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

VIGO COUNTY, Indiana
History <-> Genealogy

*First created in 1818.
*County seat: Terre Haute.
Located in southwestern Indiana, with the state of Illinois at it's western boundary.  The Wabash River flows through Vigo county from the north, and forms the curve in the southern portion of the county's western boundary.
*Cities, Towns & Communities include: Allendale, Atherton, Barnhart Town, Belt Junction, Blackhawk, Bradshaw, Brown Jug Corner, Burnett, Coal Bluff, Cobb, Dewey, Ehrmandale, Ferguson Hill, Fontanet, Forest, Glen Ayre, Harrison, Hazelgreen, Hickory Island, Hutton, Keller, Larimer Hill, Lewis, Libertyville, Liggett, Lockport, New Goshen, North Terre Haute, Otter Creek Junction, Parkview, Pimento, Pine Ridge, Prairie Creek, Prairieton, Preston, Riley, St. Mary of the Woods, Sandcut, Sandford, Seelyville, Seifert, Shepardsville, Southwood, Spelterville, Spring Hill, Swalls, Tabertown, Taylorville, Tecumseh, Terre Haute, Vigo, West New Goshen, West Terre Haute, Woodgate and Youngstown.

Select this LINK to see GENERAL Vigo 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.
Please note:  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:
 WNW = Edgar County, IL   N =  Vermillion and Parke Counties, IN
WSW = Clark County, IL      VIGO COUNTY    E = Clay County, IN
                                           S= Sullivan County, IN

VIGO COUNTY, INDIANA
Established in 1818, from Sullivan County; County seat is Terre Haute.
+ MAPS + TOWNS + TOWNSHIPS + NEIGHBORING COUNTIES +
+ CHURCHES + CEMETERIES + MUSEUMS and HISTORIC SITES +
+ NEWS & NEWSPAPERS +
+ COMMERCE, TOURISM & ONLINE COMMUNITY  +
+ HISTORY & GENEALOGY: Articles & Online Databases + BIOGRAPHIES +
+ NATIVE AMERICAN: THE PEOPLE + NATURE +
+ ARCHIVES & LIBRARIES for Further Research +
+ COUNTY GOVERNMENT & Vital Records +
+ PROFESSIONAL HISTORICAL GENEALOGY RESEARCH +


MAPS
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  • Interactive map of Vigo County, Indiana (present day).
  • Use the query form, at USGS, to map features including cemeteries, churches, populated places, and more.  Please note that the map town listed with a feature may be used as a map reference for the site, and may not be the town where the feature is actually located...Select a map to see the location of the actual feature.  This database may not be complete, and, as with any database, there may be errors.

NATIVE AMERICAN
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MUSEUMS & HISTORIC SITES
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·         Terre Haute Convention and Visitors Bureau - History Museums


CHURCHES
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CEMETERIES
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·         Indiana State Library.    140 North Senate Avenue - Indianapolis, IN 46204-2296

o    Indiana Cemetery Locator Database  

  • Use the query form, at USGS, to map features including cemeteries, churches, populated places, and more.  Please note that the map town listed with a feature may be used as a map reference for the site, and may not be the town where the feature is actually located...Select a map to see the location of the actual feature.  This database may not be complete, and, as with any database, there may be errors.
    • Cemeteries of Vigo County, transcribed and posted online, by Pamela Yates, including:
      • Rose Hill Cemetery, probably in Fayette Township, located approximately 5 miles southwest of New Goshen.
      • Old Brick Church, in Fayette Township, located north of New Goshen, IN on Range Line Road.
      • Hull Cemetery, in Honey Creek Township
      • New Harmony Cemetery, in Prairieton Township, located at Harlan Road & State Highway 63 about  7 miles southwest of  Terre Haute, and 2 miles south of Prairieton.
      • Prairieton Cemetery, in Prairieton Township, located about eight miles

southwest of Terre Haute about 2 blocks off State Road 63, on the west side of the highway, in the Village of Prairieton.

      • The Quaker Cemetery, in Prairieton Township, this cemetery is the first or old part of a two section cemetery, at an angle south-west of the rest of the cemetery; the second section is called Prairieton Cemetery.  They are located about eight miles southwest of Terre Haute about 2 blocks off State Road 63, on the west side of the highway, in the Village of Prairieton.
  • Terre Haute - A Level Above Vigo County -
    • includes a clickable city MAP and county MAP

COMMERCE, TOURISM & ONLINE COMMUNITY
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NATURE
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NEWS & NEWSPAPERS
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·         Indiana State Library.    140 North Senate Avenue - Indianapolis, IN 46204-2296

o    Newspaper Holdings: Holdings by county (in Indianapolis)


A River City with a Vital and Colorful Past

BIOGRAPHIES
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   The Paul Dresser Manuscript collection is held at the Manuscripts Department, Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405.

 

HISTORY <-> GENEALOGY: Articles and Online Databases
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   1411 South Sixth Street - Terre Haute, IN 47807  Phone: (812) 235-9717.

   One Library Square -  Terre Haute,  IN 47807
    Phone:  (812) 232-1113    E-mail: webmaster@vigo.lib.in.us

·         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)

Cross-Cut Canal 1836-1839 "...between Terre Haute and Worthington that connected the Wabash and White Rivers lifted canal waters..."

southwest of Terre Haute about 2 blocks off State Road 63, on the west side of the highway, in the Village of Prairieton.

How to Obtain Military Records: Military service records are kept by the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) which is under the jurisdiction of the National Archives and Records Administration.  See: Standard Form 180 - Request Pertaining to Military Records.

ARCHIVES & LIBRARIES for Further Research
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   One Library Square -  Terre Haute,  IN 47807
    Phone:  (812) 232-1113    E-mail: webmaster@vigo.lib.in.us

   1411 South Sixth Street - Terre Haute, IN 47807  Phone: (812) 235-9717.

Cross-Cut Canal 1836-1839 "...between Terre Haute and Worthington that connected the Wabash and White Rivers lifted canal waters..."

COUNTY GOVERNMENT & Vital Records
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 County Annex Building, Vigo County Vital Statistics; 171 Oak Street; Terre Haute, IN 47807
   Phone: (812) 462-3442.

   1516 Woodley, Terre Haute, IN 47807      Phone: (812) 462-3211.

   One Library Square -  Terre Haute,  IN 47807
    Phone:  (812) 232-1113    E-mail: webmaster@vigo.lib.in.us

   County Annex building - 199 Oak Street: Terre Haute, IN 47807
    Phone: (812) 462-3301.

Vigo County Communities

FAYETTE TOWNSHIP communities include:  Bradshaw, Harrison, Libertyvill, New Goshen, Pine Ridge, Sandford, Shepardsville, Tecumseh and West New Goshen.

  • History of Fayette Township: (and Libertyville, New Goshen, & Sandford), From the History of Vigo and Parke Counties, together with Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley, by H. W. Beckwith. Chicago: H. H. Hill and N. Iddings, Publishers, 1880.
  • Cemeteries of Vigo County, transcribed and posted online, by Pamela Yates, including:
    • Rose Hill Cemetery, probably in Fayette Township, located approximately 5 miles southwest of New Goshen.
    • Old Brick Church, in Fayette Township, located north of New Goshen, IN on Range Line Road.


HARRISON TOWNSHIP communities include: Dewey, Parkview, Preston and the city of Terre Haute.

   1411 South Sixth Street - Terre Haute, IN 47807  Phone: (812) 235-9717.

   One Library Square -  Terre Haute,  IN 47807
    Phone:  (812) 232-1113    E-mail: webmaster@vigo.lib.in.us


HONEY CREEK TOWNSHIP communities include:  Allendale, Spring Hill, Southwood, Woodgate and Youngstown.


LINTON TOWNSHIP communities include:  Pimento.

 


LOST CREEK TOWNSHIP communities include:  Glen Ayre, Seelyville, Swalls and Tabertown.

 


NEVINS TOWNSHIP communities include:  Cobb, Coal Bluff, Ehrmandale and Fontanet.

 

OTTER CREEK TOWNSHIP communities include:  Atherton, Burnett, Forest, North Terre Haute, Otter Creek Junction, Sandcut and Spelterville.

 


PIERSON TOWNSHIP communities include:  Blackhawk, Brown Jug Corner and Lewis.  The community of Hickory is situated on the Pierson Township, Vigo County, and Perry Township, Clay County, line.

 


PRAIRIE CREEK TOWNSHIP communities include:  Hutton, Prairie Creek and Vigo.

 


PRAIRIETON TOWNSHIP communities include:  Prairieton.

  • History of Prairieton Township,  From the History of Vigo and Parke Counties, together with Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley, by H. W. Beckwith. Chicago: H. H. Hill and N. Iddings, Publishers, 1880.
  • Cemeteries of Vigo County, at INGenWeb and USGenWeb archives for Vigo County, including:
    • New Harmony Cemetery, in Prairieton Township, located at Harlan Road & State Highway 63 about  7 miles southwest of  Terre Haute, and 2 miles south of Prairieton.
    • Prairieton Cemetery, in Prairieton Township, located about eight miles  southwest of Terre Haute about 2 blocks off State Road 63, on the west side of the highway, in the Village of Prairieton.
    • The Quaker Cemetery, in Prairieton Township, this cemetery is the first or old part of a two section cemetery, at an angle south-west of the rest of the cemetery; the second section is called Prairieton Cemetery.  They are located about eight miles southwest of Terre Haute about 2 blocks off State Road 63, on the west side of the highway, in the Village of Prairieton.


RILEY TOWNSHIP communities include:  Keller and Riley.
Notes - Keller is located in the southwestern part of Riley Township, next to the railroad line which presently proceeds through the southwestern corner, of Riley Township, between Terre Haute and the town of Lewis (in the southeastern corner of Vigo County).
Hazelgreen is reported to have been just slightly south of Riley, while Lockport appears to have been slightly north, and the name was changed to Riley possibly to avoid confusion with the town of Lockport, in Carroll county, IN.
The book: History of Vigo and Parke Counties, Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley, by H. W. Beckwith, 1880, (Riley, pp. 403-410) identifies the town of Lockport as the main town of Riley township.

 


SUGAR CREEK TOWNSHIP communities include:  Barnhart Town, Ferguson Hill, Larimer Hill, Liggett, Marion Heights, St. Mary of the Woods, Taylorville and West Terre Haute.

History of the Sisters of Providence which were founded Oct. 22, 1840, at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Ind., by Saint Mother Theodore Guerin and a group of five Sisters of Providence from Ruille-sur-Loir, France.

·         Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College -   Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, IN 47876-0068; Phone: (812) 535-5212.

Printed resources for this page include:

  • 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.
  • Kim Holly was the Ring Manager for the Indiana Ancestry Web Ring.

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


PROFESSIONAL HISTORICAL GENEALOGY RESEARCH
Ann McRoden Mensch, Professional Historical Genealogist

Researching on-site, 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. 

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