INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY • SPRING/SUMMER 2007 • $5 THE HOOSIER GENEALOGIST IN THIS ISSUE: THREE SISTER DRESSMAKERS LAND FOR SALE LOVE LETTERS The Society of Indiana Pioneers was founded in 1916 to “Honor the Memory and Work of the Pioneers of Indiana.” Regular membership is open to anyone who can prove direct descent from at least one ancestor who settled in Indiana on or before December 31, 1840, except for the following counties which have later qualifying years as indicated: Howard, Lake and Tipton, 1845; Starke, 1850; and Newton, 1855. To date, approximately 8,000 ancestors have been qualified as pioneers by our members. As a member of the Society of Indiana Pioneers, you support the ongoing work of the Society in fulfilling its purpose, including: • Publication annually of Society proceedings in a yearbook, including articles of historical interest, a report on Toactivities Honor and pilgrimages, the Memory and a roster andof current the members Work together of withthe a list Pioneers of their Pioneer of ancestors; Indiana • Organization for members of historically-themed travel outings in Indiana, “pilgrimages,” in the spring and fall; • Holding of an annual luncheon or dinner meeting for members in November of each year, where scholarships to graduate students in Indiana are awarded; • Employment of a full-time genealogist on staff and the placing of historical markers. Membership applications are available from office manager Pat Jeffers at: (317) 233-6588 or online at www.indianapioneers.com Society offices are located at: Indiana State Library • 140 N. Senate Avenue • Indianapolis, IN 46204 THE HOOSIER GENEALOGIST INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY • SPRING/SUMMER 2007 • VOL. 47, ISSUE 1 Since 1830, the Indiana Historical Administration John A. Herbst • President and CEO Society has been Indiana’s Storyteller™, Stephen L. Cox • Executive Vice President Jeff Matsuoka • Vice President, Business and Operations connecting people to the past by collecting, Susan P. Brown • Vice President, Human Resources preserving, interpreting, and disseminating Linda Pratt • Vice President, Development and Membership Jeanne Scheets • Vice President, Marketing and Public Relations the state’s history. A nonprofi t membership Board of Trustees organization, the IHS also publishes books Sarah Evans Barker Thomas G. Hoback William E. Bartelt John T. Koenig and periodicals; sponsors teacher workshops; Michael A. Blickman Katharine M. Kruse Mary Ann Bradley P. Martin Lake provides youth, adult and family Dianne J. Cartmel James H. Madison Joseph E. Costanza Richard B. Pierce programming; provides support and Patricia D. Curran George F. Rapp, MD assistance to local museums and historical Edgar Glenn Davis Ian M. Rolland William Brent Eckhart Margaret Cole Russell groups; and maintains the nation’s premier Daniel M. Ent Jane W. Schlegel Richard D. Feldman, MD Jerry D. Semler research library and archives on the history of Richard E. Ford Randall T. Shepard Wanda Y. Fortune James C. Shook Jr. Indiana and the Old Northwest. Janis B. Funk Family historians seek connections The Hoosier Genealogist: Connections M. Teresa Baer • Editor, Family History Publications between themselves and their ancestors. Geneil Breeze • Editorial Assistant, Family History Publications Rachel Popma • Editorial Assistant, Family History Publications THG: Connections weaves richly colored Evan Gaughan • Intern, Family History Publications historic threads with rare source material, Kathleen M. Breen • Contributing Editor family records, and expert guidance to Stacy Simmer • Art Direction and Design Susan Sutton • Photography Coordinator INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY connect readers with their ancestors’ lives. David H. Turk • Photographer Sport Graphics • Printer Advisory Board On the cover Susan Miller Carter, Plainfi eld Wanda Y. Fortune, Indianapolis C. Lloyd Hosman, Knightstown A rare collection of love letters between Sharon Howell, Greenwood Patricia K. Johnson, Elkhart two southern Indiana residents is one Curt B. Witcher, Fort Wayne The Hoosier Genealogist: Connections (ISSN 1054-2175) is published of the subjects featured in this issue’s biannually and distributed as a benefi t of membership by the Indiana Historical Society Press; editorial and executive offi ces, 450 West Regional Sources and Stories Department. Ohio Street, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202-3269. Membership categories include student $20, Individual $40, Family/Dual $50, As author Evan Gaughan explores the and Sustaining $100. Non-Profi t U.S. postage paid at Indianapolis, Indiana; Permit Number 3864. Literary contributions: Guidelines growing relationship revealed in the letters, containing information for contributions are available upon request or on the Indiana Historical Society Web site, www.indianahistory.org. she also examines the social mores Connections accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts submitted without return postage. The Press will refer requests from surrounding courtship at the end of the other publishers to the author. ©2007 Indiana Historical Society Press. All rights reserved. Printed on acid-free paper in the United nineteenth century. Page 30 States of America. Postmaster: Please send address changes to The Hoosier Genealogist: Connections, Indiana Historical Society Press, 450 West Ohio Street, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202-3269. The Indiana Historical Society library is an associate member of the Federation of Genealogical Societies. The Indiana Historical Society Press is an associate member of the American Association of University Presses. 450 West Ohio Street Indianapolis, Indiana 46202-3269 www.indianahistory.org Phone: (317) 232-1882 Fax: (317) 233-0857 Contents THE HOOSIER GENEALOGIST: CONNECTIONS SPRING/SUMMER 2007, VOLUME 47, ISSUE 1 Letter from the Editor 4 Change Fuels Research 6 The Changing Face of Family History at the Indiana Historical Society BY M. TERESA BAER Features 6 Three Sister Dressmakers Postcards Tell Story of Talented Career Women Working in Southern Indiana from 1880 through 1930 BY ROBERT D. HENNON 12 Land for Sale 26 Researching Hoosier Family History at the National 36 Archives–Great Lakes Region, Chicago: Federal Land Records 1807–1858 BY MARTIN TUOHY 42 Departments Regional Sources and Stories Genealogy Across Indiana NORTHERN INDIANA 36 Just a Country Girl 20 Court Papers Stories from an Early Twentieth Century Hoosier Farm Family, Part 2 Abstracts of the Pulaski County Legal Documents in the Barnes Manuscripts Collection, 1856–1895 BY MARTHA BRENNAN TRANSCRIBED AND INTRODUCED BY JIM BRENNAN BY EVAN GAUGHAN AND GENEIL BREEZE 42 Civil War Soldiers 22 Collection Guides Help! Addendum to GAR Series, Covington, Indiana Manuscript Collections Hold Genealogical Gems Part 1 The Barner–Jones Collection, Clinton County 1828–1888 BY MARY BLAIR IMMEL BY GENEIL BREEZE Family Records CENTRAL INDIANA 48 Southern Indiana Pioneers 26 “Equality for Agriculture” The Holmes Siblings in Clark Records of the Warren County Farm Bureau and Jackson Counties, Indiana Territory 1918–1932 BY TRACEY C. MARCELO BY BETHANY NATALI AND GENEIL BREEZE SOUTHERN INDIANA 58 Notices Indiana Historical Society Programs, Around 30 Love Letters Indiana, Around the Midwest, National News The Courtship Correspondence of Mattie and International News, and Books Received Valentine Clapp, Scott and Clark Counties 1884–1885 From the Collections BY EVAN GAUGHAN 60 Catholic Church Records Catholic Church Records at the Indiana State Library BY LLOYD HOSMAN LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Change Fuels Research The Changing Face of Family History at the Indiana Historical Society M. TERESA BAER Here’s a rhetorical question for you: her life opened or closed? Do we ever Have you ever felt as though you wanted lace up their boots on our feet and let the the world to slow down so you could precious words on paper turn our minds catch up with it? “Oh, brother,” you are to their excitement, fear, happiness, thinking. “Who has not felt that way in dread, satisfaction, frustration, sorrow, this new century?” Changes are coming or fulfi llment? Do we ever sense them at an exponential rate it seems, and we wishing that the world would slow down are all in the same speeding boat. long enough for them to savor a special In fact, change has always been moment or so they might avoid indefi - inevitable—the one constant thing in nitely a tragic turn in their lives? life, no matter the era. For genealogists, In her article on a couple from Scott this is a good thing because when an and Clark counties in this issue, Evan important change is made, some piece of Gaughan shares a rare collection of paperwork is often created—a document letters that sheds light on the feelings that provides clues to an individual’s life. expressed by a young woman and man Births, educational and religious mile- in the months before they married. It is The many how-to-research chapters stones, marriages and divorces, entries not often that we are allowed to see this published in the book Finding Indiana into and departures from the military, far into the hearts of our ancestors, but Ancestors: A Guide to Historical Research steps in the naturalization process, ill- it reminds us that change is the wheel (IHS, 2007) appeared fi rst in The Hoosier nesses, property purchases and sales, that turns life, transforming in this case Genealogist from 2000, when the journal court cases, deaths, and burials all involve a young widow into a new bride and a underwent substantive and design changes, a written report of the event. Fortunately,