OSWALD and OSWALT

in parts of

Illinois, Indiana and Iowa

Compiled and prepared by Bill and LaVonne Lee.

110 pages, double-columned, every-name index, softcover (8 1/2 X 11) 2008.
ISBN-13:  978-0-9795830-9-4.
ISBN-10:  0-9795830-9-8.

During the mid-1990s the Lee's visited county courthouses throughout the Western United States, gathering information on the OSWALD and OSWALT surnames, as well as the similar names of OSCHWALD, OSEWALT, OSSWALD, OSSWALT, OSSWOLD, OSTEWALD, OSTWALD, OSVALD, OSWALTS, OSWOLD and OSWOLT. Part of that effort included selected counties in the states of Iowa, Illinois and Indiana.  The end result of this research effort is the book OSWALD and OSWALT in parts of Illinois, Indiana and Iowa.  The information reported covers the period from 1836 into 1996.  In some cases it is possible to follow a family through four or more generations in the three states, from birth to marriage, court engagements through to death and probate.  This easy-to-reference book includes thumbnail sketches of nearly 1200 public records including marriages, civil and criminal court cases, probates, births, deaths, military discharge recordings, cemetery inscriptions and interesting articles from local histories and newspapers.   The 1200 public records reported include over 550 marriages, 170 civil/criminal court cases, 50 probates, 220 births, 130 deaths and 13 military discharge recordings.  Inscriptions from OSWALD or OSWALT tombstones from 38 cemeteries are included along with 26 articles dealing with people with that surname. Records from 33 Indiana counties, six Illinois counties and four Iowa counties.  Every name  in this  book is indexed – more than 5000 names  involved in  some way with the OSWALDs or OSWALTs, including more than 600 OSWALDs and 1000 OSWALTs.

Any OSWALD or OSWALT researcher who has connections in this three-state area is sure to find a family connection they are missing.  Be sure to advise other OSWALD/OSWALT researchers who would like to benefit from this informative book, and keep in mind that OSWALD and OSWALT in parts of Illinois, Indiana and Iowa would make an outstanding gift for any OSWALD or OSWALT family tree climber.

The cost of OSWALD and OSWALT in parts of Illinois, Indiana and Iowa is $21.95,  including shipping and handling. You may order directly from the Lee's by clicking Order Form,  printing and completing the form, and sending with a check or money order to:

Bill Lee
P O Box 321
La Feria TX 78559

Do not send cash.  Texas residents: Add 8.25% sales tax. International and Canadian customers: Please pay in U.S. funds.

  All orders will be sent via USPS Media Mail

Introduction to

OSWALD and OSWALT

in parts of

Illinois, Indiana and Iowa

During the mid-1990s we visited selected counties in the Three Eye states, Illinois, Indiana and Iowa, gathering information on a number of family names, OSWALD among them. Because of the similarity of the names, we included the name OSWALT and other similar sounding OS______ names in our research. This is a book of facts gathered during that research trip, from the public records of the states of Iowa, Indiana and Illinois on those names.  Similar books published earlier deal with records related to the two names from the states of Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Kansas and Missouri.  These books may be found in a number of libraries and may be purchased from us at http://www.baseballundertaker.com.  We have gathered data from other western states and plan on publishing that data in the future.

In addition to searching county records, we also visited libraries, looking for articles on the subject names in local histories and in newspapers. We have selected some of these articles and presented them in the first section of the book. These articles have been presented in chronological order by date of occurrence with citations to the source of the information.

The second section of the book contains data taken from tombstone inscriptions from some cemeteries in the three state area.  We have visited some of these cemeteries ourselves and personally taken the information, but the largest part of the inscriptions have been taken from books found in libraries and published by other genealogists who have cataloged and published the information after hours of walking cemeteries.  We are most grateful for these dedicated people and to them we extend a hearty THANK YOU.

The third section of the book contains thumbnail sketches of records from each of the county courthouses we personally visited.  Time and resources did not allow us to search the records in all the counties in the three-state area as we have done in other states.  The counties researched in Iowa are Hamilton, Harrison, Mills and Webster.  In Illinois we visited Cook, Douglas, Moultrie, Pike and Wayne counties.  Cook County (Chicago) has a wealth of OSWALD/OSWALT records – altogether too many to include in this book.  The only Cook County record shown is that of the divorce of Bill’s father from his second wife.  The other Illinois records deal with some of Bill’s ancestors.

The bulk of the third section is taken up with records from several Indiana counties.  The Indiana counties we did perform extensive searches in were Brown, Carroll, Dubois, Elkhart, Fountain, Henry, Huntington, Kosciusko, Lake, Noble, Parke, Vermillion, Wabash, Warren, Wayne and Whitley.  If any of these counties are missing from the book it is because we did not find any OSWALD or OSWALT records there.  There are other Indiana counties included in the book.  Information on those counties came mostly from sources found in libraries instead of from an exhaustive search of courthouse records.

The county records we concentrated on most were marriages, civil and criminal court cases, probates, births, deaths and military discharge recordings.  Conspicuously absent from this list are land records.  Even though we recognize the genealogical value of these records, we did not include land records in the book because of the volume of this type record.  We also did not include court records from any of the lower courts.  Only records from the Circuit and Superior courts are included.  Records in city courts and lower county courts are too voluminous and contain such things as minor (and some not so minor) traffic violations.  Not only does searching these records take an inordinate amount of time and book space, the maintenance of these records is inconsistent from one jurisdiction to another, and often not available.  However, the presence of OSWALDs  or OSWALTs in a particular area can be determined from the records we have included, and further research can be performed in a specific area if one desires.

Marriage records are listed first, then civil and criminal court cases, probates, birth records, death records and military discharge recordings. Each group of records is presented in order by date of occurrence, within record type, within county. The counties are listed in alphabetical order. On occasion two or more marriages will be shown for a person with the marriage records, then one or more divorces indicated in the Civil Court records. Then a birth record for the person, a death record and a military discharge record.  Obviously the birth occurred before the marriage, the divorce before the second marriage, the discharge before the death and the death before the probate.  But the records appear in the book as shown because of the chosen grouping for the records.

To the best of our knowledge, every name in this book, with the exception of those in this introduction, is contained in the index. Women's names have been indexed to their pre-marriage name and to their married name. For example, on page 34 you will see that Lynn Edwin OSWALD married Wanda Sue PHILLIPS.  Wanda is indexed under both OSWALD and PHILLIPS.  Her parents were Mack Elbert and Imogene (ROBERTS) PHILLIPS.  Imogene is indexed under both ROBERTS and PHILLIPS.  The number of occurrences of a name in a column is given by a number enclosed in parenthesis, and the column is indicated by "a" for the left column, and "b" for the right column.

A few words need to be said about research at county courthouses. First, a researcher is totally at the mercy of the personnel working in the various courthouses. Some counties have personnel who are both knowledgeable and helpful, while other counties have personnel who are neither. The norm is somewhere between these two extremes, and our experiences are generally around the norm.  In general, the people in the Iowa and Indiana courthouses were quite helpful and pleasant to work with.  Not so in Illinois where privacy laws make it very difficult to do genealogical research.  Cook County with all its bigness was not bad, and Pike County a very nice place to work.  Not so in Douglas County where the clerks felt as though they had to do everything for you, and then only for a fee.  But such is the adventure of on-site research, and rather disappointing that "Public Records" in Douglas County are not really that public.  With the large number of records we research, there is no way we can afford to pay for all the records we view.

We have attempted to report the data as we saw it. However, some of the source material is sometimes in error, and other times difficult to interpret. There are instances where the same person's name will be spelled one way on one document, and differently somewhere else. The names OSWALD and OSWALT seem to be confused and interchanged for each other.  There are occasions where what is obviously the same person will be recorded as OSWALD on one document and OSWALT on another.  We have attempted to report what we saw. There are also cases where we have introduced errors in the transcription of the data, though we have made every attempt to minimize this type error. Some of the records list a great deal of information, others hardly any. We have attempted to report all the information contained in the original records. Some of the court records are subject to individual interpretation. We are not attorneys, and have attempted to only summarize the content of the court cases. Any individual interested in more detail on these cases may find the case files available to the public at the indicated county by requesting the specified case number. 

As mentioned above, we have several similar books for OSWALDs, OSWALTs, and other names for different localities all over the Western United States.  Information on all our books may be found at http://www.baseballundertaker.com, or you may correspond with us at blee@baseballundertaker.com.

Finally, we want to thank the many people who have helped make this book possible. First has to be the many fine citizens of Iowa, Illinois and Indiana who provided services for us during our several months there during the mid-1990s. Those people include RV park employees, service station employees, restaurateurs, and in general, every one of the fine people we had the privilege to come in contact with. The personnel at the various libraries and archives were especially helpful, and deserve a special thanks. Last, but not least, we thank all the personnel at the county courthouses who were most helpful, and those who were not quite as helpful as well. It is to this group of people we have entrusted the care of our county records. These records are probably the most precious gift of one generation to another.