Have You Visited the Indiana Room Webpage? By: Nancy Massey Well, if you are reading this blog; then the answer is yes! However, there is more to the Indiana Room webpage than this blog. Let’s take a quick look. First, you will find a description and location of...
A Young Inventor By: David Heighway, Hamilton County Historian With the opening of the Ignite Makerspace in the Fishers library, it’s a good time to talk about a young man named George McDonald (1880-1947) who set a high bar for homebuilt science experiments. Although he spent most of...
What Is a FamilySearch.org Affiliate Library? By: Nancy Massey What Is a FamilySearch Affiliate Library? The Hamilton East Public Library is a FamilySearch Affiliate library. Since FamilySearch.org stopped microfilm ordering, many digitized microfilms at FamilySearch.org have a message that states they may only be accessed at a Family History...
Asa P. Robertson, Noblesville Maker By: David Heighway, Hamilton County Historian With the 500 mile race just around the corner and the opening of Ignite, the new maker’s space at the Fishers Library, I thought I would look at a local maker who built his own automobiles, Asa...
Was Your Ancestor a World War I Veteran? By: Nancy Massey One hundred years ago this May, the United States was heavily involved in the Great War, also known as World War I, from 1917-1918. The United States declared war on Germany on 6 April 1917 and officially...
The First Chinese Immigrants to Hamilton County By: David Heighway, Hamilton County Historian While Hamilton County has people of many different nationalities living here today, at one time it was rare enough to be reported in the news. The Ledger reported on December 14, 1883 that, “A Chinaman,...
Female Ancestors and Census Records By: Nancy Massey March is Women’s History Month. What better time to honor your female ancestors than to search for their whereabouts and history! One of my genealogical goals is to find all my female ancestors on all the census records during their...
Eva Stewart: NHS’s First African American Graduate By: David Heighway, Hamilton County Historian Since we are right between Black History Month and Women’s History Month, it’s worth looking at an African American woman who was important to the history of Noblesville. Eva Stewart was the first African American...
Ancestor Hunts, Ancestry, and Newspapers By: Nancy Massey Have you ever wondered who your ancestors were, what kind of work they did, how did they live, from where did they come, and why did they move around so much? I did. When I was in high school, I...
Ringing in 1875 in Fishers Switch By: David Heighway, Hamilton County Historian I’ve done several posts on the raucous nature of early Fishers – here, here, here, here, here, and here - but it’s important to remember that there were other, more innocent times, when people just enjoyed each other’s company. In one post, I quoted...