Michigan statewide searches

Every state is different, but Michigan is more different than most. Statewide resources haven't always been easy to find. Thanks to Miriam at the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society Blog for pointing out James Jackson's Michigan Biographical Index (MBI), with 1.5 million-plus citations drawn from a wide variety of sources, literally from a to y (see his FAQ).

Each name is linked to a citation for the source, which may be sought in libraries or on line. The MBI apparently overlaps somewhat with but doesn't completely duplicate Michigan County Histories and Atlases (MCHA) from the University of Michigan. For example, both include the 1892 Portrait and Biographical Record of Kalamazoo County, Allegan and Van Buren Counties, but the MBI doesn't include Weissert's 1928 An Account of Kalamazoo County, which MCHA does.

Run your people through both of them. MCHA has images of the actual pages; MBI has pulled together so many sources (some indexed by him for the first time) that his site can be viewed as a way of locating new sources that you've missed.