Newspaper records
Bay County Newspapers for Genealogy: The Pinconning Press and Journal Index
Bay County's newspapers ran birth, wedding, and death notices for well over a century — and the Pinconning Press and Pinconning Journal Birth, Marriage, and Death index is still the fastest way into the county's north end.
Why Newspapers Matter for Bay County Research
I’ve found more useful genealogical detail in a two-paragraph obituary than in a whole stack of certified vital records, so this is usually one of the first places I look once I have a rough date.
A newspaper notice can carry detail that a vital record never bothered to record — a maiden name in a wedding writeup, a list of surviving children in an obituary, or a departure date for a family “moving west” that finally explains why the paper trail goes quiet. Bay City alone supported a genuinely crowded newspaper market from the 1870s into the 20th century: the Bay City Tribune ran from the early 1880s to 1915, joined at various points by the Bay City Democrat, the Bay City Journal, the Bay City Observer, and a long-running Times lineage that stretched from an 1889-era Bay City Times through the Times-Press, Times-Tribune, and eventually the modern Bay City Times, still publishing today.
Two papers deserve special mention because they didn’t publish in English. Le Courrier served Bay City’s French-Canadian community starting in the 1880s, and Sztandar Polski (“The Polish Weekly Standard”) ran from 1917 to 1925 for the city’s large Polish population — exactly the community that built St. Stanislaus Kostka parish in 1874. If a family’s records are thin in the English-language papers, one of these two is worth checking, assuming the surname and settlement date line up.
Pinconning, in the county’s north end, ran on its own separate newspaper history. The Pinconning Times started around 1883, followed by the Pinconning Press around 1892, and eventually the Pinconning Journal and Bay County News beginning in 1925. That lineage, under various names, continues into the present-day Pinconning Journal.
The Pinconning Press and Journal Birth, Marriage, and Death Index
This is the resource the legacy page pointed to, and it still exists — just not hosted here. Pinconning Gen Group, a local volunteer organization, maintains an ongoing index of birth, marriage, and death notices published in the Pinconning Press and Pinconning Journal starting in January 1906. It was originally compiled by Kathy Francis in partnership with the Pinconning Library and has been kept current since. The index covers three types of entries:
| Notice type | What it typically includes |
|---|---|
| Birth | Parents’ names, date, sometimes attending physician |
| Marriage | Both parties’ names, date, sometimes officiant or witnesses |
| Death/obituary | Name, date, survivors, sometimes cause and burial location |
The index itself is a finding aid, not a full-text archive — once you locate a name, Pinconning Gen Group can help you get a copy of the actual clipping from microfilm held at the Pinconning branch of the Bay County Library System or the Alice and Jack Wirt Library in Bay City.
Where the Older Papers Are Held
Most 19th- and early 20th-century Bay County newspapers were never digitized. The Library of Michigan in Lansing holds the deepest microfilm collection for the county, including runs of Le Courrier (1884), Sztandar Polski (1917-1925), the Bay City Tribune and its weekly edition (1882-1915), the Bay City Times-Press (1891-1903), the Bay City Times Tribune (1916-1927), and the Pinconning Press/Journal (1905-2010). The Alice and Jack Wirt Library in Bay City and its Pinconning branch hold copies relevant to the local area, and the Bay County Historical Society Museum and Bay County Library System local history room are worth checking for indexes or clippings files a researcher may have compiled independently.
One genuine bright spot: the Clarke Historical Library at Central Michigan University has digitized the Pinconning Journal and Bay County News for 1925 through 1948 — over a thousand issues, full-text searchable, free to browse online through its Digital Michigan Newspapers Portal. It’s the one meaningful stretch of Bay County’s newspaper history you can search from home rather than on a library microfilm reader.
The Library of Congress’s Chronicling America project tracks the bibliographic history of Bay County’s newspapers (title changes, publication dates, predecessor/successor relationships) through its U.S. Newspaper Directory, even for titles whose actual pages haven’t been digitized. It’s a useful way to confirm exactly which paper covered a given town in a given year before you request microfilm.
How to Search Newspaper Records Efficiently
- Pin down an approximate date first. A census record, vital record, or family memory narrows the search from “sometime in the 1920s” to a specific month, which matters when you’re scrolling microfilm by hand.
- Identify which paper served the town at that time, using the Library of Michigan’s newspaper holdings list or Chronicling America’s directory — titles and publishers changed more often than most people expect.
- Check whether that run is digitized. The Clarke Historical Library’s Pinconning Journal collection (1925-1948) is searchable by keyword; most other Bay County titles are not.
- If it’s on microfilm only, request it through the Library of Michigan or visit the Wirt Library in person, or contact Pinconning Gen Group directly if the notice falls within their 1906-forward index range.
- Cross-check anything you find against a vital record. A newspaper’s spelling of a name, especially an immigrant surname, was often the reporter’s best guess, not a legal document.
If You Don’t Find the Notice
Not every birth, marriage, or death made it into print, particularly for families on outlying farms or those who arrived shortly before a death occurred. Before assuming nothing was published, check the paper serving the nearest larger town instead of the family’s home township — Bay City’s papers covered county-wide news for decades before smaller communities had press of their own, and a Pinconning-area death from before 1883 likely ran in a Bay City paper, if it ran anywhere. It’s also worth widening the search window by a week or two on either side of the known date; some notices, especially deaths in winter when roads were harder to travel, ran later than you’d expect.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Pinconning Press and Pinconning Journal Birth, Marriage, and Death index? A volunteer-built index of birth, marriage, and death notices from Pinconning’s two historic weekly newspapers, starting January 1906, originally compiled by Kathy Francis with the Pinconning Library and maintained today by Pinconning Gen Group.
What Bay County newspapers should a genealogist know about? Bay City’s Tribune, Times lineage, Le Courrier (French), and Sztandar Polski (Polish) cover the city from the 1870s onward. Pinconning’s own papers (the Pinconning Times, Press, and Journal) run from 1883 forward.
Are Bay County newspapers digitized and searchable online? Partially. The Clarke Historical Library has digitized the Pinconning Journal and Bay County News (1925-1948). Most other Bay County titles exist only on microfilm at the Library of Michigan or local libraries.
Where can I read old Bay City newspapers on microfilm? The Library of Michigan in Lansing holds the broadest collection; the Alice and Jack Wirt Library in Bay City and its Pinconning branch hold material specific to the local area.
My ancestor’s death isn’t in the Pinconning index. What else can I try? Check whether the family lived closer to Bay City proper. Its papers covered county news before Pinconning had one in 1883. Also widen the date range, since notices sometimes ran a week or two after the event.