Genealogical Index To Victorian-Era St. Joseph County Newspapers

This index covers seven St. Joseph County newspapers published between 1875 and 1913. One newspaper, THE SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE, was included to provide context for the other newspapers which, even together, do not provide continuous coverage. Altogether, there are approximately 12,942 issues indexed here. It took about seven years to compile this index during lunch hours, weekends, early morning hours, and a few evenings.

This index contains the genealogical listings for small local papers in the microfilm collections of the Mishawaka-Penn-Harris Public Library. I did not include issues or titles from other Indiana libraries to keep searches simplified and to keep researchers from having to travel from library to library to check entries. To bring this information to you quickly, the entry cards were all scanned by Lacey King just as I wrote them. I hope you can read my handwriting.

The newspapers included in this index, together with their symbols, are:

DAR: The Daily Register is a continuation of the St. Joseph Valley Register. After a series of ownership changes, Archibald Beal purchased the paper in 1872. In August 1875, Beal reorganized the company as the Register Company with Sunday and daily editions. In 1881, the newspaper was discontinued and the printing equipment sold to the Tribune Company. Coverage: 1875-1878, 1,070 issues.

DEM: The Mishawaka Democrat (also The News) was launched by William P. O’Neill on July 4, 1891. A daily edition, entitled The News, began in 1899. In 1907, O’Neill sold out to Leslie Osborne and Frank Lenhard who formed the Democrat Publishing Company and discontinued the daily News. The weekly Democrat survived until 1911. Coverage: 1897- 1898, 1907-1908, 141 issues.

ENQ: The Saturday Enquirer began on December 12, 1912 under the leadership of Edward Lucas in support of the Progressive Party. The newspaper was taken over by John Zuver in 1913 and two years later ceased publication. Coverage: 1912-1913, 38 issues.

MOR: The South Bend Morning Herald was introduced by Charles L. Murray as a successor to the National Union. It was a daily from October 1875-November 12, 1876. However, a potential purchaser, Henry Peed got only the subscription list and used that to begin his own paper in 1881. Coverage: 1875-1876, 336 issues.

REP: The South Bend Morning Reporter. Very little information is available about this newspaper, other than it began in October 1896 under the leadership of J. E. Sutton, with both weekly and daily editions. Both editions were politically independent, and both ended on February 22, 1897. Coverage: 1896-1897, 106 issues.

SBT: The South Bend Tribune was first issued as a weekly beginning on March 9, 1872. Its owners were Alfred B. Miller, Elmer Crockett, James Banning, and Elias Hoover. The paper supported the Republican Party politically. The paper issued a daily edition beginning May 1873 which was published together with its weekly edition until December 12, 1892, when the weekly was discontinued. The paper continues yet today in both paper and electronic formats. Coverage: 1879-1909; 9,395 issues.

SER: South Bend Evening Register was one of the Register family of newspapers. See the entry above for DAR for more details. Coverage: 1879-1885, 1,856 issues.

Abbreviations used in this index include:
adop. = Adopted
b. = Born
b/d. = Born and died (typically on the same day)
d. = Died
dau, dau. of = Daughter of
div. = Divorced
eloped = Eloped with
m. = Married
m. ann = Marriage annulled
ml. = Marriage license issued
re-m. = Re-married
S., son of = Son of
W., w/o = Wife of
wid., wid/o = Widow of

NOTES:
Most names are spelled as they appear in the newspapers. Some names, however, are spelled differently in various entries, so genealogists are advised to check all possible variants. The most common variant is typically used with “see” or “see also” entries from those spellings not used. Since this index is also handwritten, please doublecheck spellings.

Individuals with identical names, or infants without given first names, are typically listed in the order in which they occur. A Baby Boy Smith born in 1880, for instance, will be listed before a Baby Boy Smith born in 1882, but we encourage you to check other entries on either side in case the filer erred. Babies whose sex cannot be determined from the newspaper will be listed as “Infant” or “Child.” Multiple births are listed as “Girls (Twins)” or “Boys (Triplets)” and will be listed in proper chronological order.

Please be aware that not all dates listed for newspaper entries may be accurate or interpreted accurately. In many instances, references to a birth may simply read “Born last Friday” without specifying which Friday. In such cases, I have usually added a “?” to alert users the date may not be accurate or simply omitted an exact date. The same “?” is added for females when it is not clear if a listed husband is still alive or not.

We could provide many other sample oddities, but we trust genealogists are intelligent enough to figure out the meaning of an entry and either ignore it, use it, or continue to search further.

I would like to thank the South Bend Area Genealogical Society for their support, especially Lacey King, Alice Clark, and Bill Minish. I would also like to thank Kathie Scott for all her assistance in alphabetization and filing. Without them, this index would not have been possible.

The above-listed Society and individuals are prepared to answer questions you may have about this index. Please check our web site for contact information. The same is also true if you have corrections that need to be inserted.

We hope that you will find this index useful in your search.