Genealogy & Local History

The Indiana Room houses the Genealogy Collection, which is a noncirculating collection. The main focus of this collection is local genealogy and history.

It is library policy not to buy family histories/genealogies. Our collection is composed of donations. Therefore, we do not have a family history/genealogy for every family that has roots in Wells County.

Our collection includes:

Two microfilm readers/printers and a microfilm reader
Bluffton newspapers on microfilm (1866-present but the early years have many gaps in coverage)
Marriage index (1837-4/12/1980)
Birth index (1883-1920)
Wells County portion of the Federal Census on microfilm (1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930)
Index of the Indiana portion of the Federal Census (1820, 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860–North Indiana only, 1870, 1880–Wells County only)
Index of the Indiana Territorial Census of 1807

Online Resources

Indiana State Library Genealogy Division
Indiana Digital Archives Find your Ancestors
Wells County Portion of the USGenWeb Project for Genealogy
Ancestry Library (only available for use in library)
MyHeritage Library Edition Discover more about your Ancestors
FamilySearch Search for your Ancestors in Millions of Historical Records
Indiana Authors and Their Books

Downloadable Databases

The Wells County Public Library has over the years created a large number of databases containing genealogical information. It is our intention to make them available online to be downloaded by anyone. Initially we will begin with our cemetery-obituary records through 2000. We soon hope to add our supplemental marriage records and more. Stay tuned.

Request for Genealogy Research

The Wells County Public Library offers research services for patrons as well as the general public. If you would like to request Genealogy Research please click here for more information.

Cem-Obit Information

Cem-Obit is short for Cemetery-Obituary. It does, however, contain more information such as marriage data, whether obits have been scanned, plot information, etc.

This information has been entered and edited by many different staff members and volunteers over a period of several years. It is as correct as we can possibly make it but we make no claim that it is perfect. It is constantly in a state of flux as corrections and revisions are discovered. We would be happy to consider any request you might have for corrections if you can provide complete and verifiable information. To do so, please contact <genealogy@wellscolibrary.org> Please Click on the links below to download these databases in Microsoft Excel Format.

Cem-Obit index notes and abbreviations PDF Download Format

Cem-Obit Surnames beginning with A through 2000

Cem-Obit Surnames beginning with B through 2000

Cem-Obit Surnames beginning with C through 2000

Cem-Obit Surnames beginning with D through 2000

Cem-Obit Surnames beginning with E through 2000

Cem-Obit Surnames beginning with F through 2000

Cem-Obit Surnames beginning with G through 2000

Cem-Obit Surnames beginning with H through 2000

Cem-Obit Surnames beginning with I through 2000

Cem-Obit Surnames beginning with J through 2000

Cem-Obit Surnames beginning with K through 2000