Monroe County, Michigan Genealogy

United States Michigan  Monroe County

Guide to Monroe 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 records from 1874, marriage records from 1818, death records from 1867, divorce and court records to 1945. Probate Court has probate records. Register of Deeds has land records.

Parent County
1817--Monroe County was created 14 July 1817 from Wayne County. County seat: Monroe

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
Lenawee •  Lucas County, Ohio  •  Washtenaw  •  Wayne

Cemeteries
Listing of Cemeteries by Township, City or Village

LDS Cemetery Records Vol. 1 page 16 - St. Mary's Cemetery, at Monroe

BillionGraves:


 * King Cemetery, Monroe (50%)
 * St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery, Maybee (90%)
 * St. Paul's Cemetery, Monroe (100%)
 * North Side Cemetery, Maybee (10%)
 * St. Patrick Cemetery #2, Carleton (50%)

The two Maybee cemeteries listed above lay across the road from each other, but have separate pages on BillionGraves showing locations of the headstones and a searchable database for each one.

Church
The Monroe County Library System has microfilm of county church records running back to the 18th century. They are housed at the Ellis Library &amp; Reference Center.

Local Histories

 * Monroe County Historical Museum
 * Monroe in History - A collection of Civil War letters and historical photographs
 * River Raisin Battlefield Visitors Center

Maps



 * Maps of Michigan (1790-1897)

Civil War
Civil War service men from Monroe 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 Monroe County.


 * - 17th Regiment, Michigan Infantry, Companies C and i

War of 1812 Veterans Buried in Monroe County

144 Fallen Military Heroes of Monroe County, Michigan

Newspapers
Bygones of Monroe: Glimpses of Life in Monroe County History Taken from Area Newspapers.

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.
 * Laurant Durocher Account Books, an active citizen in the founding of Frenchtown, later known as Monroe, Michigan.
 * Monroe County Obituary Index: This is 'work in progress' done by the Monroe County Historical Commission Archives.

Societies and Libraries

 * List of Michigan Archives, Libraries, Publications, Historical &amp; Genealogical Societies
 * Daughters of the American Revolution - Nancy DeGraff Toll Chapter
 * Genealogical Society of Monroe County
 * Monroe County Library System - Genealogy

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers

Web Sites

 * Monroe 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.