A biography is a history of a person’s life. In a biography you may find the individual’s birth, marriage, and death information, and the names of his parents, children, or other family members. Biographies often include photographs, family traditions and stories, clues about an ancestor’s place of origin, places where he lived, his church affiliation, military service, and activities within the community. The information must be used carefully, however, because there may be inaccuracies.

The Genealogy Division of the Indiana State Library, the Indiana Historical Society, the Allen County Public Library, and the Family History Library have major collections of biographical sources. Most town and county histories have separately published indexes.

Biography Indexes

An important index is:

Parker, Jimmy B., and Lyman De Platt. Indiana Biographical Index. West Bountiful, Utah: Genealogical Indexing Associates, 1983. (On 16 FHL fiche 6331353; computer number 298253.) It lists about 250,000 names, and indexes 98 percent of the biographical sketches in Indiana biographical works, county histories, and atlases. It lists only the main persons in the biographical sketches. Women are noted under both their married name and maiden name. The first fiche lists the title source codes by number. The second fiche lists sources indexed.

Many county histories and atlases have been indexed by the Work Projects Administration (WPA). (See the History section of this outline.)

The Indiana Division, Indiana State Library, maintains a card index of names found in Who’s Who and similar works. This index is not available at the Family History Library. Contact the Indiana State Library to request a search.

Public Officials

The William H. English Collection at the Indiana Historical Society contains photographs and biographical information about many territorial and nineteenth-century public officials, primarily those who served in the Indiana General Assembly before 1888. This material is not available at the Family History Library. For an example of this kind of material, see:

A Biographical Directory of the Indiana General Assembly: 1816–1984. 2 vols. Indianapolis: Select Committee, 1890–1984. (FHL book 977.2 N24b; film 1035524 item5 vol.1; computer number 151769.) Volume one covers the years 1816 to 1899, and volume two, 1900 to 1984. The directory lists name, birth date and place, spouse, marriage year, death date and place, number of children, residence, and years in the General Assembly. Volume one lists 3,700 men.

Biographical Encyclopedias

Representative biographical encyclopedias include:

A Biographical History of Eminent and Self-made Men of the State of Indiana. 2 vols. Cincinnati: Western Biographical Publishing, 1880. (FHL book 977.2 D3b; film 1000527; computer number 243086.) The biographies contained in this two– volume set include mostly those persons living at the time of publication in 1880.

Dunn, Jacob Piatt. Indiana and Indianans: A History of Aboriginal and Territorial Indiana and the Century of Statehood. 5 vols. Chicago: American Historical Society, 1919. (FHL book 977.2 H2d; film 1000526; computer number 62086.) Volumes 3-5 contain several hundred biographies of prominent residents and early residents of Indiana. All five volumes are indexed in:

Indiana and Indianans by Jacob Piatt Dunn: An Index. Indianapolis: Indianapolis Public Library, 1939. (FHL book 977.2 H2d index; computer number 72868.)