Saginaw County, Michigan Genealogy

United States

Michigan

Saginaw County

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

Saginaw County, Michigan
Map
Location of Michigan in the U.S.
Facts
Founded	September 10, 1822
County Seat	Saginaw
Courthouse
Address	Saginaw County Courthouse 111 S Michigan Ave. Saginaw, MI 48602 Phone: (517) 790-5251 Saginaw County Website

County Information

Description

The County was named for Sace-nong or Sak-e-nong (English: Sauk land), as the Sauk (French: Sac) tribe is believed by some to have once lived there. A more likely possibility is that it comes from Ojibwe words meaning "place of the outlet" . The County has Saginaw as its seat and the County was created February 9, 1835. The County is located in the centre area of the state.

Saginaw County, Michigan Record Dates

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1867	1867	1868	1843	1836	1800	1820
Statewide registration started in 1867 for births and deaths. General compliance by 1915.

County Courthouse

County Clerk has birth and marriage records from 1867,
death records from 1868, divorce records from 1886
and court records from 1843.
Probate Court has probate records;
Equalization Department has land records.

History

Parent County

1822--Saginaw County was created 10 September 1822 from St. Clair County and unorganized territory. It was attached to Oakland County prior to organization 9 February 1855. County seat: Saginaw

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
Frankenmuth	Saginaw	Zilwaukee
Villages
Birch Run Chesaning	Merrill Oakley	St. Charles
Unincorporated communities
Alicia Blumfield Corners Brady Center Brant Chapin Clausedale Crow Island Dice Fenmore Fergus Fordney Fosters	Frankentrost Frost Galloway Garfield Gera Groveton Indiantown Iva Kochville Lakefield Lawndale Layton Corners	Luce Marion Springs Morseville Nelson Orr Paines Parshallburg Racy Roosevelt Shattuckville Swan Creek Taymouth
Census-designated places
Bridgeport Buena Vista Burt	Freeland Hemlock	Robin Glen-Indiantown Shields
Townships
Albee Birch Run Blumfield Brady Brant Bridgeport Buena Vista Carrollton Chapin	Chesaning Frankenmuth Fremont James Jonesfield Kochville Lakefield Maple Grove Marion	Richland Saginaw Spaulding St. Charles Swan Creek Taymouth Thomas Tittabawassee Zilwaukee

Neighboring Counties

Bay  • Clinton  • Genesee  • Gratiot  • Midland  • Shiawassee  • Tuscola County

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

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

Military

Civil War

• 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 Saginaw County, Michigan Genealogy newspapers in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
• The Saginaw News
• Do a Saginaw 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
• 1800s-Current - Public Library of Saginaw Obituary Index at Public Library of Saginaw — index

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, Saginaw 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

Castle Museum of Saginaw County Historical Society

500 Fede​ral Avenue

Saginaw, MI 48607

Phone: 989-752-2861

Website

Public Libraries of Saginaw

Local History & Genealogy

Hoyt Library

505 Janes Avenue

Saginaw, MI 48607

Phone: 989-755-9827

Website

Saginaw Genealogical Society
505 Janes Ave.
Saginaw 48607
Website

Saginaw Genealogical Society
PO Box 3767
Saginaw, MI 48605-3767
E-mail: saggensoc@gmail.com
Website

Chesaning Genealogical Society
c/o Chesaning Public Library
227 East Broad Street
Chesaning, Michigan 48616-1501

Website

Cass River Genealogical Society
c/o James E. Wickson Memorial Library
359 South Franklin Street
Frankenmuth, Michigan 48734-1529

St. Charles Historical Society and Museum
PO Box 45
249 Saginaw St.
St. Charles, Michigan 48655

• 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

• Introduction to Family History Centers

• Saginaw Michigan Family History Center 1415 N Center Rd, Saginaw, MI 48603

Websites

• Saginaw 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
• Saginaw County MI Genealogy (Michigan Genealogy)