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WELCOME TO
Bay County Michigan
MIGenWeb Project
Bay County was organized on February 17, 1857 from parts of Saginaw and Midland Counties. The citizens of the bayside communities tired of traveling three days to Saginaw for court cases and in 1854 voted to separate from Saginaw County.
The county encompasses the mouth of the Saginaw Bay Watershed, the outlet to Lake Huron of the Saginaw, Kawkawlin, Chippewa, Coldwater, Tittabawasse, Shiawassee, Cass and Flint rivers. The land is a fertile plain, part of the inland lake bed of the glacial Lake Algonquin. Tobico Marsh, a National Landmark 1976, is part of the largest contiguous freshwater coastal wetland in the United States.
Bay City was once the camping ground of the Sauk, Ojibway, Ottawa and Potawatomi Indians. Ojibway or Chippewa Indians greeted the French Voyageurs who came to trade for furs in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The artifacts of the settlements have been unearthed along the Saginaw River causeway.
The natural geographical configuration led to the economic base for the county which included lumber, coal, salt, sugar beets, potatoes, soy beans, wheat and oats, chemical manufacturing, knitting mills, automotive manufacturing and boat building. The lumber industry started in Bay County in 1844 when a mill was constructed at the mouth of the Kawkawlin River. Millions of board feet of lumber from Michigan's pine and hardwood forests would pass through the mills of Bay County in the ensuing years. The county was aptly named the "Lumber Capitol of the World".
The salt mines were tapped as early as 1850. The Michigan Mine in Monitor Township began mining coal in 1897. The Monitor Coal Company was the last coal mine in the county to close in 1947. Producing the coal proved to costly. Oil production in Bay County in the Kawkawlin pool ranks fourth in the State of Michigan.
Sugar beet farming and the sugar industry have also played a part in the economic development of the county. Sugar beets and chicory were introduced around 1892.
Shipyards in Bay County produced Great Lakes steel freighters and other water craft. During WWII the shipyards helped produce U.S. Destroyers and missile vessels for the war effort. Today the county produces hydroplanes, sailboats, catamarans and iceboats.
In successive waves Bay County was settled by numerous ethnic groups. The French came from Canada and Southern Michigan and settled in Banks and Dolsenville. German immigrants settled Frankenlust and Monitor Townships in the early 1850's. In the 1870's through the early 1900's Polish and Jewish immigrants settled the area between Madison and Hampton streets off Columbus Avenue. The Irish settled both sides of the river after the Potato Famine. Other immigrants came from Sweden, Holland, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy. Numerous immigrant migrant workers from Mexico and Haiti settled permanently in the county.
All in all a rich heritage, a fertile land and water.........................!Table of Contents
Cemetery Listings & Transcriptions
- Online 11-21-04 Ongoing transcriptions of Oak Ridge Cemetery. |
Links (Bay County, Mich., & US) Places to help with your search online. |
Census Data - Online Complete 1860 Bay County Census. | Lookups - people willing to help with research. |
Bay County Churches 04-25-04 - St. Stanislawa Kostki Jubilee Book 1874-1925. Index now online. |
School, Education Related Data 03-25-04, 1932 Bay City Central High School, Centralia with scanned pictures of graduates. |
Cities, Towns, Villages, & Townships - submit your stories about Bay County | Maps, Plat Books and Land Owners 03-25-04, 1916 and 1930 Plat Maps of Townships |
Bay County Directories 11-21-04 Ongoing uploads of the 1886, 1905, and 1931 Bay County Directories. | Military History: Michigan, Bay County |
Funeral Homes - listing. | Native American Resources |
Societies, Mailing Lists and Message Boards Post your query, ask for help and give help. |
Newspapers - Historical and Online |
History - Bay County & Saginaw Valley Ongoing new uploads of historical articles. |
Pictures - postcards, photos, etc. needed!!!! Submit yours. |
Libraries and Research Centers - centers for your off line research. | Vital Statistics, Obituaries, Online Marriages and Births, Pioneer Obituaries 05-04-04 1867 - 1870 deaths from Bay County. |
Personal Genealogy Home Pages - add yours!!
MIGenWeb Project History
In March and April, 1996, a group of genealogists organized the MIGenWeb Project. The idea was to provide a single entry point for all Michigan counties, where collected databases would be stored. In addition, the databases would be indexed and cross-linked, so that even if an individual were found in more than one county, they could be located in the index. At the same time, volunteers were found who were willing to coordinate the collection of databases and generally oversee the contents of the web page.
There are a number of ways to get involved in this project and help others as
well as yourself.
Volunteer to index information or do lookups!. If you own or have access to sources for Bay County (birth records, marriage records, tax records, cemetery records, biographical information, county or city histories, etc.) volunteer to index or type up information to make available to other persons interested in the people and history of Bay County. You may also volunteer to do lookups in those resources for people making requests. Please contact Donna Hoff-Grambau or Carol Szelogowski, Co-County Coordinators, for more information. | |
Volunteer to help the USGENWEB Project in your own state or county!
Help is needed throughout the country, whether it is for a county coordinator, lookups, the census project, the tombstone project or assisting the county coordinator in maintaining a page. Contact Michigan State Coordinator, Jan Cortez, for more details. |
This page was initially created 15 February, 2003.
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Copyright © 2003 - 2005
Carol A. Szelogowski and
Donna Hoff-Grambau, all rights reserved of html coding and graphics by Donna Hoff-Grambau |
Portions © 2001, 2002, 2003 Jan Nearing and Kay L. Mason, other portions © 1999/2000 Bill Carney, 1998-1999 Donna Hoff-Grambau. This page was originally constructed and maintained by Gloria and Eric Craig of South Bend, Indiana. It was visited 6,054 times between the time it was uploaded on 12/11/96 and 1/3/99.
The original page was dedicated to Doris Alma Gies Bornemann May 11, 1929 to October 27, 1997
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contained on these pages is accurate. However, you are encouraged to check the
primary source for further information and to ensure accuracy of data
transcription.
RootsWeb is funded and supported by
Ancestry.com and our loyal RootsWeb community.
Learn more.
About Us | Contact Us | Copyright | Report Inappropriate Material
Corporate Information | Privacy | Terms and Conditions | CCPA Notice at Collection