INDIANA GENEALOGY TRAILS a proud member of Genealogy Trails presents
Lake County, Indiana
Genealogy and History
View of Gary, Indiana in 1910.
Welcome to this Lake County, Indiana Genealogy Trails website.
My name is Kim and I will be your host for this website.
I used to live in Lake County, so am relatively familiar with "The Region"
(though don't ask me where "Lake Dalecarlia" is - I've never heard of it!!!)
I do regret that I am super-busy and just don't have enough hours in a
day to perform personal research for anybody.
Our group's goal is to transcribe data and add it to our sites and any Lake
County data I come across will eventually be put on this site, so please continue to check back.
Lake County is a big place, with lots of people, making it a daunting place to research. In fact, it's the second
most populated county in Indiana and is loosely considered a suburb of Chicago. Before its proximity to Chicago
and its relatively low taxes made it a popular place to live and commute to Chicago from, the big draw to the area
were the steel mills. From the early 1900's and on, the steel mills lured many immigrants to the area. The city
of Gary was actually founded by the United States Steel Corporation as the home for its new plant in 1906 and was
named after the chairman of U.S. Steel, Elbert H. Gary. They employed thousands and paid well, attracting a big
melting pot of nationalities throughout "The Region". Though ethnically diverse, it has always been racially
divided, with middle class and more affluent residents having long left Gary for the surrounding towns.
Crown Point's courthouse had the early reputation of being a "marriage mill". If you're looking for your
Cook County, IL ancestors, make sure to check Lake County, Indiana's marriage records.
Lake County was formally organized February 15, 1837, and was named for its location on Lake Michigan.
It is divided into 10 Civil Townships:
Calumet ~ Cedar Creek ~ Center ~ Eagle Creek ~ Hanover
Hobart ~ North ~ Ross ~ St. John ~ West Creek ~ Winfield
Cities and towns Cedar Lake ~ Crown Point ~ Dyer ~ East Chicago ~ Gary ~ Griffith
Hammond ~ Highland ~ Hobart ~ Lake Dalecarlia ~ Lake Station
Lakes of the Four Seasons ~ Lowell ~ Merrillville ~ Munster ~ New Chicago
Schererville ~ Schneider ~ St. John ~ Whiting ~ Winfield
Crown Point is the County Seat. Prior to establishing the County Seat, court was conducted in the home of Milo
Robinson,
as nearly all the lands within the limits of Lake County were still the property of the government.
Liverpool was selected the first County Seat.
The County Seat was moved back to the location of Milo Robinson's home
and was originally to be called "Lake County Courthouse". The name was latter changed to Crown Point.
First settled in 1835, by Solon Robinson, Esq., by 1849, Crown Point contained three stores, one hotel, Presbyterian
and Methodist churches, a good High School kept by the Rev. Wm. Townley, and about thirty-five dwelling houses.
