Search Local are posts covering the free digital collections available from libraries and archives in Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio. It is published twice monthly.
If you have ever driven along I-69 between Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, you have travelled through Madison County, Indiana, with its population of more than 130,000. The Anderson Public Library in Anderson, Indiana hosts the Madison County Databases collection of databases featuring the following categories: Marriage Indexes, Naturalization Records, Student Indexes, Military Records, and Death Indexes.
The Marriage Indexes, Naturalization Records, Student Indexes, and Military Records databases are all index-only, but instructions for requesting the images are provided at the site. The Marriage Indexes cover 1921 to 1951, while the Naturalization Records are from 1890 to 1958. The Student Indexes makes access to high school publications easily accessible by consisting of all 55 years of Highland High School yearbooks, Anderson High School material from 1914 to 2016, Lapel High School yearbooks for 1918 through current (with some missing years), and all 40 years (from 1956/57 to 1996/97) of Madison Heights High School yearbooks. The Military Records category focuses on indexes to resources for the Civil War, World War I, and World War II eras. An example from the Military Records is Sergeant Charles Blake of Jackson Township, who mustered into the 34th Infantry, Company E, on 9 October 1861 and died in-service in Carrollton, Louisiana on 9 September 1863.
Within the Death Indexes category are death and 
obituary indexes ranging from 1838 to 2017, depending on the Madison County town and newspaper; more than 70,000 indexed names from 98 cemeteries; images of death certificates from 1932 to 1938; coroner’s inquests images, and record images from multiple area funeral homes from 1890 to 1964. As you can see, these particular records are more than just indexes. For example, searching for John Stout, we discover seven images of a coroner’s inquest and indexes of articles from three local newspapers concerning his death on 2 December 1896 in Elwood, Indiana, from a fall between moving railroad cars.
Discover what free digital collections are available in Madison County, Indiana and in your locale of interest!