Collection #
SC 2302
OM 0251

HARRISON COUNTY (IND.)
RECORDS, 1807–1836

Processed by
Charles Latham
9 January 1991
Updated 22 November 2004

Manuscript and Visual Collections Department
William Henry Smith Memorial Library
Indiana Historical Society
450 West Ohio Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202-3269

www.indianahistory.org

collection INFORMATION

VOLUME OF COLLECTION: 6 folders, 4 oversize folders

COLLECTION DATES: 1807-1836

PROVENANCE: William B. Doolittle, Louisville, KY, 30 September 1988

RESTRICTIONS: None

ALTERNATE FORMATS: None

RELATED HOLDINGS: M 0058, SC 0357, SC 0358, SC 0359

ACCESSION NUMBER: 1988.0848

The capital of Indiana was in Corydon, in Harrison County, from the time Indiana won statehood in 1816 until the move to Indianapolis in 1825. During this period the state capital was also the county seat. Across the street from the capitol building in Corydon was a one-story brick structure, erected in 1817, which housed the office of the state auditor and the office and vault of the state treasurer.

After the state offices moved away, the building was used for the Harrison County Seminary until 1851. In 1871 it was bought by Amzi Brewster and used as a family residence until 1988, when it was bought from his descendants by the State. At that time the documents in this collection, found in the building, were donated by a descendant, William Brewster Doolittle.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

This collection, filling six folders and four oversize folders, consists of legal documents and land records from the period 1807-1836. It is arranged chronologically within category.

Folder 1 contains records of the Jeffersonville district lands in Harrison County. Folder 2 contains perhaps the most interesting part of the collection: three letters of emancipation, two dated 1815, one dated 1819. These letters, coming from the very early years of the anti-slavery movement, and two even before the governorship of Jonathan Jennings, would seem to be quite unusual. In Folder 3 are two 1815 items regarding roads, and a Civil War discharge paper of 1865. Folders 4 and 5 contain the original and a Xerox copy of an 1816 land list from Harrison Township. In Folder 6 is a document from a suit in 1819 by the officers of the Bank of Vincennes against John Tipton for payment of a promissory note.

Oversize material includes the following, all having to do with the purchase or taxation of land:

Folder 1 contains a "List of Lands situate in the County of Harrison in the Jeffersonville Land District," with purchases dated 1807-1810. In Folder 2 is a bound land list of Harrison County with purchase dates from 1807 to 1834. Folder 3 contains two lists of land relinquishments, with dates from 1818 to 1825. In Folder 4 are a land purchase list with dates 1826-1829, and tax lists 1825-1836.

FOLDER LISTING

Folders

1. Land records-- Harrison County in Jeffersonville Land District

2. Letters of emancipation, 1815, 1820

3. Items in roads, 1815; Civil War discharge

4. 1816 land list

5. Xerox copy of 1816 land list

6. Suit, Bank of Vincennes v. John Tipton, 1819

Oversize Folders

1. Land sales, 1807-1810

2. Land sales, 1807-1834

3. Lands relinquished, 1818-1825

4. Land sales, 1825-1829; tax lists 1825-1836

CATALOGING INFORMATION

For additional information on this collection, including a list of subject headings that may lead you to related materials:

1. Go to the Indiana Historical Society's online catalog: http://opac.indianahistory.org/

2. Click on the "Basic Search" icon.

3. Select "Call Number" from the "Search In:" box.

4. Search for the collection by its basic call number (in this case, SC 2303).

5. When you find the collection, go to the "Full Record" screen for a list of headings that can be searched for related materials.

Collection # SC 2302 OM 0251