Ottawa County, Michigan Genealogy

United States Michigan  Ottawa County

Guide to Ottawa 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 and court records from 1847 and divorce records from 1863.

Parent County
1831--Ottawa County was created 2 March 1831 from Mackinac County and unorganized territory. It was attached to Kent County prior to organization 29 December 1837. County seat: Grand Haven

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

Cities
Coopersville | Ferrysburg | Grand Haven | Holland | Hudsonville | Zeeland

Villages
Spring Lake

Townships
Allendale Charter | Blendon | Chester | Crockery | Georgetown Charter |Grand Haven Charter | Holland Charter | Jamestown Charter | Olive | Park | Polkton | Port Sheldon | Robinson | Spring Lake | Tallmadge Charter | Wright | Zeeland Charter

Unincorporated
Allendale | Beechwood | Drenthe | Eastmanville | Jenison | Lamont | Marne

Neighboring Counties
Allegan •  Kent  •  Muskegon

Cemeteries

 * Find A Grave
 * Index to Records of Ottawa County Cemeteries
 * Interment.net
 * The Tombstone Transcription Project

Censuses
1790, 1800, 1810, 1820, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1890, 1900, 1910, and 1920 US Federal Censuses for Ottawa, Michigan can be found at FamilySearch Record Search. Free searchable name indexes and images are available for most census years.

Church

 * Ottawa County Michigan Church Directory: A listing of some of the different churches in Ottawa.

Court

 * Ottawa County Courthouses (Found on left side of home page.)

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 Ottawa 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 Ottawa 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

Birth Records

 * 1867-1902 - Index to Birth Records in Ottawa County 1867-1902
 * 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.

Marriage Records

 * Index to Marriage Records in Ottawa County
 * 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.

Death Records

 * Index to Death Records in Ottawa County
 * 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

 * Ottawa 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.
 * Ottawa County, wikipedia
 * Family History 101. Brief history, facts and where to find records in Ottawa Co.
 * Michigan Family History Network
 * Michigan Family History Network