Allegan County, Michigan Genealogy

United States

Michigan

Allegan County

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

Allegan County, Michigan
Map
Location of Michigan in the U.S.
Facts
Founded	March 2, 1831
County Seat	Allegan
Courthouse
Address	Allegan County Courthouse 113 Chestnut St. Allegan, MI 49010-1362 Phone: 616-673-0450 Allegan County Website

County Information

Description

The County name was coined by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft to sound like a Native American word. The County has Allegan as its seat and the County was created 1831. The County is located in the southwest area of the state.

Allegan County, Michigan Record Dates

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1867	1835	1867	1836	1836	1839	1820
Statewide registration started in 1867 for births and deaths. General compliance by 1915.

County Courthouse

County Clerk has birth and death records from from 1867, marriage records from 1835, divorce, court and land records from 1836 and military discharge records.
Probate Court has probate records from 1836.

History

Parent County

1831--Allegan County was created 2 March 1831 from Barry County. It was organized 7 September 1835.  County seat: Allegan

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.

Records Loss

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

Populated Places

{{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:

Cities
Allegan Douglas Fennville	Holland Otsego Plainwell	Saugatuck South Haven Wayland
Villages
Hopkins Martin
Unincorporated communities
Argenta Bakersville Beachmont Bentheim Belknap Bradley Bravo Boyd Burnips Castle Park Cedar Bluff Cheshire Chicora Corning Diamond Springs Dorr Dunningville East Saugatuck East Martin Fillmore Ganges Glenn Glenn Haven Shores	Glenn Shores Graafschap Grange Corners Green Lake Hamilton Hawkhead Hilliards Hooper Hopkinsburg Kibbie Lacota Lee Leisure Macatawa Macks Landing Merson Miami Park Millgrove Moline Monteith Station Monterey Monterey Center Mount Pleasant	Mount Pleasant Neeley New Salem New Richmond Oakland Old Saugatuck Old Squaw Skin Landing Overisel Oxbow Pearl Pier Cove Plummerville Pullman Sandy Pines Shelbyville Sherman Park Shorecrest Shorewood South Haven Highlands South Monterey Spring Grove Sulphur Springs Watson
Townships
Allegan Township Casco Township Cheshire Township Clyde Township Dorr Township Fillmore Township Ganges Township Gun Plain Charter Township	Heath Township Hopkins Township Laketown Township Leighton Township Manlius Township Martin Township Monterey Township Otsego Township	Overisel Township Salem Township Township Trowbridge Township Valley Township Watson Township Wayland Township

Resources

Cemeteries

Tombstone Transcriptions Online	Tombstone Transcriptions in Print	List of Cemeteries in the county
Findagrave.com	Family History Library	Findagrave.com
USGenWeb	WorldCat	Billion Graves
MIGenWeb Archives
Tombstone Project
MIInterment
EPodunk
Billion Graves
See Michigan Cemeteries for more information.

Census

State Census

• 1894 - Michigan State Census, 1894 at FamilySearch — index

Church

Church records and the information they provide vary significantly depending on the denomination and the record keeper. They may contain information about members of the congregation, such as age, date of baptism, christening, or birth; marriage information and maiden names; and death date. For general information about Michigan denominations, view the Michigan Church Records wiki page.

• 1819-1991 - Michigan, Church Records, 1819-1991 at FamilySearch — index

City Directories

1898 South Haven Directory This directory includes Casco Township residents and lists the township section number, whether owned or rented, and number of acres.

Court

Allegan County Courts

Emigration and Immigration

• 1929 - 1966 Michigan, Crew Lists for various ports, 1929-1966 at FamilySearch — index and images

Land

Land and property records can place an ancestor in a particular location, provide economic information, and reveal family relationships. Land records include: deeds, abstracts and indexes, mortgages, leases, grants and land patents.

See Michigan Land and Property for additional information about early Michigan land grants. After land was transferred to private ownership, subsequent transactions were usually recorded at the county courthouse and where records are currently housed.

Local Histories

Local histories are available for Allegan County, Michigan Genealogy. County histories may include biographies, church, school and government history, and military information. For more information about local histories, see the wiki page section Michigan Local Histories.

Maps

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

• Family Maps of Allegan County, Michigan Genealogy (land patent maps) at HistoryGeo.com ($). Free surname search.
• Maps of Michigan (1790-1897)

Military

Civil War

Civil War service men from Allegan 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 Allegan County.

- 17th Regiment, Michigan Infantry, Company E

Online Records

• Michigan, Civil War Centennial Observance Commission, Committee on Civil War Grave Registration, Burial Records at FamilySearch — index

World War I

• 1917-1919 - Michigan, Census of World War I Veterans with Card Index, 1917-1919 at FamilySearch — index

Newspapers

Finding More Michigan Newspapers

Additional newspapers abstracts can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Allegan County, Michigan Genealogy newspapers in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
• The Saginaw News
• Do a Allegan County, Michigan Genealogy Place-name search for these and other records in the Family History Library Catalog (For instructions see FHL Catalog Place-name Search).

Obituaries

• Southwest Michigan Obituary Index from the earliest date to 2000.
• 1820-2006 - Michigan Obituaries, 1820-2006 at FamilySearch — index and images

Probate

In most counties in Michigan, probate records have been kept by the county judge. They include wills, fee books, claim registers, legacy records, inheritance records, probate packets, and dockets. The records are available at the county courthouse.

The FamilySearch Catalog lists films of probate records. To find the records for this county, use the Place Search for Michigan, Allegan and search for Probate records in the list.

Note: Not every county in Michigan will have Probate Records in the FamilySearch Catalog.

Online Probate Records

• 1784 – 1980 Michigan Wills and Probate Records 1784-1980 at Ancestry.com — index and images $
• 1797 – 1973 Michigan Probate Records 1797-1973 at FamilySearch — images

Vital Records

Vital Records consist of births, adoptions, marriages, divorces, and deaths recorded on registers, certificates, and documents. A copy or an extract of most original records can be purchased as shown below:

Birth Records and Death Records from the Michigan Department of Community Health (from 1867) or the County Clerk's office of the county where the event occurred.

Marriage Records (from 1867) and Divorce Records (from 1897) from the County Clerk.

See also How to order Michigan Vital Records

Birth

• 1867-1917 - Michigan, County Births, 1867-1917 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 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.

Marriage

• 1585-1945 - Michigan, United States Marriages at FindMyPast — index $
• 1820-1937 - Michigan, County Marriages Index, 1820-1937 at FamilySearch — index
• 1820-1940 - Michigan, County Marriages, 1820-1940 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 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.

Death

• 1850-1880 - Michigan Mortality Schedules, 1850-1880 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 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

• Allegan County Historical Society
  13 Walnut Street
  Allegan, MI 49010
  Telephone Number: 616-673-4853
• Saugatuck-Douglas Historical Society
  PO Box 619
  Douglas, MI 49406
  Website
• Then and Now Historical and Genealogical Society
  of E. Allegan County
  532 N. Main
  Wayland, MI 49348-104
• Wayland Area Tree Tracers
  129 W. Cedar Street
  Wayland, MI 49348
• Western Michigan Genealogical Society
  c/o Grand Rapids Public Library
  111 Library Street
  NE Grand Rapids, MI 49503-3268
  Website

Family History Centers

Family History Centers provide one-on-one assistance and free access to premium genealogical websites. In addition, many centers have free how-to genealogy classes.

• For current information about a center near you, go to the Family History Center Map

• Introduction to Family History Centers

Websites

• Michigan Genealogy Network Community on Google+
• Michigan Genealogy Network Group on Facebook
• The Allegan County MIGenWeb Project, an member of The MIGenWeb Project, an affiliate of The USGenWeb Project.
• FamilySearch Catalog
• Allegan County MI Genealogy (Michigan Genealogy)

To access available information, first log into FamilySearch.