Knox County, Indiana has been described as "the historic showcase of the Midwest", it is that and so much more. Just ask the residents of this area who live their lives displaying pride in what they have helped to create. Midwestern values shine through. Located in southwestern Indiana, bordered by the Wabash and White Rivers, Knox County is presently home to slightly more than 40,000 people.
The landscape of the county is composed of primarily lowlands and low hills. It is among the most heavily agricultural counties in Indiana.
Mineral resources have been and continue to be important in the county. Oil and gas have been produced in the south and coal is produced along the eastern parts of the county. Underground coal-mining had been very important to the economy in the early part of the 20th century and continues to this day. Strip-mining of coal has also been carried out. With abundant coal resources in its vicinity, Vincennes became a manufacturing center in the early 1900s.
While the later part of the 20th century saw a decline in manufacturing, the dawn of the 21st century has brought a renewal of industrial development to the county.
Townships and their Towns
- Busseron Township
- Busseron, Emison, Oaktown
- Decker Township
- Decker Chapel, Little Rock, Orrville
- Harrison Township
- Monroe City, Ridgeville, Verne, Willis
- Johnson Township
- Decker Iona, Purcell, Saint Thomas
- Palmyra Township
- Fritchton
- Steen Township
- Wheatland
- Vigo Township
- Bicknell, Edwardsport, Sandborn, Westphalia
- Vincennes Township
- Beal, Vincennes
- Washington Township
- Bruceville, Ragsdale (Aliceville), Smith
- Widner Township
- Freelandville
Maps
- Vincennes, Indiana - 1852 Map http://www.rootsweb.com/~inknox/maps.htm
- Knox County Map (1895) http://www.livgenmi.com/knoxIN.htm
General History
The county seat of Knox County, Vincennes, is the oldest city in Indiana. The city began as a French fur trading outpost founded in 1732 and was settled by French farmers shortly thereafter. Records of the St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church date from 1749. Vincennes was the site of an important Revolutionary War battle fought by Colonel George Rogers Clark. It was the home of the future U.S. President, William Henry Harrison (called Grouseland), and the center of government for a huge frontier territory (Northwest Territory then Indiana Territory in 1800).
Knox county was formed in 1790 and covered all or parts of the present states of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin; but it gained its present boundaries by the end of 1816 shortly after Indiana became a state.
More detailed history
Bibliography
General Information about Knox County
For an Overview of the History of the County
The Vincennes/Knox County Convention & Visitors Bureau
Postcards of Vincennes from the early 1900s:
Original sources
Census
Census 1990
- Summary (Race, Language and Ancestry)
- Inhabitants (Total)
- 39.884 individuals
- Belgian ancestry (227 individuals)
- First ancestry: 107
- Second ancestry: 51
- Single ancestry: 69
City Directories
Vincennes
Internet
The Knox County, Indiana GenWeb
Knox County, Indiana Message Forum (Rootsweb Message Board)
Knox County, Indiana GenForum
The Knox County, Indiana, Political Graveyard Page
Archives and Libraries
Knox County Public Library
- Address
- Historical Collection
- 502 North 7th St.
- Vincennes, IN 47591
- Ph: (812) 886-4380
- Internet
- http://birch.palni.edu/~bspangle/histcoll.htm
- http://birch.palni.edu/~bspangle/res.htm
- Notes
- The Knox County Public Library's Historical Collection and the Knox County Records Library are to be combined in one facility across Hart Street from the Public Library in the former Brockman Funeral Home at 614 South 7th Street in Vincennes. This consolidation may be completed by the winter of 2001-02.
Knox County Records Library
- Address
- 819 Broadway St.
- Vincennes, IN 47591
- Ph: (812) 885-2557
- Internet
- URL: http://birch.palni.edu/~bspangle/reclib.htm
- Notes
- The facility is behind the Knox County Law Enforcement Center, down the alley off Broadway between Eight and Ninth Streets.
Byron R. Lewis Historical Collection Library
- Address
- LRC-22
- 1002 N. 1st Street (note: this street is closed in the University)
- Vincennes University
- Vincennes, Indiana 47591
- Ph: (812) 888-4330
- Internet
- http://www.vinu.edu/lewis.htm
- Notes
- The Lewis Library has census, church, and some civil records of Knox County, Indiana. Many of these are on microfilm but others are original records including some Probate records (1790-1870), Will Books A-D: 1806-May 1898, and the original Marriage record books for Knox county, Indiana. Lewis is located in the Main Library building on the Vincennes University campus on Second Street at the western terminus of College Avenue (ends in a small parking lot).
The Old Cathedral Library & Museum
- Address
- Behind the Old Cathedral (St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church)
- 205 Church St.
- Vincennes, Indiana 47516
- Internet
- http://birch.palni.edu/~oldcath/oldcath.htm
- http://www.nps.gov/gero/
- Notes
- INDIANA's FIRST LIBRARY is primarily a museum that displays part of the 10 to 12 thousand volumes of old and rare books and manuscripts that were brought to Vincennes by priests and other personalities (some had been owned by Rev. Jean François Rivet, Rev. John Leo Champomier, Rev. Stephen Theodor Badin, Francis Vigo, William Seton, and Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, among others) and the 6-8000 volumes of the first Bishop of the former Diocese of Vincennes, the Rt. Rev. Simon Gabriel Brute. It is in the Old Cathedral/George Rogers Clark National Historical Park Complex. The Old Cathedral Parish (St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church) was the original church of the French settlers (records date from the year 1749) and the parish of many Belgian immigrants (parish records are available through the LDS-FHL or at the Lewis Historical Collections Library - see above).
Francis Vigo DAR Library
- Address
- 3 West Scott St.
- (Near the Wm. Henry Harrison Mansion -Grouseland)
- Vincennes, Indiana 47591
- Ph: (812) 882-2096.
- Notes
- The library is open on Thursdays only, from 10:00 a.m.-4:00p.m. Holdings include historical and genealogical materials dating from 1776.
- Click here for more info about the DAR.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints
- Address
- Family History Center
- 3311 Old Highway 41 North
- Vincennes, Indiana 47591
- Ph: (812) 882-4022.
- Notes
- Hours are Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m.
Knox County Health Department
- Address
- (For Birth & Death Certificates from ca. 1880)
- 624 Broadway Street
- Vincennes, IN 47591-2028
- Ph: (812) 882-8080
Vincennes Historical & Antiquarian Society
- Address
- P. O. Box 487
- Vincennes, IN 47591
- Internet
- For further information see the URL: http://birch.palni.edu/~bspangle/histcoll.htm
Northwest Territory Genealogical Society
- Address
- Knox County, Indiana
- Contact through:
- Byron R. Lewis Historical Collection Library
- LRC-22
- Vincennes University
- Vincennes, Indiana 47591
- Ph: (812) 888-4330
- Internet
- http://www.vinu.edu/lewis.htm
- http://www.rootsweb.com/~inknox/society.htm
- Notes
- As the genealogical society for Knox county, Indiana, the NTGS, meets at 7:30 P.M. on the third Monday of every month (usually) at the Lewis Library on the Campus of Vincennes University. The NTGS publishes the NORTHWEST TRAIL TRACER quarterly and is actively publishing genealogical records for Knox county, Indiana. Annual individual dues are $12, family dues are $15 and life memberships are $100.
Migration history
Arrivals of 1850
- The first Belgian immigrants to Knox county arrived about 1850. They where primarily farmers and this period of immigration extended in to the 1880s. Settlement was primarily near Vincennes in areas which would surround the parish and orphanage of St. Vincent de Paul. These earliest Belgians (THEIS, BOUVY, ROSMAN, WIRTH, etc.) where generally from Luxembourg Province, but one family (DeBUISSERET) hailed from Brabant (and possibly Hainaut).
Arrivals of 1900 from Hartford
- In 1903 a number of Belgians came to Vincennes from Hartford City, Blackford County, Indiana, to build a new window-glass plant, Blackford Window Glass Company. For further information on these Belgians see the article below.
Arrivals of 1900-1914
- Also in the early 1900s with the rise in coal-mining in the county, a number of Belgian and mixed French and Belgian families came to Knox county. Many of these families settled in the coal-mining town of Bicknell, in the northeastern Knox County. Some surname of coal-miners from naturalizations include: CARLIER, DEBODT, DELAERE, LAMORTHE, LATINIS, LEROY, MARTIN, RIGOT, and TABURIAUX.
Folklore
- For some of the old French Folk Tales of Knox County, see:
- http://rking.vinu.edu/folklore.htm
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