Searching collections:
Million Record March
Introducing the Michigan Death Records Collection
Welcome to Seeking Michigan! As a partner in the site, The Library of Michigan is excited to make these Michigan death certificates for the years 1897 to 1920 freely available online. The years 1915 to 1920 are particularly significant, as a readily available statewide index did not exist previously.
There are terrific ancestral discoveries just waiting to be made in this statewide collection. Take Guy Robinson, for example. His death certificate is exceptionally detailed, even more so than usual. Guy died 17 May 1914 in Delta Township, Eaton County. In addition to both his parents’ names (his mother’s maiden name, too), the certificate identifies his mother’s specific county of birth – Dodge County, Wisc. Guy’s father’s birthplace is even more specific – Woodland Township, Barry County, Mich., as is his own – Oneida Township, Eaton County, Mich. Guy’s burial was at Union Cemetery in Eaton County, perhaps at a family plot there. The certificate’s informant was Guy’s father, Loell Robinson, giving a certain validity to the information. If this were your “Guy,” you’d be ecstatic.
Currently, there are about 250,000 of the approximately 1,000,000 certificates on this site, or about 25 percent of the total collection. We’ll be adding additional records regularly in the next few weeks, so check back often.
So what years and counties are here? The list below details what records are currently available; [incomplete] means that particular county (or Detroit) is not yet fully loaded, not that the whole run of counties listed is incomplete. Remember that the Library of Michigan will be regularly adding records in the coming weeks.
1901:
- Lenawee – Midland [incomplete]
- Detroit [incomplete]
1902:
- Alcona – St. Clair
1904:
- Detroit [incomplete]
1905:
- St. Joseph – Wexford
- Detroit [incomplete]
1911
- Gratiot – Ionia [incomplete]
1912:
- Menominee – Washtenaw [incomplete]
- Detroit [incomplete]
1913:
- Alcona – Crawford
- Midland – Wexford
1914:
- Alcona – WexfordDetroit [incomplete]
1915:
- Alcona – Wexford
1916:
- Berrien [incomplete]
- Delta – Gratiot [incomplete]
- Lapeer [incomplete] – Detroit [incomplete]
1917:
- Genesee [incomplete] – Wexford
1918:
- Alcona – Berrien [incomplete]
- Kalamazoo [incomplete] – Wexford
- Detroit [incomplete]
We hope you enjoy Seeking Michigan and wish you happy searching. I hope you find your “Guy!”
Im glad to finally see Michigan putting death certificates online. Will the years after 1920 be put online also at some time? It seems that the years 1921 to the mid 1950′s are valuable in locating many immigrants who arived in the late 1800′s.
Great site, Good info
The 1897-1920 represents what we currently have in our collection here at the Library. We’re always looking for new additions to the site, but at this point, we’re only going up to 1920.
Thanks for your interest in the site.
I am absolutely thrilled to see the death certificates and an INDEX on your site. I was able to locate a relative that I would never have found otherwise. He lived in Detroit, but died in Jackson. So, THANKS!!!!!
Just wondered about submitting corrections to the indexing. Am finding incorrect Twp names in the index.
THANKS!!
Loretta
Loretta -
Thank you for your comments, I’m glad that you’ve had some success with the site. The years 1915-1920 are particularly important here, because widely available statewide indexes did not previously exist.
Please contact the Library at librarian@michigan.gov with any transcription or indexing errors. We’ll be making scheduled updates/corrections to the index as we move forward.
Everyone -
The second batch of records should now be complete. We appreciate everyone’s patience as the records loaded.
This death records project now totals more than 600,000 records, with more on the way. For a listing of what years and counties are available, please look above at this blog article: http://seekingmichigan.org/look/2009/03/31/onward-the-million-record-march-continues.
Stay tuned, and we’ll post another blog article here when the third batch upload has been completed.
Kudos to all for this enormous project – awesome thank you to all involved.
I can’t wait to be able to look up my grandfathers date of death and where he is buried. Any information on Walter Dow Courser from Ingham county buried somewhere north of St. Johns Michigan would be very helpful.. He was married Nore Irene Couser Maiden name was Drew Died in 1978 or 79 in Ingham county Michigan buried north of St. Johns Michigan Contact me at lldbs71@acd.net
Linda I will email this to you as well but your Grandfather is listed on findagrave, died 1955 buried in Pine River Cemetery:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GScid=303469&GRid=32724173&
(If you click on the link to the left on that page that says “Find all Coursers in: Pine River Cemetery” you will find many more Coursers buried there including his wife Nora who died in 1978. I’m no relation just helping out.
Thank you so much for making this information available. I found my great-grandmother’s death certificate from 1907 — now I know what her parents’ names were — this is a real breakthrough!
Thanks again.
Kris,
What a huge undertaking for the people involved in this project! And thoroughly appreciated by those of us researching our family trees. I’ve had good fortune in finding death certificates for five family members. With one of those I found names for a previous generation which was heretofore unknown to me. I will be making return visits with the hope of adding more to my collection. Many kudos to everyone working so diligently to put this information out there.
Just curious. Has anyone heard any news about loading the last set of death records?
I spoke with OCLC, the company doing the upload. They said it is progressing. The more records we load, the slower the process becomes. We hope to hear something definitive this week. They are also working on the CGI error people are seeing when viewing the collection. We are almost there!
Thank you for this wonderful resource. It is a gift that has given me an almost palpable connection to family history that I hadn’t thought possible.
Again, thanks so much,
Mary
Hello Kris, and thank you for the seminar last Friday at Washtenaw Community College. I ran out charged up with ambition – of course I keep running into the Ancestry.com site with it’s hand out – $$$$.
I found my aunt’s death certificate today (age 1 in 1918) and really hope to find more about my great-grandfather’s mysterious death in Jan 1920 when more death certificates for Kent Co are available.
When I come to the Library of MI, will I have access to Ancestry.com? All or only a little?
Thanks again – great and humorous seminar.
Gerry Gorecki
Any word as to when this project will be completed? Does anyone know what is causing the delay?
thank you found someone .
going to go familysearch.org for 1895
We’ve been told to watch for the updated message, but I can’t find message, other than the original one, anywhere. Was the March 31 (I think that was the date) message removed and another one not posted yet? Is this a good sign?
Thanks!
Hey folks!! There have been some new records posted. Today I located four more of mine from 1900 and 1898. These were all Bay County. These were new for me since late April. I do not know what is new to date, but it might be worth a few searches now. Good luck.
Can’t tell you how excited I was to find this website, I found the death certificate for my ggg grandfather and it verified his mothers maiden name, which has been in question for years! Thanks………….Vickie
I am looking for any information regarding my great uncle. He was a police officer killed in the line of duty in Aug 1911. His name is Franklin Smith. He was killed when the fire truck lost control during a parade and the water truck fell on him. He saved alot of lives the day he lost his own. I am looking for his death obit in hopes of finding out any information on his wife also. Can you help.
Karol,
I found the death certificate of your great uncle. If you go under “Seek” and input in the 1st line Franklin. 2nd line – Smith. 3rd line – 1911, it comes up. You just have to put in the boxes on the right – for the 1st line – 1st name, 2nd line – last name, 3rd line – Death year. Also on the left hand boxes pick Exact words. It should be the only one that comes up. It shows him for Detroit.
Karol,
I’m sorry, for the box on the left, pick All of the Words for each box not Exact Words.
Karol’s message said she was looking for an obit not the death cert. although in the future Karol you should be more specific on what you are trying to find as saying you are looking for “any information” isn’t very helpful. If you go to google.com and in the search box type in exactly (with quotes also) “Franklin M. Smith” you will find some obituaries for him. One is the Officer Down Memorial Page and another obit is listed in the book “In the Line of Duty” by Isaiah McKinnon 2003.
Great Source of information! I do have a question. Are the original documents available? When digitizing my ancestors death record the transfer produced a blury image. Is it possible to get a copy from the original? Appreciate any information. Thanks.
What a blessing it is to have these records on line! I was born, raised, schooled in Michigan and my Michigan ancestors go as far back as at least the 1830s.
As anyone knows who does a lot of searching – especially through microfilm – the eyes and brain can wear out quickly. Plus, my time back in Lansing was limited.
Ancestors aren’t always where you think they should be. I love the fact that I can search any time for my relatives and have the time to try searching under different spellings. (Hope you will add a feature to send in corrections…)
I have found SO MUCH information: new info, confirming info, info that dispelled family “myths”… By the way, did I say that I absolutely L-O-V-E this site?
Kudos to everyone responsible!
Are there any updates on the status of this? I’ve noticed more records being posted, but no announcement of where we’re at. I’d like to see it’s completed before I start doing a deep work with the records.
Thanks for putting up these records. I use them all the time and have found much useful information. Here is a correction to the metadata: The index shows a Linden Mernsell who died July 19, 1911 in Hillsdale County. The surname for both him and his father should be Munsell (he was my wife’s uncle).
Is it possible to get an update as to where they are at with downloading records online? Still looking for some people that died late 1890s – 1901 in both Houghton and Keweenaw counties and am coming up bust no matter what type of search I do.
I realize that the originals of these records would not ever be changed, but if we do send in corrections, where does that information “go”?
Thanks much.
Vanessa,
Unless someone from the Library of Michigan posts a message here, we have no way of knowing the status of the project. If we find errors in the transcription or indexing by the Library of Michigan, we can send corrections to the email address listed above by Kris on April 23rd. If there are errors on individual death records, I believe that you would need to contact the Vital Records Office in Lansing to learn how corrections can be made or if they can be made.
This may be late notice, but I will post it anyway. On the weekend of July 17-18 the Library of Michigan is offering a genealogy seminar – “One Step – Many Solutions.” On Saturday at 3:30 pm Kris Rzepczynski is giving a workshop tilted “Seeking Michigan Death Records? A New Digitization Project.” Check for details here the web page. Some researchers might want to register for this seminar and attend his workshop.
I found the record of one of my realtives and went back to copy it and can no longer find it. Do you sometimes take some records off? His name is Edmond Le Blanc. I beleive he died in 1912 in Ecorse,Mi
Mary, try searching for Edward Le Blanc he died Oct 31, 1912 Ford, Wayne County, MI.
Fantastic web site. I found five family death certificates during my first effort and there should be lots more. Michigan really knows how to do genealogy. Unfortunately the war of Northern Aggression set us a little behind in the South. Is it worth trying to correct a Michigan death certificate with lots of mistakes? What is the procedure?
Ernest A. Bachman, Virginia
It is still there.Try to copy and paste the link below if you still have problems
County Wayne
City/village/township Ecorse
Last Name Leblanc
Given Name Edmund P
Age 51
Death Day 23
Death Month May
Death Year 1912
Father’s Given Name Samuel
Father’s Last Name La Blanc
http://haldigitalcollections.cdmhost.com/seeking_michigan/discover_item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/p129401coll7&CISOPTR=404557&search=CISOOP1%3Dall%26CISOBOX1%3D%26CISOFIELD1%3DCISOSEARCHALL%26CISOOP2%3Dexact%26CISOBOX2%3D%26CISOFIELD2%3DCISOSEARCHALL%26CISOOP3%3Dexact%26CISOBOX3%3DLa%2Bblanc%26CISOFIELD3%3Dcreato%26CISOOP4%3Dnone%26CISOBOX4%3D%26CISOFIELD4%3DCISOSEARCHALL%26CISOROOT%3Dall%26x%3D36%26y%3D5&search_position=9
Thank you. I must be doing something wrong. Thanks also for this wonderful site. I found my great grandmother Adeline Rivard who married a Johndro who died after my grandmother Selina and her brothers were born. She then married John Rivard and later died in 1916. I was able to find her grave in Mt Olivet Cemetery in Detroit. what a find, We always wondered what happened to her. By the way John Rivard lived to be almost one hundred years old and was married four times. He out lived his first three wives.
A great new family history resource although a little frustrating in that no updates are being given as to its completion. Is the project finished or is it still uploading? Thanks.
Although there have been no recent updates, I can report that I have been finding records for years not listed above including 1898 in Bay, Wayne and Houghton Counties, and 1900 and 1920 in Bay County. To date, I have found 33 records for my families. It has not been easy because of spelling errors, and not necessarily those of the transcribers. The clerks who wrote the death records appear to have guessed at some names. I am searching Polish surnames which makes it all the more of a challenge. I suggest using all four of the boxes and trying all kinds of spellings, even for given names. In addition, I have used the asterisk effectively when I was not sure of the spelling, as in Schul* for Schultz, which reports all kinds of other names that start with those five letters, as in Schulman. Even when all the records have been loaded, it will still be a challenge to find some of them. My Anton Kuberski was transcribed as Antois Kerbeski in the database. It is a marvelous resource which I really appreciate, but I am also learning patience and determination as additional benefits!!
Terrific project and a huge undertaking. Keep up the good work! More states need to follow your example making public records public.
For those who have not noticed, I just found that LoM has two different blogs going about these records. One is more updated than the other, and thus has a more recent list of the records that have been loaded. The two are not connected. Go to the Discover page and look for the Blogs headline. Select the one with the later date in March for the updated list of counties.
There is a new blog announcing the current status of the death records project. The direct URL is here: http://seekingmichigan.org/look/2009/07/28/million-record-finish-line.
The project is now 99% complete, with more than 99% of the records loaded and available here at Seeking Michigan.
Thanks for everyone’s interest. Happy searching!
I wish I could figure out how to find what I want.
Where are the instructions?
Harriet –
If you click on the red Seek tab along the top of the home page, you’ll come to the search page. You can search up to four fields at once, any combination.
Click on the dropdown menus on the right hand side, and scroll down to the fields that are specific to the Death Records, 1897-1920 collection.
For example, you can search for John Smith in Wayne County, 1919. Good luck!
I am so excited to find this site. I have found children for my 2nd great-grandfather that I did not find on the census records. I have even found death records for his married children that I have not been able to find before. This is a great site. Thank you so much!
Is there a way to get a hard copy from the original? When the death certificate on my ancestor was scanned it came out very blury.
Would appreciate any information you can provide.
Thanks,
Excellent review! Mint takes Ubuntu and makes it work! After your review, I plan to use it.
What an awesome website!!! I finally found my great grandmother’s death certificate! In addition I was able to make a connection that was nearly impossible with my husband’s grandmother. Thank you so much. When can we expect Detroit to be completed? Sherry
Just wondering if there would be any additions past 1920? The records are a tremendous resource and especially since we moved to South Carolina, it is great to be able to work efficiently on line. It just makes you want more since Ancestry does not pick up until 1971. Thanks for these!!!
Bob Tallieu -
You can request a copy from the Michigan Department of Community Health. The main page for the Vital Records Division can be found here: http://www.michigan.gov/mdch/0,1607,7-132-4645—,00.html.
Good luck, and thanks for using the site.
Mary Anne Beyer -
The collection here (1897-1920) is based on our current holdings available here at the Library of Michigan. We’re always looking for new additions to the site, but at this point, we’re only going up to 1920.
Thanks for using the site.