Will Index 1823-1933

OWEN COUNTY (IN) WILL INDEX
Preface
The database noted below is an index to materials compiled by a number of volunteers affiliated with the Owen County (IN) Historical and Genealogical Society, and available from the Owen County Public Library in Spencer, Indiana, on two CDs/ DVDs, one titled Wills and the other Wills and Probate Records.
The Wills CD/DVD contains good quality digital images of 858 Owen County will documents dated mostly from the 1830s to the 1920s, arranged in alphabetical order by surname and made from will packets. The Wills and Probate Records CD/DVD contains images of 9 additional will documents in JPEG format dated in the 1820s and 1830s from the “Owen County Probate Order Book & Wills 1818-1933.” (NOTE: The section titled “Owen County Wills c. 1833-1914” on the Wills and Probate Records CD/DVD contains most, but not all of the will documents on the Wills CD/DVD, and the quality is much better on the Wills CD/DVD.)
The material on the above-noted two CDs/DVDs has been reconfigured in the database index below which includes the date the will was made and proven for each will record where same was noted in the will documents. In the absence of a proof document, the date that the will was filed, if available, is noted as a substitute of the proof document as generally the will is filed with the court only after the will is proven. The nine images of will documents from the “Probate Order Book and Wills 1818-1933” include source information; if no source is noted , the digital image is from the CD/DVD titled Wills.
While it is doubtful that the will documents noted on the two CDs/DVDs represent all the wills made in Owen County from the time of its establishment, a random sample of the wills noted in Owen County Will Book 3 and 4 suggest that most, if not all, of the wills in those volumes are included. Due to the lack of availability of the remaining will books, no other comparison was made.
Note that some of the digital images of the Owen County will documents are slowly being made available online at Ancestry’s subscription website. As of 2015, the will books are stored at the Owen County courthouse but are not readily accessible, and the will packets are at the Owen County archive which is only open by appointment.