Kent County, Michigan Genealogy

United States Michigan  Kent County

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


 * This article is about a county in the state of Michigan. For other uses, see Kent (disambiguation).

County Courthouse
County Clerk has birth and death records from 1867, marriage records from 1845 and burial records from 1959. Clerk Circuit Court has divorce and court records from 1867. Probate Court has probate records; Register of Deeds has land records.

Parent County
1831--Kent County was created 2 March 1831 from Mackinac County and unorganized territory. It was organized 4 April 1836. County seat: Grand Rapids

The earliest permanent settler in Kent County was Rix Robinson. Born in Berkshire, Massachsetts in 1789, he came to Michigan to avoid the draft during the War of 1812. Working initially at Detroit, in 1820, the American Fur Company chose Robinson to be their central fur trader in west Michigan when Madeline La Framboise retired to Mackinac Island. He took over her trading post located where the Grand River meets the Thornapple River in what is now known as Ada, Kent, Michigan. In 1821 Robinson married an Ottawa woman, Pee-miss-a-quot-oquay. They had one son, John R. Robinson born March 5, 1826. She and Rix separated, and she died of consumption in 1848. By 1827, Robinson was successfully managing twenty trading posts along the shores of Lake Michigan. Robinson was elected township supervisor when Kent County was established in 1831.

By the time Michigan joined the union in 1837, Robinson, who was a wealthy man, had closed all his trading posts and was appointed to the State Board of Commissioners of Internal Improvements. He was a Michigan State Senator from 1847 to 1849, representing Kent Couny. During that time he presented a bill to give women the right to vote. It was defeated during the drafting of the state constitution of 1850, but in a step forward in the women's rights movement, a bill allowing married women the right to control property they owned prior to marriage did pass. He was a delegate to the Michigan Constitutional Convention of 1850 and a presidential elector. He was a strong contender for governor but declined the nomination because his second wife, Se-be-quay, a native American, would not have been accepted as a governor's wife. Rix Robinson died of consumption January 12, 1875. He is buried in Ada, Michigan.

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

Neighboring Counties
Allegan •  Barry  •  Ionia  •  Montcalm  •  Muskegon  •  Newaygo  •  Ottawa

Cemeteries
BillionGraves


 * Alton Cemetery, Vergennes
 * Holy Trinity Cemetery, Comstock Park
 * White Swan Cemetery, Rockford

Church
LDS Ward and Branch Records


 * Grand Rapids

Maps



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

Civil War
Civil War service men from Kent 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 Kent County.


 * - 1st Regiment, Engineers and Mechanics, Michigan - Companies A, B, C, D, F, and Company unassigned
 * - 1st Regiment, New York Veteran Cavalry, Company K

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
 * Michigan Birth Registrations, 1867-1902 -- Free name indexes and images at FamilySearch Record Search. 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 FamilySearch Record Search. 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 FamilySearch Record Search.  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


 * Grand Rapids Michigan Family History Center 2780 Leonard NE, Grand Rapids, MI 48525 United States

Web Sites

 * Kent County, MI History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
 * Michigan Genealogy Network Community on Google+
 * Michigan Genealogy Network Group on Facebook
 * USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.
 * The Western Michigan* Genealogical Society, founded in 1954
 * Online Searchable Databases at the Western Michigan Genealogical Society.
 * Kent County School Census 1903-1925
 * Kent County School Census 1903-1925