Sheila Kell has been appointed the new county historian for Jennings County, the Indiana Historical County has announced.
Kell has been filling in as county historian since Tom Rice retired last year, but the announcement makes the position official.
“I think it is important to research and record local history,” Kell said. “Jennings County along with so many other rural Indiana counties has had its part in the history of the state and the country, like pieces of a puzzle. It amazes me frequently how interesting the lives and stories from here are if you just take the time to look at them. So that is my mission to help keep accurate records of the past for the future to use.”
Kell was born in Phoenix, Ariz., and raised in Indiana and California. Most of her working life was in the electronics manufacturing industry in supply chain management. As was common then, her maternal grandparents lived with the family during her formative years, and because both were born before 1900, they spoke often of their early lives in rural southern Indiana.
At age 34, Kell discovered she had been adopted. Of course, there were some questions about her birth families, all of whom were from Indiana. Some of these questions her adopted parents could not answer — and so began a quest that continues to this day.
Learning about her roots took her back to the founding of Indiana, and the more she researched, the more it interested her.
In 2005, Kell became the county coordinator for Jennings County and Jefferson County with INGenWeb, an online genealogy database project; she still serves in both positions. She became the local history and genealogy librarian at the Jennings County Public Library in late 2010.
Shortly after, Kell became a member of the board of directors of the Jennings County Historical Society and at historic Eleutherian College in Lancaster, Jefferson County. She set up a research center focusing on family history in her home in Vernon, across the street from the Jennings County Historical Society. She remained with the Jennings County Public Library for 10 years and retired in 2021. She still acts as a consultant with the library and with the Historical Society.
The Indiana Historical Society and the Indiana Historical Bureau thank all Indiana county historians for their service and dedication to local history. In 1981, through an effort to improve the historical communication network in the state, the Indiana Historical Society and the Indiana Historical Bureau established the Indiana County Historian Program.
County historians serve as volunteers appointed by the Indiana Historical Society and Indiana Historical Bureau to promote local history in their counties, connect individuals and groups with history resources, promote collaboration between local history organizations and maintain connections with the Indiana Historical Society and Indiana Historical Bureau.
For information about the Indiana county historians, visit indianahistory.org/across-indiana/hometown-resources/find-who-you-need-by-county.
