Author Speaks on Vera Cruz History Book

Thank you to author and historian, Charles Joray for returning to Bluffton and Wells County to speak about his recently released book “The Early History of Vera Cruz Indiana: 1838-1910.”

Originally named Newville as seen in this plat map from 1848. The town name however, had to change when plans were being made for their post office. That is when they discovered that there was already a Newville located in DeKalb County Indiana. Details are in the book on how the name Vera Cruz was selected.

This photo is of the Bixler Hotel that was located in Vera Cruz.

Anyone interested in Wells County history will want to check out the 305 page book that includes 177 photos of the area. Twenty-six chapters cover the churches and businesses, the histories of families who settled the area in the early 1800’s and even two unsolved murders

The town of Vera Cruz even had a brass band .

The book is well documented with foot-notes for accuracy and indexed for quick information finding. The authors reasoning for undertaking the project, which took two and half years, was because all of his parental ancestors lived in Vera Cruz.

Joray, who was Director at the Wells county Public Library from 1975 to 1982 before moving to being Director of the Kokomo Public Library, has researched and authored over 17 family histories and family cookbooks.

In 2018, he took ownership of the Vera Cruz Cemetery (St. John Cemetery) from the St. John Family Worship Center. (The cemetery site had been part of the 80-acre Emanuel Julie Grandlienard Jory farm before it was part of the church.) He and other volunteers continue to over see the cemetery.

The book is available for purchase for $45 from Joray via e-mail at: joray.org. He may also be reached at 765-210-0913.

Special thank you to Emily Marshall, Community Relations Manager for arranging and coordinating the event that was well attended at the library. Thank you to Barbara Barbieri and the Bluffton News-Banner for providing some of the information used in this post.