Michigan Genealogy Records: Find Your Family History County by County

Michigan genealogy records live in a handful of places: the Archives of Michigan and its Michiganology portal in Lansing, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) Vital Records Office, the Library of Michigan, FamilySearch, and 83 individual county clerk’s offices. Statewide birth and death registration started in 1867 under Public Act 194; county-level marriage records go back to 1805 in some places. That’s the raw landscape. What’s missing from most of it is a way to move through Michigan’s records by county without re-learning a new search interface for each of the 83.

That’s what this site is for. I’ve spent a lot of hours on Michigan lines myself — Bay County on one branch, Mackinac on another — and the thing that slows research down isn’t a lack of records. It’s not knowing which county holds them, or which state office to call once you do.

What is MI Family History?

MI Family History is a free, searchable research site organized around Michigan’s 83 counties, built to help you find where a specific record lives before you spend an afternoon guessing. This domain has a long history in Michigan’s genealogy community; it relaunched in 2026 under this name after earlier material tied to the site was taken down at the request of its original authors. What you’ll find here now is original: explanations of what each record type covers, how to read it, and where the underlying records currently live — not reprints of anyone else’s transcriptions.

Where can I find Michigan genealogy records?

The short answer: it depends on the record type, but these seven sources cover almost everything a Michigan researcher needs.

Two of these are easy to mix up. Michiganology is the Archives of Michigan’s own digital collection — a state-run archive. FamilySearch is a separate nonprofit with its own indexing of Michigan records, often overlapping but rarely identical. FamilySearch’s county-level marriage index, for example, covers Alger, Alpena, Barry, Eaton, Gladwin, Kalkaska, Kent, Lenawee, Missaukee, Monroe, Montmorency, Oceana, Oscoda, Schoolcraft, and Shiawassee counties specifically — a different (and sometimes better) source than its statewide marriage index. When one comes up empty, check the other before assuming a record doesn’t exist.

A few more repositories are worth a genealogist’s time once the state-level sources run dry:

• Michigan Genealogical Council (MGC) — statewide nonprofit coordinating local genealogical societies, with a member directory by county.
• Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University — deep local-history collection, including Native American family history material and on-site Ancestry.com access.
• Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan — holds Michigan Historical Collections, including records from the state’s Depression-era records survey.
• Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library — the strongest single archive for Wayne County and Detroit-area research.

How do I get a certified copy of a Michigan vital record?

You can request one from either the state or the county where the event happened — both can issue a certified copy, since Michigan law has required counties to forward births, marriages, and deaths to the state since 1867. The county clerk holds the original filing; MDHHS’s Vital Records Office holds the statewide copy. Fees and processing time vary by office, so it’s worth checking both if one has a backlog.

Requests go in by mail, in person, or — for many record types — online through MDHHS. Every request needs a search fee. Birth records less than 100 years old also require photo ID and proof you’re the person named, a parent, or a documented heir; death, marriage, and divorce records carry no such restriction.

What types of Michigan records will you find here?

This site groups records by type as well as by county in a straightforward database, so you can search either direction depending on what you already know:

• Birth and marriage indexes, including the Dibean Michigan Marriage Index
• Death and cemetery records, county by county
• Civil War military rolls and interment records
• Federal and county census surname indexes
• Plat maps and land ownership records
• Great Lakes ship passenger records
• Michigan place names, townships, and county formation history
• A glossary of old disease names for reading historical causes of death
• General research tips for working Michigan’s record set

Some of these are thin for one county and deep for another — records survived unevenly across 83 courthouses, several fires, and a lot of shuffled paper. Between 1935 and 1942, the Works Progress Administration’s Historical Records Survey sent field workers into Michigan’s courthouses to inventory this material; only a handful of the planned county guides were finished, which is part of why coverage still looks patchy today. I’d rather tell you a county’s document set is sparse than pad it out with filler.

Michigan counties covered on this site

Coverage is built county by county rather than all at once, because doing it right means verifying each record set against a real source before it goes live. The counties with the deepest record sets right now are Bay, Isabella, Saginaw, Midland, Marquette, Mackinac, Tuscola, Clare, and Gladwin. More counties are being restored and added on an ongoing basis.

If your county isn’t listed yet, that doesn’t mean nothing survives — it usually means the county clerk, a local genealogical society, or the Library of Michigan’s local history collection is your fastest path in the meantime.

How to start researching your Michigan ancestors

This is roughly the order I wish someone had handed me when I started on my own Michigan line, instead of the trial and error it actually took.

1. Write down what you already know. Full name, approximate birth or death year, and any place — even “somewhere in the Upper Peninsula” narrows a state of 83 counties considerably.
2. Find the county. A federal census (1850–1950), an obituary, or a land patent will usually pin down a township, and from there, the county.
3. Check that county’s page here. Look for which record types are covered and what years they span before searching elsewhere.
4. Search the state-level sources. Michiganology for death certificates and state census; MDHHS for a certified copy.
5. Cross-check with FamilySearch. Its indexing sometimes catches records the state portals miss, and vice versa.
6. Go to the county clerk if the trail goes cold. Not every record was digitized; some are still only on paper or microfilm in the courthouse.

That order matters. Skipping straight to a certified-copy request before confirming the county wastes both time and a fee that isn’t refundable.

When did Michigan start keeping vital records?

Michigan’s first statewide vital records law was Public Act 194 of 1867, which required townships and cities to record births and deaths annually and forward the results to county clerks and then the Secretary of State. Marriage registration followed the same 1867 law at the state level, though county-level marriage records exist earlier — as far back as 1805 in a few places, before enforcement was consistent.

Divorce records came later, with statewide registration starting in 1897. None of these early laws were airtight — compliance in rural townships was patchy through the 1880s, which is one reason a missing birth record doesn’t necessarily mean the birth wasn’t recorded. It may just mean the local assessor never filed it.

Access rules differ by record type. Death records are public to any requester. Birth records are restricted for 100 years from the date of birth; after that they’re open, and before that they’re limited to the person named, close family, or an heir who can document the relationship. That split explains why you can often pull a great-great-grandparent’s death certificate in an afternoon while a parent’s birth record from 1970 requires proof of identity.

Frequently asked questions

Is MI Family History affiliated with the State of Michigan or a state archive? No. This is an independent site. For certified copies, use MDHHS, the Archives of Michigan, or the county clerk where the event occurred.

How far back do Michigan vital records go? Statewide birth and death registration began in 1867 under Public Act 194. Marriage records go back further at the county level, with a few registers from 1805.

Can I get a copy of an ancestor’s birth or death certificate? Death records are generally available to any requester. Birth records are restricted for 100 years from the date of birth.

Which Michigan counties does this site cover? Coverage is expanding county by county. The deepest record sets right now are Bay, Isabella, Saginaw, Midland, Marquette, Mackinac, Tuscola, Clare, and Gladwin.

I don’t know which county my ancestor lived in. Where do I start? Start with a federal census — 1850 through 1950, free on FamilySearch — to pin down a township, then work through that county’s records instead of searching statewide.