Proving your ancestors is a vital part of the application process to become a Society of Indiana Pioneers member. You may already have an Indiana ancestor who’s been proven and is in our database! You can look them up by entering a surname and/or a given name in the filter fields in the table below.
If your ancestor isn’t already in the database, you can provide details to prove them. You may even make it possible for other prospective members to trace their heritage to your ancestor.
The Society ancestor database is also a source of genealogical information for current members.
NOTES FOR RESEARCHERS:
- Female ancestors: Many female ancestors were included on members’ application forms with their married names in the Surname field. This can create a challenge finding them in the database (assuming they’re already proven Indiana pioneers). Here are two tips that may help you find them:
- In some cases, maiden names were included in the Given Name(s) field (similar to a middle name), so try searching using that field if you don’t find your female ancestor with a Surname search.
- While it’s rare that an ancestor record includes anything in the Other Name(s) field, it’s possible that it was used for maiden names, so try a search on that field if searching by Surname or Given Name(s) hasn’t produced anything.
- When using Given Name(s) or Other Name(s) to search for maiden names, be sure to leave the Surname field empty.
- The search form returns records that match all the fields where something is entered. You may find more success by searching on a single field first, such as Surname, then adding something to a second field to narrow the search.
- The form has a “sample” surname pre-filled to demonstrate how the search page works; be sure to replace it with the actual name you’re searching for!
