University of Michigan-Flint

University of Michigan-Flint Library

Genesee Historical Collections Center

History

Genesee County was created by act of the Michigan Legislature on March 8, 1836.  The Probate Court met for the first time at Flint on October 29^th of that year.  It was the first court convened in the county.

Michigan Territory enacted a law in 1805 which gave authority to the courts of the various districts to take proof of wills and grant letters testamentary and letters of administration.  Further authority was granted in 1818 to appoint guardians to minors, idiots, and other “distracted persons,” and could examine the accounts of executors, administrators, and guardians.  Probate judges have jurisdiction in all matters relating to the settlement of estates of all deceased persons, whether testate or intestate, who were resident in their counties. 

Subsequent changes in state law, including the Constitution of 1908 and the 1939 probate code enlarged the scope of the Probate Court.  It became responsible for the appointment of drain commissioners or railroad commissioners, for name changes, to confirm adoptions, to admit insane persons to state hospitals, and to issue marriage licenses to underage females.  In 1923, judges were empowered to authorize sterilization of mentally defective persons.  The 1908 Constitution gave Probate Court jurisdiction in all matters concerning juveniles, including delinquents. 

The Genesee County Court has enlarged over time.  Beginning with a single judge, the court added a probate register in 1885 and an additional judge in 1908. In addition, there have been stenographers and clerks. 

Scope and Content

The records considered here include all records of the Probate Court from its beginnings in 1836 until 1953, with the exception of adoption records and juvenile records.  Michigan Compiled Laws 710.67(1) says that “papers and books relating to the proceedings shall be kept in separate locked files and shall not be open to inspection or copy except upon order of a court of record for good cause.”  Thus volumes with adoption records are retained at the Genesee County Courthouse.  Juvenile records are confidential as well, and they are destroyed after a number of years.

All the records are kept in volumes (libers).  From 1836 to 1855 and from 1925 to 1928 records of all sorts were kept chronologically in common volumes (Probate Records).  Outside those timespans, however, records were organized by series.  Thus one volume contains wills; another inventories; another sales of real estate; and so on.  When the series was finished, another numbered volume was started.  As the court expanded its responsibilities, new series began.  Some volumes contain two to four separate series, and those marked “miscellaneous” have the more obscure duties. 

The probate of a particular estate, whether testate (with a will) or intestate (without a will), will not necessarily contain all of the papers found in all the series.  Typically, a testate estate produces an order of hearing (filing the will for probate); an order admitting the will (the will is entered into the record); an order of hearing, entered into the series of bonds and letters of executor; and a warrant for appraisers and inventory.

An intestate estate typically includes a petition for appointment of administrator of the estate; an order appointing the administrator; the administrator’s bond; an order appointing appraisers; a warrant for the appraisers and an inventory; a petition for hearing claims on the estate; and a discharge.

The series of Probate Calendars (1836-1933) is a record of every case which appeared before the court.  Each case is identified by number, and each motion or paper that was filed is entered in chronological order within the space allotted for that case.  Not every paper was recorded into books.  Apparently each probate case had its own file, and certain papers, such as the advertisement for claims against the estate, was added to the file but not recorded in the books.  Juvenile cases, as well as those for insane or indigent individuals, were similarly recorded, although this collection contains some records of insane cases.

At some point numbered case files (from 319 to 2381, dating from 1857 to 1883) were deposited with the Archives of Michigan (record groups 71-37 and 75-86).  A microfilm copy of this series was made by the Genealogical Society of Utah. 

Other case files were microfilmed and the microfilm can be viewed at the Genesee Probate Court itself.  It is unclear what time span this series of microfilm covers, although certainly it covers the 1950s (or part of that decade) and later.  However, the disposition of the case files from 1883 to the 1950s is unknown.

Access to these records is through the Probate Calendars, which have name indexes to each volume.  To locate a particular case, the researcher needs to start with the volume for the approximate date of death or event.  The index refers to the number of the case.  Under each case number is a record of each proceeding, with the volume and page number for each one that was recorded.  Since the Probate Calendars’ coverage stops in 1933, research in the years from 1933 to 1953 must be done volume by volume. 

The Entry Books of Wills (two volumes) form a record of wills deposited in Probate Court by living testators.  Many of the entries contain records of the date of probate or other disposition.  In the absence of a comprehensive index to the last two decades represented in this collection, these entry books may help determine the existence of a particular will.

As well as genealogical and biographical research, this collection can potentially be used for research in other topics.  Inventories, for example, might be used to study possession of particular items at particular times or locations.  The wills themselves may provide a variety of information. 

Item List

PROBATE CALENDARS

PROBATE RECORDS