For Sale

Marshall County Signatures

Contact Karin Rettinger with questions.

 “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”   When the Marshall County Clerk’s Office began microfilming old records a number of years ago to save space for more current records, the museum inherited many of the original papers.  We now have those old records catalogued, indexed and stored in archival boxes and we use them often for genealogical research.  Among the boxes of old records were thousands of small pieces of paper – old trustee receipts for payments made to local folks for things like teaching school, providing wood for heating the schools or brooms for sweeping the floors, working on county roads, payment for sheep destroyed by dogs, etc.  Most of the information on the receipts contributes little to preserving history.  The real value of these thousands of little slips of paper is that each one contains a hand-written signature of someone’s ancestor. 

The staff and volunteers at the museum have sorted through our “trash” and made a list of signatures available by township.  Rather than throw them away, we would like to offer the receipts, on a first come basis, to descendants who will consider their ancestor’s original signature a “treasure”.  Funds raised will be used for added shelving and files that will be needed when the research library moves into our new buildings.

            Copy the name and date exactly as listed, send it with $1.00 and a self-addressed, stamped envelope to:            

Marshall County Historical Museum    (attn. Judy)

                                    123 N. Michigan St.

                                    Plymouth, Indiana 46563 

Checks may be made payable to MCHS.  If your ancestor’s name is no longer available, your payment will be returned to you or you may list multiple choices if you prefer. Via e-mail you can check on the availability of a particular name before mailing your request.  Send an inquiry to [email protected]   Note that some names appear on the list many times; those are usually people in supervisory positions. 

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