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...
A Holiday Recap in 1879 By: David Heighway, Hamilton County Historian Taking a deep breath after Christmas and looking at the impact of the day is nothing new. The December 27, 1879, edition of the Hamilton County Democrat had a review of celebrations that had gone on around...
Christmas in 1869 By: David Heighway, Hamilton County Historian With the local newspapers now available online, I decided to check for information about early Christmas celebrations. The earliest mentions that I’ve found are in the Ledger during the month of December, 1869. These are advertisements and notices of...
A Christmas Movie By: David Heighway, Hamilton County Historian Historical documents can take a lot of different forms. In 1935, the Noblesville Kiwanis club created a movie of their charitable work. It was filmed by member Bert Cresson and was shown around central Indiana for few years. Then...
