Berrien County, Michigan Genealogy

United States Michigan  Berrien County

Guide to Berrien 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 1831, naturalization records 1835-1985 and military records from 1918. Probate Court has probate records from 1832. Register of Deeds has land records from 1831. Clerk Circuit Court has divorce and court records from 1835.

History

 * Berrien County is in the far southwest corner of the lower peninsula of Michigan, and includes the towns of Berrien Springs, Benton Harbor, St. Joseph, and Stephensville.

Parent County
1829--Berrien County was created 29 October 1829 from unorganized territory. It was attached to Cass County prior to organization 1 September 1831. County seat: St.Joseph

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
Cass •  La Porte County, Indiana  •  St. Joseph County, Indiana  •  Van Buren

Cemeteries
Silverbrook Cemetery in Niles, Michigan has a Name Searchable Database.

Lutheran

 * Records of the American Lutheran Church, Baroda, in Evangelical Lutheran Church in America database at Archives.com ($).

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 Berrien 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 Berrien County.


 * - 12th Regiment, Michigan Infantry, Companies B, C, E, I, and K
 * - 17th Regiment, Michigan Infantry, Company B

Obituaries
Southwest Michigan Obituary Index from the earliest date to 2000.

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


 * St Joseph Michigan Family History Center 3653 Niles Ave, St Joseph, MI 49085 United States

Web Sites

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