Clinton County, Michigan Genealogy

United States Michigan  Clinton County, Michigan 

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

County Information
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County Courthouse
County Clerk has birth and death records from 1867, marriage records from 1839, divorce records from early 1800’s and court records.

History

 * Named for DeWitt Clinton, U.S. Senator and Governor of New York

Parent County
1831--Clinton County was created 2 March 1831 from unoganized territory. It was attached to Kent and Shiawassee Counties prior to organization 12 March 1869. County seat St. Johns

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.

See also COUNTY EVOLUTION IN MICHIGAN, 1790-1897 by Richard W. Welch for the development of the counties in the state. This will help you to determine place of residence of your ancestors and under whose civil jurisdiction they resided. It is also useful for when you start to read the census records.

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

Populated Places
Michigan Community Names By County

Post Offices

Historic Post Offices


 * Cities: 

DeWitt

Charter Township

Charter Township

St. Johns

City Hall


 * Villages: Eagle . Elsie . Fowler . Hubbardston . Maple Rapids . Ovid . Westphalia
 * Townships: Bath . Bengal . Bingham . Dallas . DeWitt . Duplain . Eagle . Essex . Greenbush . Lebanon . Olive . Ovid . Riley . Victor . Watertown . Westphalia
 * Communities: Bath . Eureka . Matherton . Shepardsville . Wacousta

Neighboring Counties
Eaton County •  Gratiot County  •  Ingham County  •  Ionia County  •  Montcalm] County  •  Saginaw County  •  Shiawasse County

Cemeteries
BillionGraves:


 * Duplain Cemetery, St. Johns
 * Gunnisonville Cemetery, Lansing Charter Township
 * Hurd Cemetery, DeWitt&amp;lt
 * Maple Grove Cemetery, Ovid
 * Mount Rest Cemetery, St. Johns
 * Reed Cemetery, Laingsburg
 * Riverside Cemetery, Elsie
 * South Ovid Cemetery, St. Johns
 * Wilsey Cemetery, DeWitt

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 Clinton 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 Clinton County.


 * - &lt;a href="1st Regiment, Michigan Cavalry"&gt;1st Regiment, Michigan Cavalry&lt;/a&gt;, Company D

Newspapers
Additional newspapers abstracts can sometimes be found using search phrases such as  newspapers in online catalogs like:


 * class= +county+Michigan+Newspapers&amp;qt=results_page"&gt;WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
 * Do a Place-name search for these and other records in the FamilySearch Catalog (For instructions see FamilySearch Catalog Place-name Search).

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 &lt;a href="https://www.familysearch.org/#p=collectionDetails;t=searchable;c=1459684"&gt;FamilySearch&lt;/a&gt;. 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 &lt;a href="https://www.familysearch.org/#p=collectionDetails;t=searchable;c=1452395"&gt;FamilySearch&lt;/a&gt;. 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 &lt;a href="https://www.familysearch.org/#p=collectionDetails;t=searchable;c=1452402"&gt;FamilySearch&lt;/a&gt;.  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
 * DeWitt District Library
 * Genealogists of the Clinton County Historical Society

State wide or ethnic groups

 * AFRICAN-AMERICAN

Fred Hart Williams Genealogical Society

c/o Burton Historical Collection, DPL 5201 Woodward Avenue Detroit MI 48202-4007 Publication is Fred Hart Williams Genealogical Society News published twice a year Located in Wayne County MGC Member of Michigan Genealogical Council

http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/p/h/i/Bennie-L-Phifer-iii/ Lansing Area African American Genealogical Society Post Office Box 22203 Lansing MI 48909-2203 http://www.laaags.org/ Publication is Newsletter published quarterly Member of Michigan Genealogical Council


 * CORNISH

Keweenaw Houghton Cornish Society of the Copper Country http://keweenawkernewek.org Cornish Connection Of Lower Michigan 8494 Wesley Drive Flushing 48433


 * DUTCH

http://jointarchives.org/


 * FINNISH

Finnish American Heritage Center

http://www.finlandia.edu/FAHC.html


 * FLEMISH

Genealogical Society of Flemish Americans

https://www.facebook.com/FlemishLibrary?fref=ts


 * FRENCH-CANADIAN (includes Acadian, Cajun and Metis)

French-Canadian Heritage Society of Michigan

Post Office Box 1900 Royal Oak MI 48068-1900 Publication is Michigan's Habitat Heritage published quarterly Located in Oakland County

MGC Member of Michigan Genealogical Council

http://fchsm.org/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/109717099063919/


 * IRISH

Irish Genealogical Society of Michigan

c/o Gaelic League/Irish American Club 2068 Michigan Avenue Detroit MI 48216-1303 Publication is Irish Tree published nine times a year Located in Wayne County MGC Member of Michigan Genealogical Council

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Irish-Genealogical-Society-of-Michigan/236855006444065?fref=ts

Wayne County Irish Society

31975 Cowan Westland 48185


 * ITALIAN

Americans Of Italian Origin Society

18336 Lister E. Detroit 48021


 * JEWISH

Jewish Genealogical Society of Michigan

PO Box 251693 West Bloomfield MI 48325-1693 Publication is Generations published quarterly Located in Oakland County MGC Member of Michigan Genealogical Council

http://jgsmi.org/

https://www.facebook.com/jgsmi


 * POLISH

Polish Genealogical Society of Michigan

c/o Burton Collection 5201 Woodward Avenue Detroit MI 48202-4007 Publication is The Polish Eaglet published three times a year Located in Wayne County MGC Member of Michigan Genealogical Council

http://www.pgsm.org/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/84920869072

Polish Heritage Society

P.O. Box 1844 Grand Rapids 49501


 * SCOTTISH

The St. Andrew's Society of Detroit

2360 Rochester Ct Troy Mi 48083 Phone:(248) 526-1849 Fax:(248) 528-1477 Contact: kilgour@detroitscots.com


 * ANISHNAWBE (Chippewa / Ojibwe, Ottawa / Odawa, Potawatomi Indians)

http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/other/Ethnic-Native/NISHNAWBE.html A starting point for doing Ottawa/Odawa Indian genealogy research - https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Ottawa_Indians Nokomis Learning Center

https://www.facebook.com/nokomislearningcenter?fref=ts

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers
 * Lansing Michigan Family History Center

Web Sites

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