Allen County, Indiana Coroner Records Database, 1836-1949

This database contains information abstracted from the existing coroner records of Allen County Indiana for 1836 through 1949. However the records are not complete and include several gaps within this time period. Early records are very scarce and no records at all exist for the years 1859 through 1878, inclusive. Only four records are available for the years 1916 through 1932, inclusive. The coroner records include information from coroner juries, inquests, and reports made by the county coroner for any deaths that were unattended, suicides, accidents, homicides, suspicious circumstances, and from cases in which family physicians refused to sign death certificates. Material in the coroner records has been supplemented in this database using other sources, including obituaries, news reports, county and city death records, and in some instances, cemetery records. This supplemental information is indicated by an asterisk (*) in any field where there was an addition to the database from non-coroner record sources. The decision to supplement the coroner records was made in an attempt to present a more complete record for researchers, since several coroners failed to provide complete information in their reports. It is recommended that researchers consult the above-mentioned supplemental sources for additional information.

Information Contained in the Database

In most every instance, spellings in this database reflect the spellings in the original records, correct or incorrect.

Name: Names are spelled as they appeared in the coroner's report. Spelling variations from other sources, such as the witness statements or obituary, appear in the notes field. In the case of individuals who used an alias, a cross-reference has been included in the database for the alias, with a note to see the file with the person's actual name. If a family member testified at the inquest and signed with a variation of the surname the coroner used, the spelling of the name as used by the witness is indicated in the notes field. Sometimes there was a discrepancy between the typed witness name and the witness's signature. In that situation, the name as shown by the signature is used in the database.

Age: When the coroner omitted the age of the deceased in his report and it could not be determined from other available records, no age is listed in the age column in the database. Fetus ages are listed as 0.

Sex: The sex of the individual is as it was recorded in the coroner record. The exception is in the cases of fetal deaths where gender could not be determined by the records.

Race: Abbreviations used for racial identification are as follows:

CA - Caucasian
AF - African-American
NA - Native American
HI - Hispanic

Coroners regularly did not specify ethnicity in the records, with the exception of using the terms "colored," "black" and "Negro" in the cases of some African-American deaths. Instead, they used a description of the person's skin tone, or complexion. Terms used included "light" "medium" and "dark." Due to the large Mediterranean population and the large farming community in this area, those shown as being of "dark" complexion are listed as Caucasian in the database, unless specifically identified as African-American by the coroner. Because of this, it is possible that some individuals listed in this database as Caucasian were actually African-American.

Date of death: Date of death is listed first by year, then by month, then by day. If a body was found more than 24 hours after death, the day the body was found is listed in the notes field.

Place of death: Place of death is as listed on the coroner record. When the place of death was omitted in the report, other sources were used to determine an exact location. If a person died in an ambulance en route to the hospital, the hospital is listed as place of death because that is where death was pronounced. When people were killed by trains, the railroad tracks are listed as the place of death. If someone died in the railroad yards, on a train or in the station, that is listed as the place of death. In cases of interurban train deaths, the place of death is at the intersection of the accident if within the city limits, but if the accident occurred in the county, the interurban tracks are the place of death. If a person died at a business, the business name is used as the place of death instead of the street address, which was not listed by the coroner in most cases. It should be noted that the city of Fort Wayne changed some street names and renumbered some streets in 1902. Due to space limitations, several locations are indicated by abbreviations as follows:

N. Y. C. & St. L.: New York, Chicago and Saint Louis Railroad (also known as Nickel Plate Railroad)
P. F. W. & C.: Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad (also known as the Pennsylvania Railroad)
N. Y. C.: New York Central Railroad
F. W. R. & C.: Fort Wayne, Richmond and Cincinnati Railroad
W. St. L. & P.: Wabash, Saint Louis and Pacific Railroad
L. E. & W.: Lake Erie and Western Railroad
L. S. & M. S.: Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad
G. R. & I.: Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad
F. W. & N. I.: Fort Wayne and Northern Indiana Railway
F. W. M. & C.: Fort Wayne, Muncie and Cincinnati Railroad
F. W. & W. V.: Fort Wayne and Wabash Valley Railway
F. W. & W. N. : Fort Wayne and North Western Railway
I. S. F. M. Y.: Indiana School for Feeble Minded Youth

Cause of death: Cause of death in most cases is as shown in the report. However, many coroners listed only the method of death and not the actual physical injuries. In those cases, if the testimony or news report listed physical cause of death, that is entered as cause of death and the method is listed as contributory cause of death. For example, the coroner might list cause of death as struck by train, but the physical injuries are mentioned in testimony as fractured skull and crushed chest. In this situation, fractured skull and crushed chest are listed as cause of death in the database and struck by train as contributory cause of death.

Contributory cause of death: These are factors contributing to, but not the actual cause of, the person's death, e.g., a fall from a wagon contributed to the death, which was caused by a fractured skull. Rulings such as suicide, homicide, and justifiable homicide are listed as contributory cause of death. Example, cause of death is carbolic acid poisoning, but the contributory cause is suicide.

Notes: The perpetrator of the event or the person at fault in an accident is generally listed first in the notes field. Other persons giving testimony, including relatives, doctors, consultants (forensic), witnesses and anyone listed in inquest testimony are included in the notes field. The city of residence for anyone included in the notes field who lived outside of Allen County, Indiana, is provided if possible. Any other items of importance in the testimony, e.g., the person was a Christian Scientist, are also listed here. The names of the coroners, their deputies, court officials (such as sheriffs, clerks) and undertakers are not listed in the notes field if they were not called as witnesses.

Alan and Maureen Gaff
January 2014