Branch County, Michigan Genealogy

United States Michigan  Branch County

Guide to Branch 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 1833, divorce records, court records from 1848 and naturalization records from 1847. Probate Court has probate record. Register of Deeds has land records. City &amp; Town Clerks have burial records.

History
Branch County is near the middle of the state near the border of Indiana and Illinois, and largely borders Indiana. The county includes the communities of Coldwater, Kinderhook, and numerous other small towns.

Parent County
1829--Branch County was created 29 October 1829 from Lenawee County and unorganized territory. It was attached to St. Joseph County prior to organization 1 March 1833. County seat: Coldwater

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.

Record Loss
There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

Neighboring Counties
Calhoun •  Hillsdale  •  Kalamazoo  •  LaGrange County, Indiana  •  St. Joseph  •  Steuben County, Indiana

Cemeteries
BillionGraves:


 * Oak Grove Cemetery, Coldwater
 * Sherwood Cemetery, Sherwood
 * Lawrence Cemetery, Kinderhook
 * West Prairie Cemetery, Union City

Emigration and Immigration

 * 1929 - 1966 at FamilySearch — index and images

Maps



 * Family Maps of (land patent maps) at HistoryGeo.com ($). Free surname search.
 * How to order Michigan Vital Records

Civil War
Civil War service men from Branch 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 Branch County.


 * - 17th Regiment, Michigan Infantry, Companies C and H

Probate
Online Probate Records


 * 1784 – 1980 Michigan Wills and Probate Records 1784-1980 at Ancestry.com — index and images $
 * 1797 – 1973 at FamilySearch — images

Vital Records

 * 1867-1902 - Michigan Birth Registrations, 1867-1902-- Free name indexes and images at FamilySearch. Records include such information as name of child, birthdate and place, if still-born, illegitimate or twin, gender, race and record number.
 * 1868-1925 - Michigan Marriage Registrations, 1868-1925 -- Free name indexes at FamilySearch. 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.
 * 1867-1897 - Michigan Death Registrations, 1867-1897 --  Free name indexes and images at FamilySearch.  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

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers

Web Sites

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