Berrien County, Michigan Genealogy

United States

Michigan

Berrien County

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

Berrien County, Michigan
Map
Location of Michigan in the U.S.
Facts
Founded	October 29, 1829
County Seat	St.Joseph
Courthouse
Address	Berrien County Courthouse 811 Port Street St. Joseph, MI 49085 Phone: 269-983-7111 Berrien County Website

County Information

Description

The County was named for John M. Berrien. The County has St.Joseph as its seat and the County was created October 29, 1829. The County is located in the southwest area of the state.

Berrien County, Michigan Record Dates

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1867	1831	1867	1835	1831	1832	1820
Statewide registration started in 1867 for births and deaths. General compliance by 1915.

County Courthouse

County Clerk has birth and death records from 1867, marriage records from 1831, naturalization records 1835-1985 and military records from 1918.
Probate Court has probate records from 1832.
Register of Deeds has land records from 1831.
Clerk Circuit Court has divorce and court records from 1835.

History

• Berrien County is in the far southwest corner of the lower peninsula of Michigan, and includes the towns of Berrien Springs, Benton Harbor, St. Joseph, and Stephensville.

Parent County

1829--Berrien County was created 29 October 1829 from unorganized territory. It was attached to Cass County prior to organization 1 September 1831.  County seat: St.Joseph

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
Benton Harbor Bridgman Buchanan	Coloma New Buffalo Niles	St. Joseph Watervliet
Villages
Baroda Berrien Springs Eau Claire	Galien Grand Beach Michiana	Shoreham Stevensville Three Oaks
Unincorporated communities
Berrien Center Bethany Beach Birchwood Dayton Glendora Harbert	Hazelhurst Hinchman Hollywood Lakeside Millburg Riverside	Sawyer Scottdale Shorewood Hills Tower Hill Shorelands Union Pier
Native American communities
Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians
Census-designated places
Benton Heights Fair Plain	Lake Michigan Beach New Troy	Paw Paw Lake Shorewood-Tower Hills-Harbert
Townships
Bainbridge Baroda Benton Charter Berrien Bertrand Buchanan Chikaming Coloma Charter	Galien Hagar Township Lake Charter Lincoln Charter New Buffalo Niles Charter Oronoko Charte	Pipestone Royalton Sodus St. Joseph Charter Three Oaks Watervliet Charter Weesaw

Neighboring Counties

Cass  • La Porte County, Indiana  • St. Joseph County, Indiana  • Van Buren

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
EPodunk
Billion Graves
See Michigan Cemeteries for more information.

Silverbrook Cemetery in Niles, Michigan has a Name Searchable Database.

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

Lutheran

• Records of the American Lutheran Church, Baroda, in Evangelical Lutheran Church in America database at Archives.com ($).

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

Military

Civil War

Civil War service men from Berrien 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 Berrien County.

- 12th Regiment, Michigan Infantry, Companies B, C, E, I, and K

- 17th Regiment, Michigan Infantry, Company B

Online Records

• Michigan, Civil War Centennial Observance Commission, Committee on Civil War Grave Registration, Burial Records at FamilySearch — index
• 1876-1945 - Michigan, Grand Army of the Republic Membership Records, 1876-1945 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 Berrien County, Michigan Genealogy newspapers in online catalogs like:

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

• 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.

Museums

• North Berrien Historical Museum
  300 Coloma Ave
  PO Box 207
  Coloma, MI 49038
  Telephone: 269-468-3330
  Email: info@northberrienhistory.org
  Website

Societies and Libraries

• Berrien County Genealogical Society
  PO Box 8808
  Benton Harbor, MI 49023-8808
  Website
• Berrien County Historical Association
  313 N. Cass Street
  PO Box 261
  Berrien Springs, MI 49103
  Telephone: 269-471-1202
  Fax: 269-471-7412
  E-mail:Info@berrienhistory.org
  Website
• Four Flags Area Genealogical Society
  PO Box 414
  Niles, MI 49120-0414
• Ft. Miami Heritage Society Of Michigan
  708 State St.
  St. Joseph, MI 49085
• Galien Woods Historical Society
  708 Galien-Buchanan Rd.
  Galien, MI 49113
• North Berrien Historical Society
  300 Coloma Ave
  PO Box 207
  Coloma, MI 49038
  Telephone: 269-468-3330
  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

• St Joseph Michigan Family History Center 3653 Niles Ave, St Joseph, MI 49085 United States

Websites

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