IMPORTANT UPDATE (8/11/2024): The Genealogical Society of Marion County, https://genealogyindy.org/ has microfilm copies of some Crown Hill lot books and Crown Hill day books. Please contact them for visitors' hours and how to access these records.
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IMPORTANT UPDATE (11/3/2017): The Genealogical Society of Marion County is no longer
located at Crown Hill Cemetery; they have a new location at Memorial Park
Cemetery, https://genealogyindy.org/ The burial permits, lot books, and day books that I accessed remain at Crown Hill. Please contact the Crown Hill
Cemetery Office, Indianapolis, Indiana.
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The Genealogical Society of Marion County has a research library in the Waiting Station building at Crown Hill Cemetery. I visited the cemetery to photograph tombstones a few years ago, and I knew of other family members who were buried without markers in a plot there. The online burial locator is useful: http://www.crownhill.org/locate/.
On Saturday, September 8th, I had the perfect opportunity when the GSMC hosted a program about researching the records of fraternal organizations and societies. After the program, I was able to get in some research in the genealogy library. The best sources that I found were the drawers of burial permits, plot books, and day books. I had never seen a burial permit before nor did I realize that the older permits are almost as good as a death certificate for the information that they provide.
They did not have burial permits going back as far as I needed for the parents of Theodore, but the library has the old day books on microfilm. I was able to take a picture of the microfilm screen.
The last record that I found very useful was in the Plot Book for Section 16.
Christine B[uchter] Lieberherr was the daughter of George and Barbara Buchter, and she is my 2x great-grandmother. Theodore Buchter was her brother. Christine's daughter, Katherine Lieberherr Davie is also buried in Lot 67, but this Plot Book doesn't include her listing, as she died in 1936. Her sister Kate R. Backus is the last listing on this page, buried in grave number 8 in 1924. I suspect I will have to contact the main office of Crown Hill for further research because the library's Plot books and Day books only go into the earliest 1900's. The burial permits go at least into the 1960's and possibly beyond, because I found two other relatives' permits from 1960.
The GSMC members who were working the library were extremely helpful to me. I was pleased with the information that I found, and I know that I will be visiting again.
