WPA Records

Between 1935 and 1942, out-of-work teachers, historians, lawyers, and clerical workers were employed under the Depression-era U.S. Works Progress Administration (WPA) to conduct a nationwide Historical Records Survey. These records are invaluable to genealogists because they are inventories of all extant records that existed in county government offices at that time. Unfortunately, the work was not completed for all U.S. counties, but it is available for thousands of them including Clay County, Indiana. Our library has WPA records of births, marriages, deaths, and naturalizations. Below are examples of records found in our WPA Index of Deaths A-Z 1880 TO 1920  Notice the last two entries; obviously, a WPA worker copied something wrong.  Remember to double check everything you find!

Page# Name Sex Race Age at death Date of death   Place of death Book#
32 BARNETT Elizabeth F W 72 11-Nov-1910 Brazil 8
28 BARNETT Ezrelda A F W 61 28-Jun-1910 Brazil 8
69 CARTER Emiline F W 79 25-Jun-1913 Posey Twp 3
26 CARTER Elmer L M W 5 10-Dec-1916 Clay County 3
10 COLLINS George W M W 72 22-Mar-1916 Clay County 3
64 COLLINS Mary E F W 56 22-Feb-1906 Martz 2
46 COX Lucy J F C 70 28-Jul-1919 Brazil 9
43 COX Priscilla F W 64 27-Mar-1919 Brazil 9
4 FUNKHAUSER Millie F W 75 6-Oct-1907 Harrison Twp H-1
77 FUNKHAUSER James M W 16 3-Dec-1918 Harrison Twp 3
83 HAEBERLY George M W 31 2-Apr-1907 Brazil H-
61 HARDIN George M W 61 22-Oct-1908 Staunton 2
82 HARDIN Margaret F W 60 19-Jul-1914 Staunton H-1
5 HARRIS Sarah M F W 80 16-Mar-1908 Lewis Twp. H-1
25 HARRIS Nancy Ellen F W 85 5-Oct-1904 Brazil H-2
45 HARRIS Nancy Ellen F    W 27 5-Oct-1904 Brazil H-2

 

Clay County Indiana