Clare County, Michigan Genealogy

United States Michigan  Clare County

Guide to Clare 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, marriage, death, burial, divorce, court and land records.

Parent County
1840--Clare County was created 1 April 1840 from Mackinac County. It was formerly Kaykakee County, until the name changed to Clare County 8 March 1843. It was attached to Saginaw, Midland, Isabelle, and Mecosta Counties prior to organization 13 March 1871. County seat: Harrison

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

Populated Places

 * Cities: Clare . Harrison
 * Village: Farwell
 * Townships: Arthur . Franklin . Freeman . Frost . Garfield . Grant . Greenwood . Hamilton . Hatton . Hayes . Lincoln . Redding . Sheridan . Summerfield . Surrey . Winterfield
 * Communites: none

Neighboring Counties
Gladwin •  Isabella  •  Mecosta  •  Midland  •  Missaukee  •  Osceola  •  Roscommon

Church
Clare County is part of Roman Catholic Diocese of Saginaw

Maps



 * Maps of Michigan (1790-1897)

Civil War
Civil War service men from Clare 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 Clare County.



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

 * How to order Michigan 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

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