newspaper Archives and discover the stories of the past. NewspaperArchive.com is the world’s largest online newspaper archive.  Indiana Newspapers are an incredible resource when tracing your family tree to uncover treasures from the past about your ancestors.  Our massive collection of more than 7+ million newspapers will allow you to search for your ancestors by name and to narrow your results by year and location to help you discover more about their daily lives.  The archives cover Indiana history from 1800-2017 and allow you to further understand an ancestor’s place within their local community to research your genealogy.  Start your Indiana ancestry search now and discover more about your ancestor’s stories!

This archive can be accessed by clicking this link and entering the first 7 digits of your barcode number: https://www.elwood.lib.in.us/?page_id=7239

A list of newspapers in this collection can be found here:

Newspaper Archive Indiana Title List

Elwood, Frankton, & Summitville High School Yearbooks

Access Elwood, Frankton, and Summitville’s yearbooks.

Historical Links

71 Digital Portals to State History  – A list of sites that billed themselves as general-interest portals to historical resources.
Allen County Public Library Genealogy – Genealogy Resource provided by the ACPL
Cindi’s List of Genealogy Sites – A categorized & cross-referenced index to genealogical resources on the Internet.
Elwood Pipecreek Genealogy Society – Information about Elwood’s Genealogy Society
Find a Grave –  Resource for finding the final resting places of famous folks, friends and family members.
Genealogy.com – Trace your ancestors’ unique story and your family tree with help of the GenForum community and research archives from this website.
Indiana Digital Historic Newspaper Program – Online high quality digital images of Indiana’s historic newspapers .
Indiana Genealogy on Family search (includes marriage records) – A guide to Indiana ancestry, family history, and genealogy birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.
Indiana Memory –  A digital library that enables access to Indiana’s unique cultural and historical heritage through a variety of digital formats and free distribution over the Internet.
Indiana State Library Genealogy Resources – Genealogy resources provided by the ISL.
Learn Web Skills – Free online courses to teach you the basics on how to start your genealogy journey.
LDS Family Search – A collection of free family trees, genealogy records and resources.
Madison County Historical Sketches -A digitized book of historical sketches for Madison County from 1897.
Online Death Indexes – Directory of links to websites with online death indexes, listed by state and county.
Pioneer Cemeteries and Their Stories – Pioneer cemetery lists, maps, history, and photos.