Indiana Local History <-> Genealogy 
[Contact: Ann McRoden Mensch]

1875 Map of Posey County, Indiana

POSEY COUNTY, Indiana
History < -  > Genealogy

*First created in 1814 from the counties of Gibson and Warrick.
*County seat: Mount Vernon.
Located in the southwestern corner of Indiana, with the Ohio River as its southern border, and the Wabash River as it's western border.
*Cities, Towns & Communities include: Ashworth Ferry (historical), Barrett, Black Hawk Mills (historical), Blairsville, Bufkin, Caborn, Chainville (historical), Cynthiana, Erwin, Farmersville, Grafton, Griffin, Hepburn, Heusler, Hickery (historica), Hovey, Lippe, McFadden (historical), Marshalls Ferry (historical), Mt. Vernon, Muderville (historical), New Baltimore, New Harmony, Oak Grove, Oliver, Phillip Station, Poseyville, Prairie, Rapture, Saint Phillip, Savah, Solitude, Springfield, Stewartsville, Upton, Wadesville, Webbs Ferry (historical), Wellborn Switch, Winfield (historical) and West Franklin.

Select this LINK to see GENERAL Posey County information and links.
Select from the TOWN list above to learn which township the community is located in, and view information and links specific to that area.
Select from the TOWNSHIPs Table below to view information and links specific to the township.
Disclaimer:  Though the information on this web page is believed to be correct, the possibility of error remains.  Please notify the webmaster should an error be found.  

Surrounding Counties:
                                         N = Gibson, IN
W = The Wabash River POSEY COUNTY     E = Vanderburgh County, IN
                                         S = The Ohio River
See History <-> Genealogy State Selection Index Page to visit neighboring Illinois and Kentucky sites of research interest.
See:  Kentuck Atlas and Gazetteer - from the University of Kentucky, Lexington.

·         Indiana State Archives.
   6440 E. 30th Street - Indianapolis, IN 46219   Phone: (317) 591-5222

o   Indiana State Library.    140 North Senate Avenue - Indianapolis, IN 46204-2296

o   Online Databases

o   Indiana Cemetery Locator Database

o   Indiana Biography Index (published before 1990)

o   Indiana Biography Index (published since 1990)

o   Index of Indiana Marriages Through 1850.

o   Index of Indiana Marriages, 1993 through 2002

o   Newspaper Holdings: Holdings by county (in Indianapolis)

o   Images of Indiana: 92 Counties // from Adams to Whitley

o   Indiana Public Libraries

o   WWII Servicemen Database

o   Indiana Plat Books

o    Vital Information Exchange (VINE)

   "Twin Swamps is a 500-acre wooded area, very close to the confluence of the
 Wabash and Ohio rivers in the extreme southwest corner of Indiana..."

   Route 1 Box 5A - New Harmony, IN 47631 Phone: (812) 682-4821.

   407 W Tavern Street - New Harmony, IN 47631  Phone: (812) 682-4806.

    115 W 5th Street - Mount Vernon, IN 47620  Phone: (812) 838-3286.

·         Indiana Room

     55 S. Cale Street - Poseyville, IN 47633  Phone: (812) 874-3418.

 

 

Contacts to obtain many documents and certified copies:

Posey County Officials (2004)

  • Posey County Health Department (For Birth and Death Records from 1882)

   Coliseum Building - 126 East Third Street - Mount Vemon, IN 47620-1811
   Phone: (812) 838-1328.

  • Posey County Clerk's Office - (For Marriage and Divorce Records)

   300 Main Street - Mount Vernon, IN  47620  Phone: (812) 838-1306.  

  • Posey County Recorder

    300 Main Street  # 9 - Mount Vernon, IN 47620  Phone: (812) 838-1314.
 

Posey County Communities

BETHEL TOWNSHIP communities include:  Griffin.
   Historical Communities and Post Offices which appear, in this township, on the 1875 Map:  Webbs Ferry and Baltimore.

Leonard's 1882 Posey County history reports: 

BETHEL TOWNSHIP was formed August 14, 1821, and was named after P. C. BETHEL, the first white man who settled within its confines.  It is in the extreme Northern part of the County, comprises a great deal of superior soil, and, in 1880, had under cultivation 4,993 acres of land, which produced 53,650 busels of wheat and 80,011 bushels of corn, averaging fifteen of the former and thirty-five bushels per acre of the latter cereal.  It is abundantly supplied with an excellent growth of timber, has good schools and good society. (page 51).

BLACK TOWNSHIP communities include:  Bufkin, Dead Mans Crossing, Erwin, Farmersville, Grafton, Mt. Vernon, Prairie, Upton and Wellborn Switch.
 Historical Communities and Post Offices which appear, in this township, on the 1875 Map:  Ashworth Ferry, Farmersville, Grafton and Mt. Vernon.

Leonard's 1882 Posey County history reports: 

BLACK TOWNSHIP was named after Hugh, William and Thomas BLACK, three brothers, who were among the very earliest settlers, and who were highly respected by their acquaintances.  On March 24, 1817, when the township was organized its territory included what is now known as Point, which, from August 14, 1821, until May 13, 1822, was called Daniel township, named in honor of John DANIEL, the first permanent settler there.  The first election held in this township was at the house of Thomas GIVENS, in Mt. Vernon.  It is the wealthiest township in the county, and, in 1880, had under cultivation 43,007 acres of land, the yield of wheat and corn per acre averaging respectively fifteen and thirty-five bushels.  It surface is gently undulating, its soil is very fertile and its inhabitants, as a class, are frugal, industrious and enterprising.  It contained, according to the census report of 1880, 7,000 inhabitants.  Its educational facilities are superior, its standard of morality is high and its sanitary condition is excellent.  Among the earliest settler of this township were Wm. CURTIS, father of Thomas, Joshua and Wm. B. (who is the father of George W., the incumbent of the County Clerk's office), and his cousin, Kel CURTIS.  They came to the County in 1811.  "Aunt Becky" McFADDIN, who died at Mt. Vernon, February 3, 1873, in the eighty-seventh year of her age, and who was the widow of Andrew McFADDIN, was a resident of this township sixty-eight years.  "Aunt Becky" was found dead in her bed with the Bible in her arms. (pp. 50-51).

The town of MOUNT VERNON received its name in 1816, when the first official plats were recorded by John WAGNER, John GIVENS and Aaron WILLIAMS, the purchase of the site having been made by those gentlemen from Gen. William H. HARRISON.  In the year 1795, Andrew McFADDIN, a native of North Carolina, crossed the Ohio river into Posey County from Kentucky, at Diamond Island, on a hunting expedition, and it was while he was in pursuit of game in the county that he discovered the location of the present town of Mt. Vernon.  A few years after his return to the "dark and bloody ground", or in 1805, he concluded to remove his family to Indiana, and he came directly to this place.

   115 W. Fifth Street - Mount Vernon, IN 47620    Phone: (812) 838-3286

Cemeteries within Black Township include the following:
Alldredge Cemetery - located northwest of Mt. Vernon, Indiana, near Welborn Switch and Grafton, north off Copperline Road. (Latitude: 375929N, Longitude: 0875817W).
Belle Fontaine Cemetery - located north of Mt. Vernon, Indiana.  (Latitude: 375732N, Longitude: 0875338W).
Black Cemetery - located west of Mt. Vernon, Indiana, by SR 62. (Latitude: 375545N, Longitude: 0875704W).
Dunn Cemetery - located northwest of Mt. Vernon, Indiana, on Lower New Harmony Road. (Latitude: 375825N, Longitude: 0875633W).
Gill Cemetery - located north of Mt. Vernon, Indiana, east of Lower New Harmony Road and northwest from Dead Mans Crossing. (Latitude: 375743N, Longitude: 0875511W).
Moore Cemetery - located north of Mt. Vernon, Indiana. (Latitude: 375941N, Longitude: 0875402W).
St. Matthew's Cemetery - located on the Factory Road, north of Mt. Vernon, Indiana.  (Latitude: 375741N, Longitude: 0875301W).
Weiss Cemetery - located near the Black and Point Townships boundary, by Zoar Church Road, southwest of Mt. Vernon, Indiana. (Latitude: 375332N, Longitude: 0875840W).

CENTER TOWNSHIP communities include:  Hepburn, Oliver and Wadesville.
 Historical Communities and Post Offices which appear, in this township, on the 1875 Map:  Waterville.

 

HARMONY TOWNSHIP communities include:  New Harmony and Rapture.
 Historical Communities and Post Offices which appear, in this township, on the 1875 Map:  New Harmony and Winfield.

Leonard's 1882 Posey County history reports: 

HARMONY TOWNSHIP was organized August 14, 1821, and derives its name from the peculiar class of people who settled it in 1814-15, and who styled themselves the "Harmonie Society," an account of which is found under the sketch of New HArmony.  In population and wealth it is second only to Black.  Its inhabitants are intelligent, industrious and public spirited.  There were 8,573 acres of land under cultivation in the township in 1880, and the yield of wheat and corn for that year aggregated 265,402 bushels, the average production being respectively, fifteen and thirty-five bushels per acre.

   3451 Harmonie State Park Road - New Harmony, IN 47631
   Phone:  (812) 682-4821

    • History of New Harmony, Indiana - The Owenite Community: New Harmony became the site of Robert Owen's utopian experiment during the two years following the Harmonists' departure...

LYNN TOWNSHIP communities include:  Savah, Solitude and Springfield.
 Historical Communities and Post Offices which appear, in this township, on the 1875 Map:  Chainville, McFadden and Springfield.

   3451 Harmonie State Park Road - New Harmony, IN 47631
   Phone:  (812) 682-4821

MARRS TOWNSHIP communities include:  Caborn, Heusler, Philip Station, St. Phillip and West Franklin.
 Historical Communities and Post Offices which appear, in this township, on the 1875 Map:  Black Hawk Mills, Hickery and West Franklin.

POINT TOWNSHIP communities include:  Hovey Lake and Oak Grove.
 Historical place names which appear, in this township, on the 1875 Map:  Fish Lake.

   "Twin Swamps is a 500-acre wooded area, very close to the confluence of the Wabash and Ohio rivers in the extreme southwest corner of Indiana..."

Point Township Cemeteries include the following:

Dixon Cemetery - located at Greathouse, in Section 1, Township 8S, Range 14W.
Floyd Cemetery - located in Section 26, Township 7S, Range 14W (near Black/Point Townships boundary).
Greathouse Cemetery - located east of SR 69, in Section 1, Township 8S, Range 14W.
James Plot - located in Point Township (exact location not yet identified).
Old Murphy Cemetery - located in Point Township (exact location not yet identified).
Spencer Cemetery - located west of Mt. Vernon, in Section 26, Township 7S, Range 15W.
Stripes Cemetery - located ca. 2 miles south of Hovey, on SR 69.
Weiss Cemetery - located near the Black and Point Townships boundary, by Zoar Church Road, southwest of Mt. Vernon, Indiana. 

ROBB TOWNSHIP communities include:  Barrett, New Baltimore, Poseyville and Stewartsville.
 Historical Communities and Post Offices which appear, in this township, on the 1875 Map:  Stewartsville.
 

Leonard's 1882 Posey County history reports: 

STEWARTSVILLE, Robb Township, formerly known as Paris, was laid out by William STEWART on October 29, 1838, in a very eligible locality, six miles east of New Harmony.  In 1882, it contained several stores, one church and a two-story brick graded school house.  At that time the population was 125.  It had a dialy mail by the Peoria, Decatur & Evansville Railway, whose route was one-half mile distant.  In 1809, a blockhouse was constructed in the immediate vicinity of this village, on the farm of John COX ("double-head") who, with the families of Maxey JOLLEY, Thomas ROBB, V. LEAVITT and John WALLACE, occupied it as a protection against the Indians.


      Robb Township Cemeteries include the following:

    Bethsaida Cemetery -

ROBINSON TOWNSHIP communities include:  Blairsville and Lippe.
 Historical Communities and Post Offices which appear, in this township, on the 1875 Map:  Blairsville and St. Wendels.

SMITH TOWNSHIP communities include:  Cynthiana.
 Historical Communities and Post Offices which appear, in this township, on the 1875 Map:  Poseyville (now within Robb_Twp).

Leonard's 1882 Posey County history reports: 

SMITH TOWNSHIP was formed and officially recorded by the Board of County Commissioners, March 24, 1817, and at that time included its present boundaries, with additional territory that has since become a part of Warrick and Gibson Counties.  It was named after George SMITH, one of the earliest and most prominent settlers, at whose house the first election was held.  On August 15, 1817, "all that part of Smith township lying North of the main Big Creek and South of Reeter's race" was added to and became a part of Lynn.  Smith was the first of the townships in the Northern part of the County to secure the advantages of railway communication, a subsidy being voted to the E. & T. H. R. R. for an extension of its line from Owensville, in Gibson County, to Cynthiana, in that township, in 1880.  The number of acres of land cultivated in Smith in 1880 was 5,867, the production of wheat averaging fifteen, while the yield of corn was thirty-five bushels per acre for that year. (pp50-51).

WAGNON TOWNSHIP was organized in March, 1817, and when Vanderburgh was formed, January 7, 1818, it became a part of that county and is now known as Perry township.  It was named after Wm. WAGNON, a very early settler and one of the first panel of grand jurors that ever sat in Posey County.

[ Additional Research Resources for All Indiana Counties ]
[ Return to Indiana Local History ]


PROFESSIONAL HISTORICAL GENEALOGY RESEARCH
Ann McRoden Mensch, Professional Historical Genealogist

Researching onsite, and with the vast resources of the Allen County Public Library, holding one of the largest genealogical collections in North America.  Search the Library's online catalogue to see some of the printed resources available for a location or topic.

·  Printed resources for Posey County research include:

  • History and Directory of Posey County, Indiana, Containing an Account of the Early Settlement and Organization of the County of Posey, Ind., with References to the Formation of the North West Territory, Indiana Territory, and the State of Indiana; Also Numerous Incidents, Tragical and Otherwise, Which have Occurred in the County; Also a Complete List of the Tax-Payers, Their Post-Office Addresses and Places of Residence, Together with a Business Directory of Mt. Vernon and New Harmony, Besides Local & General Information of Peculiar Interest; Also Biographical Sketches of Prominent Citizens of the County.  W.P. Leonard.  (Author).  Evansville, Indiana : A.C. Isaacs, Printer, 1882.   (Gc 977.201 P84LE).
  • New Sectional Township Map of Indiana.  Chicago, Illinois : Higgins Belden & Co., 1875.
  • History of Posey County, Indiana. From the Earliest Time to the Present; with Biographical Sketches, Reminiscences, Notes, etc. : Together with an Extended History of the Northwest, the

Indiana Territory, and the State of Indiana. Chicago, The Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1886.  (Gc 977.201 P84H).  Reprint: Evansville, Indiana : Unigraphic, 1967.  (Gc 977.201 P84H).

  • History of Posey County, Indiana.  John C. Leffel.  (Editor).  Chicago, Illinois : Standard Publ. Co., 1913.  (Gc 977.201 P84L).
  • Posey County, Indiana, 1814-1989 ; 175th Anniversary History.  Jennifer St. John.  (Author).  Paducah, Kentucky : Turner Pub., 1989.   (Gc 977.201 P84SA).
  • Illustrated Atlas of Posey County, Indiana.  Keller & Fuller.  (Corporate Author).  Evansville, Indiana : Unigraphic, 1977.  Reprint of the 1900 ed.  (Gc 977.201 P84K).
  • Posey County, Indiana Index of Names of Persons and of Firms.  Tom Bloomfield, et. al.  (Compilers).  Indianapolis, Indiana : County History Indexing Project, Family History Section, Indiana Historical Society, 1979.  (Gc 977.201 P84IND).
  • Index to Birth Records, Posey County, Indiana, 1850-1920, Inclusive; compiled from original

records, County Health Office, Mount Vernon.  Indiana Works Progress Administration.  (Corporate Compiler).  Mt. Vernon, Indiana : W. P. A., 1940.  (Gc 977.201 P84UNB).

  • Posey County, Indiana, Early Birth Records, 1880s and 1890s : Transcribed from Original Papers Found in Posey County Courthouse Belfry.  Carroll O. and Gloria M. Cox.  (Compilers).  Poseyville, Indiana : Cox, 1998.  (Gc 977.201 P84BI).
  • Posey County, Indiana, Birth Record, 1883-1899.  [n.p., 1975?]  (Gc 977.201 P84POS).
  • Posey County, Indiana, Marriage Records, Volume 1, 1814-1831.  Mr. and Mrs. J. Oscar Phillips.  (Copiers and Indexers).  [Indiana? : s.n., 19--].   (Gc 977.201 P84PH).
  • Index to Marriage Record, Posey County, 1847 [i.e. 1846] - 1920.  Indiana Works Progress Administration.  (Corporate Compiler).  [Indiana : The Administration], 1940.  (Gc 977.201 P84UNM).
  • Index to Supplemental Record : Marriage Transcript Posey County, Indiana, 1880 - 1920 Inclusive.  Indiana Works Progress Administration, 1940.
  • Posey County, Indiana Death Record, 1883-1900.  [ca. 1975]  (Gc 977.201 P84CDE).
  • Index to Death Records, Posey County, Indiana, 1882-1920 Inclusive, Letters A-Z Inclusive.  Indiana Works Progress Administration.  (Corporate Compiler).  [Indiana : The Administration], 1940.  (Gc 977.201 P84UND).
  • Index to Probate Boxes, Clerk's Office, Posey County, Indiana.  [S.l. : s.n., 19??].  (Gc 977.201 P84PCL).
  • Indiana Atlas & Gazetteer.  First Edition, Second Printing.  Yarmouth, Maine:  Delorme.  1998.
  • School and Library Atlas of the World.  Fred W. Foster, Ph.D. (Editor).  Sycamore, Illinois:  School and Library Publishing Company.  1982.

[ Return to Indiana Local History ]

Copyright 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002-2009, by Ann Mensch.  All Rights Reserved.