Clinton County, Michigan Genealogy

United States Michigan  Clinton County, Michigan 

Guide to Clinton County, Michigan ancestry, family history, and genealogy birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

County Courthouse
County Clerk has birth and death records from 1867, marriage records from 1839, divorce records from early 1800’s and court records.

History

 * Named for DeWitt Clinton, U.S. Senator and Governor of New York

Parent County
1831--Clinton County was created 2 March 1831 from unoganized territory. It was attached to Kent and Shiawassee Counties prior to organization 12 March 1869. County seat St. Johns

Boundary Changes
For animated maps illustrating Michigan county boundary changes, "Rotating Formation Michigan County Boundary Maps" (1790-1897) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

See also COUNTY EVOLUTION IN MICHIGAN, 1790-1897 by Richard W. Welch for the development of the counties in the state. This will help you to determine place of residence of your ancestors and under whose civil jurisdiction they resided. It is also useful for when you start to read the census records.

Record Loss
For a list of record loss in Michigan counties see: Michigan Counties with Burned Courthouses

Populated Places
Michigan Community Names By County

Post Offices

Historic Post Offices


 * Cities: 

DeWitt

Charter Township

Charter Township

St. Johns

City Hall


 * Villages: Eagle . Elsie . Fowler . Hubbardston . Maple Rapids . Ovid . Westphalia
 * Townships: Bath . Bengal . Bingham . Dallas . DeWitt . Duplain . Eagle . Essex . Greenbush . Lebanon . Olive . Ovid . Riley . Victor . Watertown . Westphalia
 * Communities: Bath . Eureka . Matherton . Shepardsville . Wacousta

Neighboring Counties
Eaton County •  Gratiot County  •  Ingham County  •  Ionia County  •  Montcalm] County  •  Saginaw County  •  Shiawasse County

Cemeteries
BillionGraves:


 * Duplain Cemetery, St. Johns
 * Gunnisonville Cemetery, Lansing Charter Township
 * Hurd Cemetery, DeWitt&amp;lt
 * Maple Grove Cemetery, Ovid
 * Mount Rest Cemetery, St. Johns
 * Reed Cemetery, Laingsburg
 * Riverside Cemetery, Elsie
 * South Ovid Cemetery, St. Johns
 * Wilsey Cemetery, DeWitt

Maps



 * Maps of Michigan (1790-1897)
 * Family Maps of (land patent maps) at HistoryGeo.com ($). Free surname search.

Civil War
Civil War service men from Clinton County served in various regiments. Men often joined a regiment or a company (within a regiment) that originated in their county. Listed below are the military units that were formed in or had many men from Clinton County.


 * - &lt;a href="1st Regiment, Michigan Cavalry"&gt;1st Regiment, Michigan Cavalry&lt;/a&gt;, Company D

Newspapers
Additional newspapers abstracts can sometimes be found using search phrases such as  newspapers in online catalogs like:


 * class= +county+Michigan+Newspapers&amp;qt=results_page"&gt;WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
 * Do a Place-name search for these and other records in the FamilySearch Catalog (For instructions see FamilySearch Catalog Place-name Search).

Probate
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Vital Records
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 * How to order Michigan Vital Records
 * Michigan Birth Registrations, 1867-1902 -- Free name indexes and images at &lt;a href="https://www.familysearch.org/#p=collectionDetails;t=searchable;c=1459684"&gt;FamilySearch&lt;/a&gt;. Records include such information as name of child, birthdate and place, if still-born, illegitimate or twin, gender, race and record number.
 * Michigan Marriage Registrations, 1868-1925 -- Free name indexes at &lt;a href="https://www.familysearch.org/#p=collectionDetails;t=searchable;c=1452395"&gt;FamilySearch&lt;/a&gt;. Records include such information as names of bride and groom, date of license, ages, race, residences, birthplaces, occupations and names of the fathers of the bride and groom.
 * Michigan Death Registrations, 1867-1897 -- Free name indexes and images at &lt;a href="https://www.familysearch.org/#p=collectionDetails;t=searchable;c=1452402"&gt;FamilySearch&lt;/a&gt;.  Records include such information as name of deceased, date and place of death, gender, color, marital status, age in years, months and days, disease or apparent cause of death, birthplace, names and occupations of parents, and the date the record was made.

Societies and Libraries

 * List of Michigan Archives, Libraries, Publications, Historical &amp; Genealogical Societies
 * DeWitt District Library
 * Genealogists of the Clinton County Historical Society

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers
 * Lansing Michigan Family History Center

Web Sites

 * Clinton County, MI History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
 * Michigan Genealogy Network Community on Google+
 * Michigan Genealogy Network Group on Facebook
 * The Clinton County MIGenWeb Project, an member of The MIGenWeb Project, an affiliate of The USGenWeb Project.
 * The Clinton County MIGenWeb Project, an member of The MIGenWeb Project, an affiliate of The USGenWeb Project.