Michigan Vital Records

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Introduction to Vital Records

Vital Records consist of births, adoptions, marriages, divorces, and deaths recorded on registers, certificates, and documents. United States Vital Records has additional research guidance on researching and using vital records. A copy or an extract of most original records can be purchased from the Michigan Vital Records State Department of Health or the County Clerk's office of the county where the event occurred.

Michigan Birth, Marriage and Death Records Online
The following is a list of online resources useful for locating Michigan Vital Records which consist of births, adoptions, marriages, divorces, and deaths. Check Michigan Vital Records Online for more information about the resources listed below. Most online resources for Michigan Vital Records are indexes. After locating a person in an index always consult the original record to confirm the information in the index.  


 * Michigan Links from fhlfavorites.info - Free
 * Michigan Databases listed on Rootsweb.com - Free
 * USGenWeb.org Michigan Site - Free
 * Search for Michigan Collections on FamilySearch Record Search under Canada, USA, and Mexico - Free
 * The Vital Records Search and Information Directory for Michigan - Free/$
 * Wee Monster Links for Michigan Birth &amp; Marriage and Death Records - Free/$
 * Linkpendium Links for Michigan Genealogy and History, including individual Counties - Free/$
 * Progenealogists Links for the United States. Press Ctrl + F on the keyboard to search for Michigan or MI - Free/$
 * Search the Michigan Birth, Marriage &amp; Death Records at Ancestry.com - $
 * Order Michigan Certificates online - $
 * FamilySearch - Pilot Searchable name indexes and images of Michigan Birth Registrations, 1867-1902. Records include such information as name of child, birthdate and place, if still-born, illegitimate or twin, gender, race and record number.
 * FamilySearch - Pilot Searchable name indexes of Michigan Marriage Registrations, 1868-1925. Records include such information as names of bride and groom, date of license, ages, race, residences, birthplaces, occupations and names of the bride and groom’s fathers.
 * FamilySearch - Pilot Searchable name indexes and images of Michigan Death Registrations, 1867-1897. 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.   May also be searched at the Michigan Community Department of Health.  Ancestry.com (pay site)  also has an Index for the period 1971-1996.
 * www.seekingmichigan.org 1897 to 1920 digitized and indexed death records. (Seek: death records,1897-1920)
 * Michigan Biographical Index is a full-name index merging many Michigan publications and manuscripts
 * Michigan Vital Records
 * The State of Michigan Vital Records Office
 * Vital Records Search and Information Directory for the United States

Birth Records
Early - 1867

1867-Present

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.

It is easy to determine the county where the event occurred, as according to Michigan law, no town or city crosses county lines. Towns or cities can cross township boundaries, however, the individual will be found to be living in either a town or a township, never both, although some may have the same name.

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

State Records of Births and Deaths

 * Death Certificates for free are available in for the years 1897 to 1920
 * GENDIS - Genealogical Death Indexing System - Michigan death records from 1867-1884.

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:

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

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:


 * Sourcebook of Michigan Census, County Histories, and Vital Records

Adoption Records
open / closed / state statutes

Marriage 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.

Divorce Records
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.

Death Records
Early - 1867

1867 - Present

Substitute Records
Michigan Church Records

Michigan Cemetery Records

Michigan Census

Michigan Newspapers

Michigan Military Records

Michigan Periodicals

Michigan History

Tips

 * Information listed on vital arecords is given by an informant. Learn the relationsip of the informant to the subjdect(s) of the record.  The closer the relationship of the informant to the subject(s) and whether or not the informant was present at the time of the event can help determine the accuracy of the information found on the record.
 * If you are unable to locate a vital records recorded by governments, search for church records of christening, marriage, death or burial. A family Bible may have been used to record births, marriages and deaths.
 * Records of African Americans may be recorded in separtate files with separate indexes.
 * Privacy laws may restrict your access to some vital records. Copies of some vital records recorded in the last 100 years may be unavailable to anyone except a direct relative.
 * Search for Vital Records in the Fmaily History Library Catalog by using a Place Search and then choosing Vital Records. Search for Michigan to locate records filed by the the State and then search the name of the county to locate records kept by the county

Archives, Libraries and Societies
Michigan Archives and Libraries

Michigan Societies

Family History Library
Birth, marriage, death, and coroner’s records and indexes for most Michigan counties are listed in the Locality Search of the Family History Library Catalog under:


 * MICHIGAN - VITAL RECORDS
 * MICHIGAN, [COUNTY] - VITAL RECORDS
 * MICHIGAN, [COUNTY], [TOWN] - VITAL RECORDS


 * Sourcebook of Michigan census, county histories, and vital records