Michigan Colonial Records

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Sources

Ecclesiastical Records

Copies of original records are held at the National Archives of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario.
  • 18th Century parish and city maps and Sacramental registers from 1704 at the Archdiocese of Detroit in Detroit, Michigan.
  • Pare, George. The Catholic Church in Detroit, 1701-1888 (Detroit: Gabriel Richard Press, 1951).

Civil Records

  • Records from the U.S. Land office at Detroit contain land grants and claims in the Detroit area, 1707-1825. The French land grants begin in 1707; British grants begin in 1781. These records are in the Bureau of Land Management record group (RG 49.13) at the National Archives in Washington, DC.

History

Additional Readings

  • Denisen, Christian. Genealogy of the French Families of the Detroit River Region, 1701-1936. 2 Vols. (Detroit: Detroit Society for Genealogical Research, 1987). The Detroit River region includes the boundary between Michigan and Ontario from the Saint Clair River, through Lake Saint Clair, then west along the Detroit River to Lake Erie. This includes the genealogies of the early settlers of French descent along the Detroit River on both sides of the river, in Michigan and Ontario.
  • History of the Upper Penninsula of Michigan Containing a Full Account of its Early Settlement (1883. Reprint. new Haven, CT: Research Publications, 1973, film 0485331).
  • Jacobson, Judy. Detroit River Connections: Historical and Biographical Sketches of the Eastern Great Lakes Border Region (Baltimore: Clearfield Co., 1994).
  • McGinnis, Carol. Michigan Genealogy: Sources and Resources (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1987).
  • Newton, Stanley D. The Story of Sault Sainte Marie and Chippewa County (1923,. Reprint. Grand Rapids, MI: Black Letter Press, 1975).
  • Peyser, Joseph L. Letters from New France, the Upper Country, 1686-1783 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992). Collection of historical documents from archival repositories in Canada, France, and the United States dealing with French-colonial military, religious, and mercantile life.
  • Russell, Donna Valley. Michigan Censuses, 1710-1830, under the French, British and Americans (Detroit: Detroit Society for Genealogical Research, 1982).
  • Sprenger, Bernice Cox. Guide to the Manuscripts in the Burton Historical Collection (Detroit: Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library, 1985).
  • Stuart, Donna Valley. Michigan Censuses, 1710-1830, under the French, British and Americans (Detroit: Detroit Society for Genealogical Research, 1982).
  • Warner, Robert M. Guide to Manuscripts in the Michigan historical Collections of the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor: n. p., 1963, film 0874197).
  • Williams, Ethel W. Tracing Your Ancestors in Michigan (Salt Lake City: Genealogical Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1969, fische 6039418).

References