Source:Allen County Public Library

Allen County Public Library - Fort Wayne, Indiana

The Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana, is pleased to be collaborating with the Foundation for On-Line Genealogy, Inc., in bringing the WeRelate website to the genealogical community. We enthusiastically support its mission of making genealogy enjoyable and easy, and building a community.

On January 20, 2007, we moved into our new 367,000 square foot building at 900 Library Plaza in downtown Fort Wayne. The Genealogy Center occupies 42,000 square feet on the second floor, including wireless connectivity, 39 Internet work stations, 7 catalog-only computers, dozens of microfilm and microfiche viewers, 8 new digital microtext reader/scanners, and a digital scanner/sender. The ST-200 Digital Imaging Systems allow users to view, print, and save microtext (both film and fiche) images to a flash drive or CD-RW disc. Our HP 9200C Digital Sender enables genealogists to email scanned page images to their personal accounts or collaborating researchers. All of our genealogy and local history materials are located on open shelves for easy browsing and immediate access.

Please visit our web site at http://www.acpl.info for more information about the Genealogy Center and other departments of the Allen County Public Library.

The Genealogy Center

WHO WE ARE

Our nationally renowned genealogy collection--the second largest in North America--includes more than 350,000 printed volumes and 513,000 items of microfilm and microfiche. Patrons of the department also have access to major online databases including:

• Ancestry.com
• HeritageQuestOnline.com
• Footnote.com
• ProQuest Obituares
• WorldVitalRecords.com
• America's GenealogyBank.com
• NewEnglandAncestors.org

As a cooperating partner with the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, the department can provide access to more than 2.4 million rolls of microfilmed genealogical and historical records for a small handling fee per roll of film requested.

Due to the collection's size and continuous growth, the information in the following holdings summary will necessarily be brief and representative in nature.

WHEN YOU VISIT

Be sure to use the library’s online catalog to prepare for your trip. It will assist in orienting you to the scope of our collection and help you to plan your actual research time in the department. [If you have bookmarked this page, be sure to check the library’s main web page, http://www.acpl.info, for any important news and announcements regarding hours or closures.] Librarians experienced in genealogical research are always on duty to answer your questions. Please notify us in advance if you plan to bring a group. Our hours of operation are:

• Monday-Thursday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
• Friday-Saturday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Sunday 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.
• (Closed on Sundays, Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day)

If you are visiting us from out of town, you may wish to contact the Fort Wayne Visitor and Convention Bureau at http://www.visitfortwayne.com/ for information on local events, accommodations, etc.

GENEALOGY CENTER ENDOWMENT

The Allen County community and its library have invested consequential resources to build and maintain this stellar research collection. Ensuring the future growth and viability of the collection requires cooperative partnerships and wide-ranging support. We welcome contributions to the l Genealogy Center Endowment Fund. Contributors to this fund demonstrate in a tangible way their support for the Genealogy Center, ensuring its tradition of excellence for the benefit of future family historians everywhere. Please inquire for more details.

Resources of the Genealogy Center

Family Histories

More than 50,000 volumes of compiled genealogies represent work already done on American and European families, and range from brief typescripts to well documented multi-volume works. Nearly 5,000 genealogies on microfiche and numerous family newsletters complement this collection.

Census Records

FEDERAL:

• All population schedules 1790-1930
• All available statewide indexes & soundexes
• All extant mortality schedules 1850-1880
• All extant schedules of Civil War Union veterans and widows 1890
• Agricultural and Manufacturing schedules for Indiana 1850-1880

STATE & TERRITORIAL (coverage varies by year):

• CA 1852
• CO 1885
• FL 1885
• IL 1825,30,35,45,55,65
• IA 1836,38,44,46,47,49,51,52,53,54,56, 59,60,81,85,88,89,91,92,95
• KS 1865
• MI 1827,30,34,45,50,54,64,70,74,80,84,94
• MN 1857,65,75,85,95,1905
• MS 1792,1805,08,10,13,16,18,20,22-25,30, 33,37,40,41,45,50,53,60,66
• MO 1876
• NE 1885
• NJ 1855,65,75
• NM 1885
• NY 1815,20,25,30,35,40,45,50,55,60,65, 70,75,80,92,1905,1915,1925
• OR 1842,45,49,50,53,54,55,56,57,58,59
• RI 1865 (with index),75,85
• WA 1856,57,58,60,71,73,74,75,77,78,79, 80,81,83,84,85,87,89,91,92,98
• WI 1836-42,46,47,55,75,95,1905

City Directories

The department has a depository collection of nearly 50,000 R.L. Polk directories dated 1964 to the present, with significant earlier runs for some cities. The department also holds many directories for smaller cities and rural areas produced by other publishers, as well as a standing order for all city directories currently being micropublished by Research Publications of America. This collection includes:

• 1785-1860 microfiche (240 cities)
• 1861-1901 microfilm (79 cities)
• 1902-1935 microfilm (54 cities)
• 1936-1960 microfilm (approximately 640 cities)
• 1964-present (Polk directories)

Passenger Lists

Most National Archives passenger lists and indexes on microfilm are available in the department, as are most major printed sources for immigration records.

The Five Major Ports of Entry

• Baltimore: - Lists 1820-1909 - Quarterly abstracts of lists 1820-1869 - Soundex indexes 1820-1897, 1833-1866, 1897-1952
• Boston: - Lists 1820-1943 & Index 1848-1891
• New Orleans: - Lists 1820-1902 - Quarterly abstracts of lists 1820-75 - Indexes pre-1900, 1900-1952
• New York: - Lists 1820-1940 - Indexes 1820-1846, 1897-1902 - Soundex index 1902-43
• Philadelphia: - Lists 1800-1945 & Index 1800-1906 - Soundex index 1883-1948
• Lists and/or indexes for 68 minor ports 1820-1954

Other Ports of Entry

• Index to misc. Atlantic and Gulf coast ports 1820-1874
• Index to AL, FL, GA and SC lists 1890-1924
• Soundex to Canadian border entries, St. Albans, VT district, 1895-1924 and 1924-1952; with partial manifests 1924-1949
• Index of Passengers Arriving at Detroit, MI, 1906-1954
• Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Galveston, TX, 1896-1951
• Filby's Passenger and Immigration Lists Index
• Famine Immigrants: Lists of Irish Immigrants arriving at...New York 1846-1851
• German Immigrants...from Bremen to New York 1847-1867
• Germans to America 1840-1897 (in progress)

Military Records

Holdings include most microfilmed National Archives service and pension records covering every conflict from the Revolutionary War through the Philippine Insurrection. Civil War regimental histories on microfiche, and significant microfilmed Confederate records from state archives are also included. The excellent collection of related printed references contains adjutant generals' reports, lineage society publications, soldiers' diaries, and more than 1000 regimental histories. The military collection is now expanding into data on 20th and 21st century conflicts with additions of unit histories for WWI and WWII, and casualty lists for the Korean War, Vietnam War and Persian Gulf area engagements.

REVOLUTIONARY WAR (1775-83)

• General Index & Compiled Service Records of Soldiers in the American Army
• Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Applications
• Bounty Land Warrants - Ohio Military District
• Virginia Half Pay and related Pension Applications
• Revolutionary War Rolls (Commanding Officers' Reports) 1775-83
• Index to Records of Soldiers in CT units
• Index & Service Records of Naval Personnel
• Misc. Numbered Records in the War Dept. Collection 1775-1790s with Index
• Central Treasury Records, Military Affairs 1775-89
• American Loyalist Claims, Series I and II
• British Troops, orders, returns, accounts, etc. 1776-81
• Service Records of Volunteer Soldiers 1784-1811
• Index Register of U.S. Army Enlistments 1798-1914

WAR OF 1812 (1812-15)

• Index to Compiled Service Records
• Index to Pension Applications
• Military Bounty Land Warrants
• Seamen's Protective Certificate Applications, Port of Philadelphia 1812-15
• War of 1812 Papers

INDIAN WARS AND DISTURBANCES

• Index to Compiled Service Records 1815-58
• Records of Veterans Administration, Old War, 1815-1926, & Indian Wars, 1892-1926

MEXICAN WAR (1846-48)

• Index to Service Records of Volunteer Soldiers Record of Veterans Administration, 1887-1926

CIVIL WAR (1861-65) UNION

• Indexes to Compiled Service Records for all states
• Compiled Service Records for KY, MD, NC, TN, WV and the U. S. Colored Troops
• Compiled Service Records Showing Service of Military Units of Volunteer Union Organizations
• Pension File Index

CONFEDERATE

• Consolidated Index to Confederate Records
• Indexes to Compiled Service Records for all states
• Compiled Service Records for AL, TX, VA.
• Register of soldiers who died in the North
• Amnesty Papers (Pardon Applications)
• Pension Records and Biographical Questionnaires from several states including AR, GA, LA, MO, SC, TN, VA
• Service records of soldiers and officers in units raised directly by the Confederacy
• Service Records of AL Soldiers with index
• Records of Naval and Marine Personnel
• War Dept. Records of Confederate Prisoners
• Confederate Military Manuscripts

SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR (1898)

• General Index to Compiled Service Records 1898

PHILIPPINE INSURRECTION (1899-1902)

• Index to Compiled Service Records 1899-1901

WORLD WAR I

• Draft Registration Cards
• Growing collection of unit and divisional histories

KOREAN WAR (1950-53) AND VIETNAM WAR

• Korean Conflict Casualty File, 1950-57
• Combat Area Casualties, Southeast Asia, 1957-86
• Vietnam Veterans Memorial Directory of Names

U.S. Local Records

Nearly 200,000 printed volumes are testimony to the department's efforts to comprehensively collect U.S. genealogy and local history publications. All the standard reference works are here, including The American Genealogical-Biographical Index and the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections. County and town histories, vital, cemetery, church, court, land, probate and naturalization records can all be accessed through department catalogs. Standard statewide references and finding aids for eastern states are on the browsing shelves for patrons' convenience. Significant collections of microfilmed local records, such as the North Carolina Core Collection, are available for: CT, IL, IN, KY, MA, NY, NC, OH, PA, SC, TN, VT and WV. Smaller microfilmed collections are available for other states. Additional microtext sources which complement the outstanding print collection include the Genealogy & Local History Series on microfiche, and microfilmed county histories for CA, IL, IN, MI, NY, OH, PA and WI.

Miscellaneous U.S. Records

Several important manuscript collections and reprint series of regional or national scope are contained in the department's microtext holdings. These include:

• Library of Congress Land Ownership Maps
• Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps for Indiana
• Draper Manuscript Collection & Shane Papers
• Robert R. Livingston Papers (NY)
• American Home Missionary Society Papers 1816-1894
• American Missionary Association Manuscripts 1839-1882
• Boston Transcript "Notes and Queries" columns
• Colonial newspapers from MD, PA and VA

Native American Records

Please consult the department's Bibliography of Sources for Native American Family History which details print and microtext holdings by state and by tribe. Important microtext records include:

• All Indian census schedules 1885-1944
• Applications & Enrollment cards of the Five Civilized Tribes 1896-1914
• Indian Claims Commission Decisions
• American Indian periodicals
• Indian Pioneer History Collection and Index
• Records of the Cherokee Agency in TN 1801-35

African-American Records

Please consult African American Genealogy: A Bibliography and Guide to Sources (Fort Wayne, IN: Round Tower Books, 2000) which details print and microtext holdings by state. Important microtext records include:

• All federal census slave schedules 1850 and 1860
• Records of Ante-Bellum Southern Plantations from the Revolution through the Civil War
• Freedmen's Bureau (1865-70) and Freedmen's Savings & Trust Co. (1865-74) Records
• Pennsylvania Abolition Society Papers
• Slavery in Ante-Bellum Southern Industries
• State Slavery Statutes

Canadian Records

The department houses a significant collection of Canadiana, especially for the eastern provinces. Print sources include county and town histories, cemetery records, and almost all available published French Canadian parish registers and marriage repertoires. Please consult the French Canadian & Acadian Genealogy pathfinder for further details. Genealogical society publications including the Index to the 1871 Census of Ontario are also held. Complementary microtext holdings include:

• All published or microfilmed censuses 1666-1891
• Halifax, N.S. Passenger Lists 1881-99
• Quebec, P.Q. Passenger Lists 1865-1900
• Loiselle Marriage Index (1640-1963) and Supplement
• Quebec Non-Catholic Registers (1760-1941) and Index
• Drouin Collection, original church registers and notarial documents from Quebec, 1600s-1940s on 2,366 microfilm
• Ontario Archives Land Record Index
• Ontario Surrogate Court Records Index 1793-1858
• Biographical Scrapbooks, Toronto Newspapers, 1911-67
• Prince Edward Island Master Name Index

British Isles

This part of the collection contains more than 15,000 printed volumes including county histories, monumental inscriptions, heraldic references, early parish registers and most English county record society publications. Major records series on microfiche are included, as the following partial list indicates. For further details consult the department's Irish Genealogy and British Genealogy pathfinders.

ENGLAND

• Victoria County History series (print)
• London city directories 1667-1823 (microfilm)

SCOTLAND

• Old Parochial Register Index (OPR) 1538-1854

IRELAND

• Griffith's Valuation & Tithe Applotment Books
• 19th Century Census Fragments
• Ordnance Survey Maps of Ireland (6 inch series)
• Surname Index for the 1796 Spinning Wheel Lists
• Biographical Notices of Cork and Kerry 1756-1827
• Index to Biographical Notices in the Newspapers of Limerick, Ennis, Clonmel & Waterford 1758-1821
• Manuscript Sources for the History of Irish Civilization and 1st Supplement
• Sources for the History of Irish Civilization, Articles in Irish Periodicals

Germany

The print collection contains important research guides, maps, emigration records and compiled genealogies for the nobility and middle class including Deutsches Geschlecterbuch and Siebmacher's Grossem Allgemeinem Wappenbuch. An important source on microfilm is the Hamburg Direct Passenger Lists and Index 1850-1901, which often provides place of origin data for emigrants. The International Genealogical Index (I.G.I.) is the major source of German vital records held in the department, while the Family History Library Catalog will help patrons identify records available elsewhere. Consult the department's German Genealogy pathfinder for details.

Researching Other Countries

Printed sources for other countries are limited mainly to guidebooks and references on European nobility and heraldry. The I.G.I. is the department's major source of vital records for countries outside of the U.S. and Canada. Consult the Family History Library Catalog for records available elsewhere.

Periodicals

The department holds one of the largest English-language genealogy and local history periodical collection in the world with more than 5100 current subscriptions and nearly 10,000 total titles. Individual articles may be accessed through a variety of indexes including the PERiodical Source Index (PERSI), compiled by department staff. To search the Genealogy Department Periodicals list click here.

Online Databases

Important online genealogical sources are available in the department and include the Social Security Death Index, PhoneDisc, some marriage records, and the LDS FamilySearch system.

Audio-Cassettes and Videos

More than one dozen instructional videos are available for in-house patron use. More than 1400 taped lectures on genealogical research methodology delivered at national and regional conferences are available for patrons to check out.

Complementary Collections at the Allen County Public Library

The Genealogy Department's holdings are enhanced by the library's other significant collections of biographical sources, government documents, legal references, Native American first hand accounts and early American travel and exploration accounts.

Our Team of Librarians

• Curt Witcher, Manager of the Genealogy Center
• Steve Myers, Assistant Manager
• John Beatty, Librarian
• Delia Bourne, Librarian
• Melissa Shimkus, Librarian
• Cynthia Theusch, Librarian