FORMS For ordering vital records in Berrien County
BERRIEN CO. CLERK'S OFFICE, Berrien County Administration Office, 701 Main Street, Saint Joseph, Michigan 49085 (269) 983-7111. Records available: Marriages 1831 - present; deaths 1867 - present; births are available from 1867 - present. Births before 1900 are open to public without restriction; births after 1900 are available ONLY if the person is deceased; you must provide the following: Certified copy of death certificate with raised seal (not photocopy) and completed request form, along with $10.00 fee. (see Historical Association info. below for options)
PROBATE COURT, located in the Berrien County Court House, 269 983-7111 ext. 8365. Probate records exist from 1830 to present day. These records are open to the public, but, you may not see them (go figure!). An computerized index for Probates has been compiled at the Probate Office for the use by the staff not public. The probate office asks you put your request in writing, and not appear in person. (see Historical Association info. below for options). After you write and get response from this office you may then go in person to the archive facility in Stevensville, Michigan to view the records on microfilm. There, you may copy the file as desired, at $1.00 per page. Index to Wills are also located in the Probate Court as well as Guardianship Records. As above, you may NOT see the Index to Wills either, the info. is in the above mentioned computer index. You must also put any request for Wills in writing (very difficult when you have various spellings of each surname). You may NOT see Guardianship Indexings either as the Probate Office claims those Libers contain present day indexings, which are closed to the public and the court would chance exposure of closed records.
CIRCUIT COURT, Berrien County Court House, 801 Port Street, Saint Joseph, MI 49085, holds divorce and civil court records. Divorce records are open to the public. Details on these records to come.
REGISTER OF DEEDS, Berrien County Administrative Office, (269) 983-7111 ext. 8562. Copies of deeds are available from the year 1834 at the fee of $1.00 per page. The Register's office will search for your deed for the fee of .10 cents per year with a minimum of $1.00 fee; you must provide name, of seller and purchaser. You may send your request and information and the Register's office will bill you when sending copies.
BERRIEN COUNTY HISTORICAL ASSOC.,
Post Office Box 261, Berrien Springs, Michigan 49103 (269) 471-1202.
Records available: Marriages 1831 - 1902 (1901 not available),
fee $3.00 (if copy of application exists additional charge of
$2.00); Deaths 1867 - 1919, fee $3.00 (non-certified copy). Probate
records are available from 1831 - 1930, fee is $10.00 for copy
of file UNLESS you want more than the genealogical data, the fee
will depend on the time it takes for them to copy the file. You
can also purchase disks of the above information from the Historical
Assoc. for $ 39.95
| Publication | Volunteers |
|---|---|
| 1850 Berrien County Census (Index) | Need Volunteer |
| 1860 Berrien County Census (Index) | vgreig@wowway.com (Vicki in Michigan) |
| 1860 Plat Map, Berrien County | Need Volunteer |
| 1887 Atlas of Berrien County | University of Michigan |
| 1870 Berrien County Census (Index) | berriengenealogy@hughes.net (Brenda in Michigan) |
| 1880 Berrien County Census (Index) | vgreig@wowway.com (Vicki in Michigan) |
| 1880 History of Berrien and Van Buren Counties | University of Michigan |
| 20th Century History of Berrien County, MI, 1906 by Coolidge (Now online at UofM) | University of Michigan |
| 20th Century History of Cass County, MI, 1906 by L.H. Glover (Now online at UofM) | University of Michigan |
| Catalogue of the Officers, Teachers, Graduates and Students of the Public Schools of Niles, MI in 1866/67 | rmeddyjmj@yahoo.com (Roberta, in Michigan) |
| 1892 Directory of Berrien County (Extraction by Deborah Graden, March 2000) | berriengenealogy@hughes.net (Brenda, Michigan) |
| Rural Directory of Berrien County 1917-1922 | MJoy4@Comcast.net (Joy, in California) |
| Hagar Township Cemeteries | vgreig@wowway.com (Vicki in Michigan) |
| The Real McCoy, (Index of) The Story of a Creek and Its Town, by Norma Stevens, printed and published 1975 by Record Publishing Company. | MILitehse@aol.com (Kathy, in Indiana) |
| 1965-69 Buchanan High School, Pines (Yearbooks) | MILitehse@aol.com (Kathy, in Indiana) |
| 1971 Buchanan City Directory | MILitehse@aol.com (Kathy, in Indiana) |
| The Story of Portage Prarie, (440 pages) by Alma Vite Hartline | ssshipmack@aol.com (Sue Rough Mack) |
| Silverbrook Cemetery, Niles, MI - Sexton's Records | bdhdsty@att.net (Brett, in Michigan) |
The genealogy mailing lists below were created, by a Berrien County genealogist, with an interest in bringing researchers together in an interactive format. The lists mentioned below have abt. 200 members each at this time.
To SUBSCRIBE to a list, write: Southwestmichigan-L-request@rootsweb.com (a list for genealogists with Southwest Michigan Ancestry) or MIBERRIE-L-request @rootsweb.com (a list for genealogists with Berrien County Ancestry). Place the word subscribe in the subject line of the letter and the word subscribe in the body of the letter. If you are mailing from America Online do NOT use the word "subscribe" in the subject line - simply place a period " . " (without the quotes) in the subject line. You may select to receive the list queries in the 'mail mode' which means you will receive every letter as it is sent to the list subscribbers or you may select to receive the mailings once a day in one e-mail, called the 'digest mode'. When subscribing PLEASE turn your signature off, if not done, this will cause a rejection of the subscription.
Once subscribed, list members may POST queries about genealogy topics to: SouthwestMichigan-L@rootsweb.com or MIBERRIE-L@rootsweb.com
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