Noble Co Births 1882-1932:

Noble Co Deaths 1882-1932:

   Simon Journal Deaths: 1900-1943            Coroner's Report of Violent Deaths: 1927-1939

A gentleman by the name of Frank Simon kept a journal of events occurring in his neighborhood of LaOtto and the surrounding area.  His record of deaths from 1900 to 1943 are included here, along with those recorded in the Noble County Health Department from 1888 through 1932.  Although later records are on file within the health department, those after 1932 have not been released for transcription.  It should be noted all incidents were not reported at the county level.  Some were filed directly with the state. 

The Indiana State Division of Vital Records has kept birth records since Oct. 1, 1907 and death records since 1900.  Prior to that time, records were kept at the county level at the discretion of  local officials.   A few birth and death records were recorded in books kept in the Noble County Board of Health Office starting in 1882.   It is located at the County Office Complex, 2090 State Rd 9, Suite C, Albion IN 46701, telephone 260-636-2191.   

Birth and death certificates are $10 each.  Uncertified death genealogy research sheets are $10.00 each for every individual researched.  Payment by mail should be made by money order or cashier check, and requests should  include a self-addressed stamped envelope.  You should apply for a form from the Health Office or print and complete this facsimile when issuing requests for birth and death records:

Information included in the county records is not all-inclusive.  In death records, the cause of death and the location are usually listed; and sometimes the birth place of both the deceased and the parents, the burial site, occupation, spouse, marital status, attending physician and/or name of undertaker might be included.  This transcription includes the name of the deceased, parents (if listed), age at time of death or birth date (if listed) and book number in which the record is located.  Some of the records were included in both county and city or town books.  Whenever there was a discrepancy, both versions were included.

The amount of information retained in early birth records often does not include the given name of the child. It usually lists the father’s surname and infant’s sex (male or female), along with the name of the parents, date and place of birth. Sometimes parents’ occupations, nationality, residence, age, and place of birth are included.  

Every effort was made toward accuracy in this transcription; however, some handwriting is nearly illegible and often misspellings, along with inaccurate entries were detected (i.e., the sex of the child, event dates, etc.).  Uniform spelling was not used in early records.  The party who recorded the event may have incorrectly translated the submitter's handwriting; and often names were spelled differently than the version used today.  For the sake of indexing, some corrections in spelling were made if an accurate version could be determined.  Changes from the original record are identified by italics.  An asterisk (*) beside the name indicates the sex of the child appears to be incorrect when viewing other records.  Spellings used in tombstone engravings were generally used as reference guides.

Noble Notes: A man too busy to take care of his health is like a carpenter too busy to take care of his tools.