La Porte County, Indiana, Early Probate Records [1833-1850]

La Porte County, Indiana, was established in 1832 from St. Joseph County. The city of La Porte is the county seat, and Michigan City, Indiana, is La Porte’s largest city.

This book contains the following information from the earliest probate records for La Porte County: (a) Probate Order Book A, which tracks the daily activities of the probate court as recorded by its clerk–these cases begin in 1833 and end in 1842; (b) Probate Complete Record [Book] A, which gives full accounts of some of the completed probate cases, including clerks’ copies of some of the material submitted to the court in the process–these cases begin in 1833 and end in 1848; and (c) the first roll of microfilmed “loose papers” or “probate packets” that were submitted to the court during the probate process, including administrator’s reports, receipts, bills, inventories, sales, bonds, letters, and more–these are usually original papers with the original signatures, and the cases begin in 1836 and end in 1850.

While the genealogical contents of the three sections vary somewhat, there is a great deal of similarity and richness of information. Part A is the most detailed, giving the name of the principal, all court dates associated with probate, name of administrator, heirs, disposition of probate, all incidental names, and relevant comments, such as the newspaper where a complaint was filed. Part B entries contain all of the above except for the name of the administrator and incidental names. The contents of the loose papers in Part C resemble those of Part A, with the additional inclusion of “sale buyers in lieu of the disposition of probate.”

Readers of La Porte, County, Indiana Early Probate Records [1833-1850] are encouraged to study the Introduction to the volume for its discussion of the records and other publications covering La Porte; the book’s glossary of terms; and the intricate, extremely detailed index to thousands of names.