Antrim County, Michigan Genealogy

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

Description
The County was named for County Antrim in Northern Ireland. The County has Bellaire as its seat and the County was created 1840. The County is located in the north area of the state.

County Courthouse
County Clerk has birth, marriage, death, divorce and court records from 1867 and military discharge records. Probate Judge has project records from 1863. Register of Deeds has land records.

Parent County
1840--Antrim County was created 1 April 1840 from Mackinac County. It was formerly Messgisee County, until name was changed to Antrim County 8 March 1843. It was attached to Mackinac and Grand Traverse Counties prior to ogranization 11 March 1863. County seat: Bellaire

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
There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

Populated Places
For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit HomeTown Locator. The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:


 * City: none
 * Villages: Bellaire . Central Lake . Elk Rapids . Ellsworth . Mancelona
 * Townships: Banks . Central Lake . Chestonia . Custer . Echo . Elk Rapids . Forest Home . Helena . Jordan . Kearney . Mancelona . Milton . Star . Torch Lake . Warner
 * Communities: Alba . Alden . Antrim. Atwood . Clam River . Eastport . Kewadin . Torch Lake

Neighboring Counties
Charlevoix •  Crawford  •  Grand Traverse  •  Kalkaska  •  Otsego

Census
 State Census
 * 1894 - at FamilySearch — index

Church

 * 1819-1991 - at FamilySearch — index

Emigration and Immigration

 * 1929 - 1966 at FamilySearch — index and images

Maps

 * Maps of Michigan (1790-1897)

Civil War
Civil War service men from Antrim 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 Antrim County.

Online Records
 * at FamilySearch — index

World War I

 * 1917-1919 - at FamilySearch — index

Newspapers

 * Bellaire Area Review - full-text of close to 100 issues spanning 2006-2009 freely available in Google News Archive
 * Antrim Review- full-text of about 30 issues spanning 2006-2009 freely available in Google News Archive

Obituaries

 * 1820-2006 - at FamilySearch — index and images

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
See also How to order Michigan Vital Records

Birth

 * 1867-1917 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 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

 * 1585-1945 - Michigan, United States Marriages at FindMyPast — index $
 * 1820-1937 - at FamilySearch — index
 * 1820-1940 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 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

 * 1850-1880 - at FamilySearch — index and imags
 * 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
Elk Rapids Area Historical Society 301 Traverse Elk Rapids, MI 49629 Telephone:231-264-5692 Website

Grand Traverse Area Genealogical Society PO Box 2015 Traverse City, MI 49685-2015

Mancelona Area Genealogy Society PO Box 517 Mancelona 49659

Mancelona Historical Society PO Box 103 Mancelona, 49659 Telephone Number: 231-587-0503 or 231-331-6236 Website

Bellaire Area Historical Society PO Box 1016 202 North Bridge Street Bellaire, MI 49615 Telephone Number:231-533-8631 Website

Mancelona Area Genealogy Society 9826 South Front Street Mancelona, MI 49659 Telephone Number: 231-587-9687


 * List of Michigan Archives, Libraries, Publications, Historical &amp; Genealogical Societies

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to Family History Centers

Websites

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