Thank you to Rina Stuck and all of the staff in the Wells County Recorder's Office!
We are excited to announce this significant update in Wells County! Doxpop recently posted the Mortgage indexes back to 1837. Previously, the Deed indexes back to 1838 were posted, so between the two, nearly every index is now available online, along with scans of all of the original documents they refer to.
The way the Manual Historical Indexes work is that Doxpop posts scanned images of all of the older index books that you'd normally have to go to the county to peruse. You can choose the type of index (deed or mortgage) then select the date range, and find links to each letter in the index. Then you scan the index visually for the document you're seeking, and note the Book & Page numbers.
In the top right of the page, there's a place to enter the book & page to see the actual document. You can choose to read the document online or purchase a copy for download in PDF form.
Most recorder's offices are constantly working to enter fully computerized indexes for older documents so you can use simpler search tools. However, by placing the index books themselves online, we can enable online searching for recently scanned documents whether they are indexed in the computer or not. This provides immediate value to the public when the scanning is done.
It is always great to see public information become more accessible, especially when the documents were recorded before Vincent Van Gogh was born!
Why do the indexes go back to 1837? A bit of Wells County history provides the answer...
Originally, Wells County was a combination of Allen, Delaware, and Randolph Counties before Indiana started increasing the number of counties sometime in the 1830s. When the state was founded, there were just 13 organized counties and nowadays that number is up to 92. A law passed in 1835 started the increase of Indiana counties in the northern part of the state, and by February of 1837 Wells County officially became a separate county. Shortly after that Bluffton was selected as the county seat, and in March of 1838 and a man named John Casebeer surveyed and platted the city of Bluffton.
Projects like this always inspire interest due to the historical significance. America was founded in part on the radical notion that any person could own land, not just those descended from noble families. Ever wonder why you have "Title" to a parcel? Think about Lords, Earls and Barons in England: Only a person with a "Title" could own land, and that land was granted by the King to "Title holders". Our country changed that, but we still use the words inherited from the feudal system.
Our County Recorder's offices are where that founding principle becomes reality with the support of our government for the people. Title researchers, property owners, and any member of the community now have the full history of Wells County recorded documents available at their fingertips.
Join us in again thanking the hard working staff of the Wells County recorder's office! Preserving and indexing records this historic is no small task, and everyone involved deserves a thank you.
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