St. Joseph County, Michigan Genealogy

St. Joseph County
	St. Joseph County, Michigan
	Map
	; Location in the state of Michigan
	; Location of Michigan in the U.S.
	Facts
Founded	October 29, 1829
County Seat	Centreville
	Courthouse
Address	St. Joseph County Courthouse; 125 W Main St.; Centreville, MI 49032-0189; Phone: 616-467-5602; St. Joseph County Website

United States

Michigan Genealogy

St. Joseph County

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

County Information[edit | edit source]

Description[edit | edit source]

The County was named for St. Joseph. The County is located in the east area of the state.^[1]

St. Joseph County, Michigan Record Dates[edit | edit source]

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records^[2]
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1867	1832	1867	1900	1830	1832	1820
Statewide registration started in 1867 for births and deaths. General compliance by 1915.

County Courthouse[edit | edit source]

County Clerk has birth and death records from 1867, marriage records from 1832, divorce and court records from 1900 and naturalization records.
Probate Court has probate records.
Register of Deeds has land records. ^[3]

History[edit | edit source]

Parent County[edit | edit source]

1829--St. Joseph County was created 29 October 1829 from unorganized territory. County seat: Centreville ^[4]

Boundary Changes[edit | edit source]

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[edit | edit source]

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

Places/Localities[edit | edit source]

Populated Places[edit | edit source]

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:^[5]

Cities
Sturgis	Three Rivers
Villages
Burr Oak Centreville	Colon Constantine	Mendon White_Pigeon
Unincorporated communities
Finley Leonidas	Mottville Nottawa	Parkville Wasepi
Townships
Burr Oak Colon Constantine Fabius Fawn River Florence	Flowerfield Leonidas Lockport Mendon Mottville	Nottawa Park Sherman Sturgis White Pigeon

Neighboring Counties[edit | edit source]

Branch • Calhoun • Cass • Elkhart County, Indiana • Kalamazoo • Lagrange County, Indiana • Van Buren

Resources[edit | edit source]

Biographies[edit | edit source]

St. Joseph County Biographies. MiGenWeb Project

Cemeteries[edit | edit source]

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
MIGravestones
EPodunk
Billion Graves
See Michigan Cemeteries for more information.

Mottville Township:

Mennonite Cemetery
Mottville Township Cemetery

Park Township:

Center Park Cemetery
Moorepark Road North Park or Mint Cemetery
Moorepark Cemetery
Parkville Cemetery
South Park Cemetery

Census[edit | edit source]

Federal Census

1830 Census - 1830 Census of Michigan: St. Joseph County. MiGenWeb Project
1845 Census - 1845 St. Joseph County Census/ MiGenWeb Project
1850 Census - 1850 Census St. Joseph County. MiGenWeb Project
1850 Census - 1850 Burr Oak Township Census. MiGenWeb Project

State Census

1894 - Michigan State Census, 1894 at FamilySearch — index
1894 - 1894 State Census Index, St. Joseph County. MiGenWeb Project

Church[edit | edit source]

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
St. Joseph County Churches. MiGenWeb Project

Court[edit | edit source]

Emigration and Immigration[edit | edit source]

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

Land[edit | edit source]

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[edit | edit source]

Local histories are available for St. Joseph 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.

The Portrait and biographical album of St. Joseph County, Michigan is a 606 page history of St. Joseph County that was published by Chapman brothers in 1889. The book was digitized February 11, 2008 and made available on Google Books.

Maps[edit | edit source]

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

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

Military[edit | edit source]

Veteran Index WWII to 2001. MiGenWeb Project Read explanation at top.

Civil War[edit | edit source]

Civil War service men from St. Joseph 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 St. Joseph County.

- 17th Regiment, Michigan Infantry, Company C

Online Records

World War I[edit | edit source]

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

Newspapers[edit | edit source]

St Joseph County Newspapers. MiGenWeb Project

Finding More Michigan Newspapers[edit source]

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

WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
The Saginaw News
Do a St. Joseph 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[edit | edit source]

1820-2006 - Michigan Obituaries, 1820-2006 at FamilySearch — index and images

Probate[edit | edit source]

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, St. Joseph 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

Taxation[edit | edit source]

Vital Records[edit | edit source]

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[edit | edit source]

1867-1917 - Michigan, County Births, 1867-1917 at FamilySearch — index and images
1867-1902 - Michigan Birth Registrations, 1867-1902 at FamilySearch — index and images

Marriage[edit | edit source]

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 at FamilySearch — index and images

Death[edit | edit source]

1850-1880 - Michigan Mortality Schedules, 1850-1880 at FamilySearch — index and images
1867-1897 - Michigan Death Registrations, 1867-1897 at FamilySearch — index and images
Michigan Death Record Search for periods 1867-2008, and 1993-current. A free index to deaths that occurred in St. Joseph county, Michigan is available at the County Clerk's death records web site.
St. Joseph County Death Indexes. MiGenWeb Project

Societies and Libraries[edit | edit source]

Colon Historical Society
Blackstone Ave.
Colon 49040
Website

Governor Barry Historical Society
340 Florence
Constantine 49042

Tri-state Genealogical Society
c/o Sturgis Public
130 N. Nottawa St.
Sturgis MI 49091
Telephone Number: 616-651-3597

St. Joseph County Genealogical Society
PO Box 486
White Pigeon, MI 49099-9734
Website

Committee will provide one hour of local research for $10.00. Please include a pedigree chart, a stamped self-addressed envelope, along with your check or money order made out to SJCGS

St. Joseph County Historical Society
PO Box 492
Centreville, MI 49093
Telephone Number:616-496-5695

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

Libraries:

Burr Oak Public Library

220 S 2nd

Burr Oak, MI 49030

Sturgis Public Library

255 North St

Sturgis MI 49091

Colon Library

128 S Blackstone Ave

Colon MI 49040

Three Rivers Public Library

920 W Michigan Ave

Three Rivers MI 49093

Constantine Library

165 Canaris

Constantine MI 49042

White Pigeon Library

105 N Kalamazoo St

White Pigeon MI 49099

Mendon Library

314 W Main

Mendon MI 49072

Glen Oaks Community College Library

62249 Shimmel Road

Centreville MI 49032

Nottawa Public Library

112 S Clark St