Kent County, Michigan Genealogy

United States

Michigan

Kent County

This article is about a county in the state of Michigan. For other uses, see Kent (disambiguation).

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

Kent County, Michigan
Map
Location of Michigan in the U.S.
Facts
Founded	March 2, 1831
County Seat	Grand Rapids
Courthouse
Address	Kent County Courthouse 300 Monroe Ave. NW. Grand Rapids, MI 49503 Phone: (616) 632-7590 Kent County Website

County Information

Description

The County was named for James Kent. The County has Grand Rapids as its seat and the County was created March 2, 1831. The County is located in the southwest area of the state.

Kent County, Michigan Record Dates

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1867	1845	1867	1867	1860	1898	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 1845 and burial records from 1959.
Clerk Circuit Court has divorce and court records from 1867.
Probate Court has probate records; Register of Deeds has land records.

History

Parent County

1831--Kent County was created 2 March 1831 from Mackinac County and unorganized territory. It was organized  4 April 1836. County seat: Grand Rapids

The earliest permanent settler in Kent County was Rix Robinson. Born in Berkshire, Massachsetts in 1789, he came to Michigan to avoid the draft during the War of 1812. Working initially at Detroit, in 1820, the American Fur Company chose Robinson to be their central fur trader in west Michigan when Madeline La Framboise retired to Mackinac Island. He took over her trading post located where the Grand River meets the Thornapple River in what is now known as Ada, Kent, Michigan. In 1821 Robinson married an Ottawa woman, Pee-miss-a-quot-oquay. They had one son, John R. Robinson born March 5, 1826. She and Rix separated, and she died of consumption in 1848. By 1827, Robinson was successfully managing twenty trading posts along the shores of Lake Michigan. Robinson was elected township supervisor when Kent County was established in 1831.

By the time Michigan joined the union in 1837, Robinson, who was a wealthy man, had closed all his trading posts and was appointed to the State Board of Commissioners of Internal Improvements. He was a Michigan State Senator from 1847 to 1849, representing Kent Couny. During that time he presented a bill to give women the right to vote. It was defeated during the drafting of the state constitution of 1850, but in a step forward in the women's rights movement, a bill allowing married women the right to control property they owned prior to marriage did pass. He was a delegate to the Michigan Constitutional Convention of 1850 and a presidential elector. He was a strong contender for governor but declined the nomination because his second wife, Se-be-quay, a native American, would not have been accepted as a governor's wife. Rix Robinson died of consumption January 12, 1875. He is buried in Ada, Michigan.

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
Cedar Springs East Grand Rapids Grand Rapids	Grandville Kentwood Lowell	Rockford Walker Wyoming
Villages
Caledonia Casnovia	Kent City Sand Lake	Sparta
Unincorporated communities
Ada Alaska Alto	Belmont Cannonsburg Cascade	Dutton
Census-designated places
Byron Center Comstock Park	Cutlerville Forest Hills	Northview
Townships
Ada Algoma Alpine Bowne Byron Caledonia Cannon	Cascade Courtland Gaines Grand Rapids Grattan Lowell Nelson	Oakfield Plainfield Solon Sparta Spencer Tyrone Vergennes

Neighboring Counties

Allegan  • Barry  • Ionia  • Montcalm  • Muskegon  • Newaygo  • Ottawa

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

Ward and Branch Records of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

• Grand Rapids

Directories

Kent County, Michigan Online Historical Directories - identifies historical city, county, business and other directories available online on both free and pay-to-access websites.

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 Kent 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 Kent 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 Kent 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 Kent County.

- 1st Regiment, Engineers and Mechanics, Michigan - Companies A, B, C, D, F, and Company unassigned

- 1st Regiment, New York Veteran Cavalry, Company K

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 Kent County, Michigan Genealogy newspapers in online catalogs like:

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

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

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

Societies

Kent City Area Historical Society
16652 Fruit Ridge
Kent City 49330

Algoma Township Historical Society
11731 Pine Island Dr
Sparta 49345
Telephone Number:616-866-1583
Main Fax: 616-866-3832
Clerk's Office Fax: 616-866-4968
Website

Bowne Township Historical Society
11735 92nd St.
Se Alto 49302
Website

Byron Center Historical Society
2506 Prescott
PO Box 20
Byron Center MI 49315

Caledonia Township Historical Society
8573 84th St.
Se Alto 49341

Cascade Historical Society
2800 Orange Street
SE Grand Rapids MI 49506

Libraries

Grand Rapids Public Library
Main Library
111 Library St NE
Grand Rapids MI
website

• Digital Collections
  • Women's Defense Cards
  • Grand Rapids Herald

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

• Grand Rapids Michigan Family History Center 2780 Leonard NE, Grand Rapids , MI 48525 United States

Websites

• Kent County, MI History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
• Michigan Genealogy Network Community on Google+
• Michigan Genealogy Network Group on Facebook
• USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county.
• FamilySearch Catalog
  
• The Western Michigan* Genealogical Society, founded in 1954
• Online Searchable Databases at the Western Michigan Genealogical Society.
  
• Kent County School Census 1903-1925  
• Kent County MI Genealogy (Michigan Genealogy)