Ionia County, Michigan Genealogy

United States Michigan  Ionia County

Guide to Ionia 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 and death records from 1867, marriage records from 1837, divorce and court records from 1890.

Parent County
1831--Ionia County was created 2 March 1831 from Mackinac County. It was attached to Kent County prior to organization 3 April 1837. County seat: Ionia

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
Barry •  Clinton  •  Eaton  •  Gratiot  •  Kent  •  Montcalm

Cemeteries
Ionia County Cemeteries US GenWeb Highland Park Cemetery, Ionia BillionGraves

Local Histories
Portrait and biographical album of Ionia and Montcalm counties, Michigan.

Maps



 * Family Maps of (land patent maps) at HistoryGeo.com ($). Free surname search.
 * Maps of Michigan (1790-1897)

Civil War
Civil War service men from Ionia 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 Ionia County.


 * - 1st Regiment, Engineers and Mechanics, Michigan, Company E

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
 * 1867-1902 - Michigan Birth Registrations, 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.
 * 1868-1925 - Michigan Marriage Registrations, 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.
 * 1867-1897 - Michigan Death Registrations, 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

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

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers

Web Sites

 * Ionia 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.