Historical sources of Fort Wayne, Indiana : an annotated bibliography for doing historical research on the summit city in the Allen County Public Library

294 Pages·2000·17.8 MB·English

by  Beatty, John D., 1960-

HISTORICAL SOURCES OF
FORT WAYNE, INDIANA
AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR DOING
HISTORICAL RESEARCH ON THE SUMMIT CITY
IN THE ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
By John D. Beatty
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
2000
Copyright 2000
Allen County Public Library
Allen County Public Library Foundation
Fort Wayne, Indiana
CONTENTS
RIELO CIOU C IN tenes eaatcis emp oattea neck ee atieloe ati oni Sinnaeidan tases sacra ]
BUMOonton RScords:c25y aie wer esbeians ee otars aoa SIO We ABUL. 5
AMcan-AMETICANS 0.0 ios, ricebes iin ode ER AOI AA LY DIR BOOS 6
Architecture, Lours, andrArchitectsigy ite ans. ios ooo ARIE 9
SES oe inca aa nt Slats Oe adel. caubsae ba halasaenee SIERO MORE RIRRIY QASAE NE 12
BRO STADIICE & Sissi a cede a sty dik eas na ote an yale CUOMO MOM 17
Brisiness, Histories. andsR ecords na Altice hades oriadcaaeneeeekaLi me3 6
Cemeteries, Burial Records, and Cemetery Histories ................... 43
NEUEN WLE tata ELS Gee Sane NG Nea eae OREM 9a ote PATH 47
Church Histones.and Recordsees oimenebaas seteodon)S ih 50
A AT Sy ht ail ce icaues ely eis Cindalicl cpa Ok talc ninins Sense oiekn SE, 93
COSA VN Lsa uldee Mi Saks sia ti RE wiry A ye ame ca UL oe
IUD and ATO AnIZANONS 8s a eh Aas ee ge oe 102
MICE COLL S 5 Ota ale eke Uri It ee ie Al 117
me nue ap Ok eINCDL. | ain ue eon tak 123
(DFT eGTa)ea iT RR oe eR NGS RRR ee GAN Ny SOR “EIRa e kaakn et eA NP yn Ls
Pe CAOLOUID LEMSLOTIGS 2nd ReCOTIS 2 su Mek is od my 129
REDOOIC al ISLOL Vers nce ae i a kai kl 13]
Histories (General & Biographical Works) .................cceeee Hey
Tistones (rary Oy s20e NCludine POMS) nae kvge ke 138
Tis Ones (cam ista) uo UO eC anand). ces Ulanet y ch1 42
Pistola err eta UeC UCLILY rie soe ate a ee BN Ves hla 148
ROCKG S TIT IICO S tag we ctu meiner es Mel blag oie) Ma ve 150
LETESRT ESA n T CGN 8 Rap oya LEE ISP Ra et a Mah a a jew
Teta COlL SRN tee ge he een a anes Ce Cnc Winans ‘ees
1L OFT FaesE A SOV aN i A RN Sol UU Or OS a END REMAIN ane evi
TEE yi Rp a A waned net apes SRS StaA lNn HORAN NOMENA Skog 160
ISCO ISL OL en RECOlUS tone Ct tone ere er crea, 166
Military Records: (Late 19th e& 20th Centaries) voccic.c ecsrc. eee aeees 169
PVICTLUHLICS eet ee eee te CM err cendtein Modieles sincere: 173
Pipa ReECOLUs But StOMCSMiae tenn ts, 176
Native Americans (History and Records).................cccceeeeeeeeeeeees 182
MMA ReCOLOS TT ee ee ee ee 184
Neighborhood, Street, and Specific House Histories.................. 187
Newspapers, Obituary Indexes, Abstracts, and Histories............ 192
Pars oi to ie Breton ula pe ave tole ee ey 203
Pictorial WOrkS od ie a oe 205
Politics. and Voting Records ......c.ccesscssccconensecoa SEUORIOULA OROE 211
POTECAIES ccc viscanananicMawc.a ssDioess aenoo.k) tsarenckaos nie s 213
SCHOOLS ariel ees yi se ee re et en ee are 2A5
Sorts History eae ee ln et a 234
Fax, RECOTdS. cp scncnnssanssnAnOoT OnOGsSiL oDcNSn tBaariroimeaihsL sgeeadri p 237
Transportationzsiatei wiateas). bus. .wbnooe x. lanuel. sanstom 239
PFital Records ee ces ues aie ee oS a ae 242
Will, Probate, and Guardianship Records...........00....ccceeeeeeee 250
INTRODUCTION
For a mid-sized city in the middle of the midwestern industrial
belt, Fort Wayne, Indiana enjoys an unusually rich tapestry of
historical tradition and study. From ethnic church histories to
military records and a host of genealogical sources, the number of
books and articles about the city’s past exceeds those of every
other community in the state, including Indianapolis. Two reasons
for the abundance of historical writing may stem from Fort
Wayne’s age and its location as a crossroads. Developing as it did
at the confluence of three rivers, the region has seen a progression
of explorers, adventurers, soldiers, missionaries, canal builders,
and entrepreneurs since the late seventeenth century, each of whom
has added some facet or thread to the tapestry. Many of those
threads have led to the writing of books or pamphlets. The
diversity that resulted from its location as a transportation hub has
given Fort Wayne a big city atmosphere and a rich cultural melting
pot. The resulting society created by the mixture of Indian,
French, English, Yankee, German, and African-American
influences has helped to foster a climate - and for some, perhaps a
passion - for tracing and preserving those traditions.
Age and ethnicity represent only part of the equation, however.
Histories have sprung from a variety of other sources. Mercantile
interests and a spirit of boosterism in the late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries spurred the writing of company histories and
pictorial works that advertised Fort Wayne as an ideal place for |
settlement and investment. Strong cultural institutions such as the
Allen County Public Library, the Allen County-Fort Wayne
]
Historical Society, the Allen County Genealogical Society of
Indiana, Inc., and a host of schools, churches, clubs, and civic
groups have encouraged additional writing. Through its aggressive
policies of collection development and preservation photocopying,
the Library’s Historical Genealogy Department has proved itself a
catalyst for gathering and retaining both primary source records
and a variety of ephemera documenting aspects of the city’s
history. ARCH, Incorporated and the city’s Historic Preservation
Office have heightened public awareness of the richness of Fort
Wayne’s architectural past. WFWA and WBNI, the city’s Public
Broadcasting affiliates, have built on that historical appreciation
through programming choices such as “Fort Wayne Time
Capsule.”
Underlying all of these efforts is an almost unquenchable
grassroots interest in local history. Since the Civil War, Fort
Wayne’s public has supported the publication of a succession of
local histories and pictorial works, finding in their pages a source
of both nostalgia family memorial. Although local histories are
not unique to Fort Wayne, the sheer number of works on so many
diverse topics suggests a strong affinity for the process of
preservation, writing, and remembering, that emanates from a
cross-section of the city. It embodies both a cultural pride and a
curlosity that resonate deep within the community, an interest not
limited by class, ethnic or religious boundaries.
The research and writing of Fort Wayne’s history, or tracing the
genealogy of one of its families, can be a rewarding and satisfying
journey. I use the word “journey” to convey the process of
research - that it is never accomplished in haste and nearly always
involves an accumulation of knowledge gleaned from a variety of
sources. The breadth of these sources presents the researcher with
both rewards and challenges. The reward comes in finding an
indexed or abstracted work, a bibliography, or an original
document within easy access, that will illuminate or provide the
foundation for a new historical inquiry. The challenge is met in
P
attempting to locate every source that can shed light on that
inquiry.
This guide to the Fort Wayne holdings of the Allen County
Public Library is offered as a road map for anyone wanting to
begin the journey. I have designed it as a kind of compass for
navigating the often bewildering array of historical sources
available in several of the Library’s departments, with particular
emphasis on the holdings of the Genealogy Department. Although
it is not comprehensive and does not include other towns in Allen
County, it may help illuminate various research paths in the city
that may not be obvious to the researcher working solely with the
online catalog. It should be used in conjuction with the catalog, for
a keyword search may bring up resources not envisioned by this
work, or new materials acquired since its writing.
The user of this guide will find the Library’s sources arranged
in a standard bibliographical format, grouped under categories
alphabetically by subject. Some sources appear more than once if
they overlap several categories. Many of. the citations have been
given brief annotations to alert the user to their advantages and
possible pitfalls. Others have been left without comment in the
belief that the title offers a sufficient summary of the contents.
Moreover, each chapter or category also contains a brief
introduction, in part to suggest uses for the material and in part to
offer suggestions for other avenues of research.
No guidebook, including this one, tells everything a researcher
needs to know to begin historical study - for Fort Wayne or
anywhere else. Some tasks will always require hard-nosed
investigations: discovering ways of ferreting out new sources of
information and learning through trial and error the best research
techniques and the most productive sources. The progression of
time will also render this guide out-of-date as more historiography
of the city appears in print and more primary sources are
microfilmed. It is, at best, a “snapshot” of historical sources at the
Allen County Public Library at the close of the twentieth century.
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If it can help a researcher begin a plan of historical inquiry, or
suggest some additional avenues of investigation, it will have
fulfilled its mission.
J.D.B.
Fort Wayne, Indiana
January 2000