Michigan Vital Records

County Records of Births and Deaths
County registration of births and deaths in Michigan began in 1867 and was generally complied with by 1915. You can obtain copies of a county record by writing to the county clerk. You can also obtain records of delayed registrations of births for many counties.

The Family History Library has microfilm copies of these records for most counties. The library's holdings often date to 1913 or later, with indexes to the 1970s. The library has the unindexed birth and death records from Wayne County for 1867 to 1917. They do not include records from the city of Detroit.

Detroit records for births since 1893 and deaths since 1897 may be obtained from:

Detroit Health Department 1151 Taylor Street Detroit, MI 48202 Telephone: 313-876-4133 Internet: http://www.dethealth.org/index.php?id=128

State Records of Births and Deaths
To order Michigan vital records, see the Web site of the Michigan Dept. of Community Health.

The state of Michigan has copies of the counties' vital statistics records. You can write to:

Office of the State Registrar &amp; Center for Health Michigan Department of Public Health 3423 North Logan Street P.O. Box 30035 Lansing, MI 48909 Telephone: 517-335-8000; 517-335-8666; 517-335-8655 Internet: http://www.michigan.gov/mdch

The current fees for obtaining copies of the state's records are listed in:

Where to Write for Vital Records: Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Divorces. Hyattsville, Maryland: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, March 1993.

Copies of this booklet are at the Family History Library and the Family History Centers. You can also write to the Michigan Department of Public Health (address above) for current information.

Statewide indexes to births from 1867 to 1915 and deaths from 1867 to 1914 are at the Library of Michigan. County-wide indexes are listed in:

Callard, Carole, ed. Sourcebook of Michigan Census, County Histories, and Vital Records. Lansing, Michigan: Library of Michigan, 1986. (Family History Library book 977.4 A3sm; fiche 6101261.)

Marriage and Divorce Records
An 1805 law required registration of marriages with the clerk of the local district court. Most counties kept marriage records from the date the county was created. You can obtain copies from the county clerk's office.

An 1867 law required the counties to send copies of the records to the Office of the State Registrar (see address above). Licenses were not required until 1887. The Family History Library has marriage records for most counties, from county creation to 1920 or later, and some indexes to the 1950s or later.

The earliest records of divorce were recorded in the supreme court. Later divorce papers are usually kept by the clerk of the circuit, chancery, or county court. The Family History Library has few divorce records for Michigan. Many divorce and other vital records have been abstracted and published in genealogical periodicals.