The Jay County Historical Society welcomes you! We are proud of our work collecting, preserving, and displaying the rich heritage of Jay County, Indiana, the only “Jay” County in the United States. Come see the 11,000 square foot Jay County Historical Museum. Admission is free, and the museum is handicapped accessible. The museum is staffed by dedicated volunteers who would be happy to share Jay County’s history with you. It offers visitors a unique glimpse of bygone times here in east central Indiana.

Children play at the fair near Floral Hall in 1892

 Sunday museum open houses occur frequently throughout the year. In the early fall, our Jay County Heritage Festival has history-related fun and entertainment for all ages on the grounds of the museum, and admission is free. End-of-year holiday time brings special indoor activities at the museum, as well. 

The Jay County Historical Society is supported mostly through membership dues and donations. Please consider joining the Society. Members receive the Jay County Journal, our monthly newsletter with articles about both current events and historical topics in addition to a mystery picture. We also sponsor informative and interesting monthly program meetings at the museum. An annual dinner meeting for members is held in November with a special program and election of the board of directors. 

Thanks to the Portland Foundation for our recent grant. 

Thank you to The Indiana Arts Commision and The National Endowment for the Arts for a grant to help fund our ninth annual Heritage Festival.

 For Queries  

Members of the Historical Society

       Jay County Historical Society members are provided 1 hour’s research time during the calendar year of their membership. This may include 2 short queries if both queries can be done within 1 hour’s time. Should additional time be needed for these queries, there will be a fee of $10 per hour, or portion thereof, required to answer the query. For example, the charge for 1 hour and 15 minutes would be an extra $2.50 to members. Our standard copy and mailing fees will apply.

      Copy fee: $ .25 per side

      Scanning fee: $1.00 per copy

      Shipping: Actual shipping using first class  rates will be charged. All fees need to be paid before materials will be shipped.

 Non-member Query Request

        There is a $10 per hour research charge for non-members of our society. The Historical Society must be in receipt of your query and the $10 before any research is started. All other charges are the same as for members.

All research will be limited to materials within the Genealogy Library at the Historical Museum.

Please be patient when requesting a query. 

 We have a very limited number of volunteer researchers.

     Please direct dues payments and questions about membership to the museum office at: 903 East Main Street,  Portland, IN,  47371.  Phone: 260-726-7168,  fax: 260-726-7178, or email us at:  research@jaycountyhistory.org.

Please click on the following link for a query form and more information regarding our research materials and guidelines.
Genealogy Brochure

If you would like to give genealogy a try, here is a link to a printable pedigree chart.

pedigree_chart