Current Monthly Updates
The Month of October was spent looking for new
information to put on site.
In the month of October, I matched the great photos that Phil
Przybylinski took out in St.
Mary's
Cemetery in Otis, Indiana. They have been linked to the St. Mary;s
burial listings for Viewers that can not travel, for one reason or another, to
our great county of LaPorte.
Also for the month of October and November, I am concentrating
on adding information, burial locations and more random photos of the stones
out in
Springville
Cemetery, in Springville township. I will be trying to present a simple
map of the cemetery lay out.
The South Bend Area Genealogical Society contacted me during the
last week of October and announced a new research resource that they have added
to their web site. To find out more follow this link Michiana Genealogical
Index . The index is the result of many years of research by Mr.
Norbert Cramer.


Local News from Yesteryear
Old
Villages That Disappeared - continued from August news article - In
the 1970's Jim Landing wrote some wonderful articles for the News Dispatch
concerning many of the "Lost and Vanishing" County Villages.
When the
county was established in 1832, there were villages and hamlets dotting the
landscape. A few survived but other remain only as a vague memory.
We break
these down into categories. 1. Indian villages that were
her during the early pioneers days. 2. Rural villages had their day when
they were along well travel routes. And example would be Door Village on the
old Sauk Trail. Many of these prospered for a period of time but then
disappeared and no longer exist. 3. Commercial villages, who were
established by proprietors who sold lots. A prime example of this would be
Michigan City. 4. Villages come into existence from the Railroad. The
railroads were good and bad for the smaller villages. Those lucky enough to
have a rail station in their village fared much better than those on old foot
trails or wagon routes. So what were some of the Villages that came and
then all but vanished?
Callao (Callloa, Callas) village that was associated with
the railroad era. W. A. Taylor constructed a grain warehouse along the
Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad (Penn Central) in section 2 of Cass
Twp. Soon a Methodist Church was established along with a blacksmith shop and a
hotel all operating within this small community. Even a local physician was
available. In April of 1860 Taylor, filed a plot for 27 lots on the south side
of the rail line. But the rail officials had their own ideas and in 1861 they
built a depot a half-mile to the west and named it Morgan. Most of the
residents moved westward to be closer to the depot. Taylor too moved his home
to Morgan and this left Callao with a very short lived existence.
Camp Colfax was a small subdivision and consisted of only
17 plots in Center township. This small group was later annexed to the city of
LaPorte. This little burg was the area between Second and Fifth Streets and is
known as Colfax Avenue.
Disappearing Villages to be continued next
month....
Contact
Information: Deanna
West at laportecountyin@yahoo.com
See our links page for where to
obtain various documents from. Links
Page
"Mission Statement,
Achievements and Goals" LaPorte
County - Indiana Cemeteries
Archival News News from
previous months and years.
Volunteer &
Professional Assistance Need a little help. Try our
Research
Guides
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Calendar Of Events
The Cemetery & Research Association of
LaPorte - Bi-Monthly 2008 Meeting Schedule
August 7, 2008 October 2, 2008 - cancelled December 4.
2008
Location - Home of LaPorte County Genweb Coordinator,
Deanna West, 8074 W 200 North. LaPorte County
Genweb Meeting starts at 12:00 P.M. sharp. Our meetings are held
every other month on the 1st Thursday of the month listed.
LaPorte County Genealogical Society Calendar:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~inlcigs/meetings.htm
2008 Previous Updates -

Brett Hardesty mailed me a large folder of information
for Cass County, Michigan and also LaPorte County Indiana that I will sort
through and use on line.
Westville Cemetery in the news -The Westville Historical
Society hired Mark Davis of Tombstone Restorers from Muncie, Indiana and Helen
Wildermuth of Stone Huggers Restoration in Nashville, Indiana to repair and
renew some of the old grave markers dating back to the 1830's.
Cheryl
Albert, president and Joanne Elliott, secretary were on hand to see much of the
work done and have plans to yet do more. After viewing the cemetery in June
2007, plans were set in motion to research and some of the people buried within
the cemetery. After examining many of the stones, it was decided which ones
needed a little TLC. This cemetery was established in 1837 and now the once
buried and cracked stones have been repaired and cleaned to honor those
ancestors buried there. Albert stated that they felt an
accomplishment but that they are not done.
Each month I try to bring interesting articles to our news page
and donated information through out the month to the website. This would not be
possible without the assistance of local researchers and historians, along with
those that email or snail mail us family information. We are most grateful for
all of this.
That being said; please keep the following in
mind:
Please keep in mind that we are a Volunteer Group. We can
not arrange for burials, locating deeds of lot owners in cemeteries and/or
attempt to dispose of lots for families wishing to sell their cemetery plots.
Nor do we tend to any planting of any form i.e.. trees or plants on graves.
Please contact the cemetery association, cemetery office (where applicable) or
the county court house to find out who the sexton might be.
Phil Przybylinski continues photographing the stones of
St. Mary's Cemetery in Otis and has all but completed the Veterans buried
within that cemetery. Those our now on line under our Military Salute for St.
Mary's Cemetery at Otis.
Clippings found in papers of Mrs. Basil F.
(Nellie Stoner) Jones after her death at age 100. (Please note: these have
been typed in EXACTLY as printed by the newspaper) - Typed for the Internet by
Marcia Porter - See our obit pages for these obituaries - You might want to
start with the "J" Obituaries, as several are there.
In the last few
years, Lori Hedditch sent us various photos of 3 of the cemeteries in
LaPorte County, Indiana. Also Russell Hapke and myself, Deanna West, went out
and took additional photos at Miriam Benedict Cemetery. In trying to work my
way through some of the back log, we now have placed these on line for your
view. These are now ready for view along with photos that Lori Hedditch and
Dena Holmes with additional photos taken at Miller-Griffin and Westville
Cemetery.
I'll be contacting Lori in the near future to see if she can
email me the photos they took at Eahart-Reed cemetery, as the disc corrupted
and we could not pull them to place all on site.
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On-Line Cemetery Transcribing
Disclaimer
"Cemetery & Research Association of La
Porte County News" disclaimer for cemetery readings: "This website was
developed and is sustained by volunteers who donate their time and personal
resources for the purpose of providing valuable research information to fellow
researchers. We are dedicated to providing free access to La Porte
County cemetery listings. If you have documentation of a burial which does not
appear on the cemetery list, we are pleased to receive that information from
you." Please keep in mind that some of the cemetery listings that
are being placed on the WWW were done more than 30 or 40 years ago. Every
cemetery that you view through your genealogical research should be considered
a "Partial" listing for various reasons, such as errors in spelling occurring
at the time of burial., some burial locations were known only to the cemetery
sexton and information was lost when he moved, resigned or died. And many
written logs were destroyed by accidental fires. We are not responsible for
errors, misspellings or incorrect information. Every attempt to correct
misinformation is entered onto our listing(s) upon being notified of a burial
with source and/or family history.
Sources: 1. Readings done by the D.A.R. Ind.
Miriam Benedict Chapter of LaPorte County, Indiana. 2. Older LaPorte County
Pioneer Cemetery Readings 3. Current readings 4. Individuals who have
donated obituaries, family histories and burial locations. 5.
Obituary 6. Church records 7. Cemetery burial records; handwritten, typed
or computerized

We have a great collection of
old articles on our ARCHIVE
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Donating Information & Photos
Obituaries, Family &
Tombstone Photos On-going request (Photos and Obits must
pre-date 1950) We always welcome
family information on the ancestors of La Porte County. Donated
information will always remain free to our viewers.
We are also looking
for old school graduating classes before 1950. Can you help? Have something in
the attic?
Among items being collected are: Pre 1950 - burial
records, obituaries, newspaper clippings, cemetery information, ancestor'
stories, diaries, photos, old family bible information, School info &
photos along with early marriages.
Family Histories &
Biographies Please - No ged coms from family tree
maker or any other genealogy based programs. Please submit family information
either in biographical or story form. I and other volunteers have done quite a
few of the ged com revisions and it really takes a lot of time to alter and
remove the repeated information within.
Tombstone
Photo Request Fees
1. All photos already on site are free and may be
printed for family files you are researching. However they may not be used on
another commercial or nationally based site without the implicit permission of
The LaPorte County Cemetery & Research Association 2. Fees for going out
and photographing stones in a cemetery start at $5.00 to cover gas fees due to
the increasing cost of fuel. Each photo taken will be $1.00 for each stone
photographed. Digital photos will be taken and emailed to requester. If hard
copy is desired, then please add $1.00 for paper and postage. Additional
postage will be charged only if several hard copies are requested and postage
increases due to weight of package. 3. You must know where the deceased is
buried at or a general location before we can fulfill your request. Please, do
not ask our researchers to hunt for a stone.
Obituary
Request Look Up Fees
We have people willing to do obituary look ups.
Initial fee is $5.00 for fuel cost and 1.00 for each obit look up and email to
the requester. Obits will be looked up and an email sent with the content of
what was in obituary. If hard copy is desired of original newspaper article,
then please include going rate for postage at time of look up.
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