Genealogy
Find records dating back to the 1700s!
Premier Research Collection
Bone & Sinew of the Land was written with research from the McGrady-Brockman House.
Researchers from New York City using KCPL genealogical resources.
Knox County, formed out of the Northwest Territory in 1790, is the oldest county in the State of Indiana. Many of the county’s original records, some dating from the 1790’s, can be found at the McGrady-Brockman House.
Records in the collection include but aren't limited to:
- Civil and Criminal Court Records
- Deed Records
- Declaration of Intent and Naturalization Records
- Marriage Records
- Will Records
- Birth Records
- Cemetery Records
- Church Records
- City Directories
- Death Records
- Funeral Home Records
- Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps
- Orphanage Records
- High School Yearbooks
- Family Histories Including Published Genealogies
- Local newspapers on microfilm from 1807 - present and an online database of local newspapers from 1884 - 1955
The McGrady-Brockman House is home to the Black History Preservation Project of Knox County (BHPP-KC) which houses the nation's largest archive of Black legal activity for the late 1700s through the early 1800s. This repository of documents is one of the premier research collections in the U.S. and significant not only to this area but the nation as a whole. In addition to having special events, our staff is digitizing and making court records concerning Black history accessible to scholars, historians and genealogists.
McGrady-Brockman House
The name was chosen in honor of Charles P McGrady who built the Carpenter Gothic Style House in 1859 as well as the Brockman Family, who owned the building for more than 60 years. The library became the seventh owner of this historic property in 2000. Other past owners were: Joseph Pollock (1866-1887), Joseph Swartzel (1887-1902), Dexter Aldrich (1902-1912), and George Ryan (1912-1937). Elmer Brockman converted the private residence into a funeral home in 1937 and sold it to his son, Dale Brockman, in 1984.
Because of grants received from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, administered by the Indiana State Library, the very earliest files, up to the mid-1820s, can now be viewed on the Indiana Memory site HERE. Many researchers have taken advantage of the availability of these records online.