Bay County, Michigan Genealogy

United States

Michigan Genealogy

Bay County

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

Bay County, Michigan
Map
Location of Michigan in the U.S.
Facts
Founded	April 20, 1857
County Seat	Bay City
Courthouse
Address	Bay County Courthouse 515 Center Avenue, Ste. 101 Bay City, MI 48708-5122 Phone: (989) 895-4280 Fax: (989) 895-4284 Bay County Website

County Information

Description

The County was named for Saginaw Bay. The County has Bay City as its seat and the County was created February 17, 1857. The County is located in the east area of the state.

Bay County, Michigan Record Dates

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1868	1857	1867	1965	1835	1857	1820
Statewide registration started in 1867 for births and deaths. General compliance by 1915.

County Courthouse

County Clerk has birth records from 1868,
marriage records from 1857, death records from 1867,
divorce records from 1883 and court records from 1965.
Probate Court has probate records.
Register of Deeds has land records.

History

Parent County

1857--Bay County was created 20 April 1857 from Saginaw, Midland, and Arenac Counties.
County seat Bay City

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

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

Places/Localities

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
Auburn Bay City	Essexville Pinconning	Midland
Unincorporated communities
Almeda Beach Amelith Aplin Beach Arn Beaver Bentley Brissette Beach Brooks Crump Donahue Beach	Duel Fisherville Frankenlust Kawkawlin Killarney Beach Lagoon Beach Linwood Linwood Beach Loehne Meyers Beach	Mount Forest Munger Nine Mile North Williams Seidlers Three Churches Corner Tobico Beach University Center Willard Woodville
Townships
Banger Hampton	Monitor Portsmouth	Williams

Neighboring Counties

Arenac  • Gladwin  • Midland  • Saginaw  • Tuscola

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
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
• Bay County is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saginaw.

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 Bay 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

• Maps of Michigan (1790-1897)

Military

Civil War

Civil War service men from Bay 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 Bay County.

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 Bay County, Michigan Genealogy newspapers in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
• The Saginaw News
• Do a Bay 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

• 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, Bay 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

Births

• 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.

Marriages

• 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.

Deaths

• 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

Bay County Genealogical Society
P.O. Box 1366
500 Center Avenue
Bay City 48708
Telephone:989-893-9566
Website

Bay County Historical Society
321 Washington Ave
Bay City 48708
Website

Bay Mills - Brimley Historical Research Society
P.O. Box 274
Brimley 49715
Website

Saginaw River Marine Historical Society Dept.
W Box 2051
Bay City MI 48707-2051

• List of Michigan Archives, Libraries, Publications, Historical & Genealogical Societies

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

Websites

• Bay County, MI History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
• Michigan Genealogy Network Community on Google+
• Michigan Genealogy Network Group on Facebook
• FamilySearch Catalog
• The Bay County MIGenWeb Project, a member of The MIGenWeb Project, an affiliate of The USGenWeb Project.
• Bay County MI Genealogy (ldsgenealogy.com)