Histories, directories, biographies and gazetteers.
Bibliography

This is a list of the history, genealogy, biography and geography books relating to Grand Rapids and Kent County that have at least some part available online. It is not a complete bibliography of Kent County history books. The books below are listed in order of publication. Each entry includes the bibliographic data for the book, a description or other explanatory material, links to the material online and note of who has put the resources online. Especially useful resources for genealogists have been placed in bold print, but all are worth a look. For a complete bibliography of Kent County history and genealogy books, visit the Clarke Historical Library website.

Michigan History Books Online - placed there by the University of Michigan.  They have filmed and are continuing to film the county histories and other histories of Michigan.  The indexes and every page are online and can be downloaded.
http://www.hti.umich.edu/m/micounty/  this will take you directly to the Michigan County Histories.

Click - "Browse Michigan County Histories"
Click - Author, then click the first letter of the author's surname, such as: "B" for Bowen, etc.
Type the author's name: Bowen, A. W. or whatever the name
Click - BROWSE the list of county histories written/published by that author.
Click on the one you are interested in.

Blois, John T. Gazetteer of the State of Michigan, Detroit: S. L. Rood & Co., 1856.
    This very early gazetteer of Michigan gives insight into the early settlements in Michigan and into what the area was like back in the first days of the pioneers.
     

    Online publishers:Library of Congress - American Memory Collection.

Clark, C.F., Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory, Detroit: C. F. Clark, 1863-1864.
    This is a state-wide directory which includes the names of residents and their businesses for various towns through the state, including several in Kent County. The index page on the Kent County Michigan GenWeb Project site with links to each of the pages for Kent County towns.
     

    Online publishers:Library of Congress - American Memory Collection.

Dillenback & Leavitt, County History, Directory and Map Publishers,History and Directory of Kent County, Michigan, Containing a History of Each Township and the City of Grand Rapids, Grand Rapids: Daily Eagle Steam Printing House, 1870.
    City directory with histories of Kent County townships and Grand Rapids. This early history has many unique anecdotes told to the author from the pioneers themselves, as well as basic history and geography for each part of the county. A great place to start familiarizing yourself with local history. All of the history sections are online, but the directory section of this book has not been transcribed. Each of the chapters of this book is linked from the table of contents.
     

    Online publishers:Kent County Michigan GenWeb Project. Transcribed by Jennifer Godwin.

Tuttle, Charles R., General history of the state of Michigan: with biographical sketches, portrait engravings, and numerous illustrations, Detroit: R.D.S. Tyler & Co., 1873.
    General history of the state of Michigan, by an author who would later write an early history specific to Kent County. The Kent County sections include a history of the town and biographies of prominent area figures. The pages online at this site are scanned images, not text.
     

    Online publishers:Making of America Project.

Tuttle, Charles R., History of Grand Rapids with Biographical Sketches, Grand Rapids: Tuttle & Cooney, 1874.
    Second important history of the Kent County area. Features details of settlement, histories specific to Grand Rapids and each township, and short histories of a few prominent businesses of the day.
     

    Online publishers: Kent County Michigan GenWeb Project.

Everett, Franklin, A.M., Memorials of the Grand River Valley, Chicago: The Chicago Legal News Company, 1878.
    Franklin Everett was a prominent local teacher and writer. The Western Michigan Genealogical Society has posted a index of all the biographies included in this history.
     

    Online publishers:Western Michigan Genealogical Society, Kent County Michigan GenWeb Project.

History of Kent County, Michigan, Illustrated, Chicago: Chas. C. Chapman & Co, 1881.
    This monumental history of Kent County is an excellent resource for any genealogical search in the area. Running over a thousand pages, this book features many interesting vignettes of local history, but is perhaps most useful for the huge number of biographies included in the book. The Kent County Michigan GenWeb Project is working to bring those biographies online -- nearly a thousand are already available. The Western Michigan Genealogical Society has recently finished digitizing their every name index to this book and will bring it online as a searchable database in the near future.

    Jana Wellman Ulrich has transcribed the entire chapters ? history and biographies ? for Ada, Cannon and Plainfield Townships. The Kent County Michigan GenWeb Project page on the Chapman bios has all the bios listed by township and links to the ones already online. Christopher Penning has put an alphabetical list of the bios on his website. There are also a few other bits and pieces available on the Web.
     

Online publishers: Kent County Michigan GenWeb Project, Christopher Penning, Jana Wellman Ulrich.

Baxter, Albert, History of the City of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Munsell & Co., 1891.
    Perhaps the essential history of Grand Rapids, Baxter's work is a charming and very complete history of the city over nearly sixty years. The Kent County Michigan GenWeb Project is working to bring this book online. About half the chapters are already available on this website and more come online all the time. Lookups are available for chapters not yet digitized.
     

    Online publishers: Kent County Michigan GenWeb Project.

The City of Grand Rapids and Kent County, Michigan, Illustrated, A.W. Bowen & Co., 1900.
    This book is devoted exclusively to biographies of prominent area citizens.
    *** Our volunteers are currently transcribing these biographies....***

    Index to Bowen's
    Partial list of biographies
    Partial list of Portraits
     

 

Pen sketches in black and white of our Michigan friends, "as we see 'em, Newspaper Cartoonists' Association of Michigan, W. Graham Printing Co., Detroit, 1905.
    This book of caricatures created by Michigan newspaper editorial cartoonists features several images of prominent Grand Rapids leaders from the earliest part of the 20th century.
     
    • Table of Contents
    • Grand Rapids Sketches Images (Pages 417 to 453.)

      •  

    Online publishers: Library of Congress - American Memory Collection.

Fisher, Ernest B., Ed., Grand Rapids and Kent County, Michigan: Historical Account of their Progress from First Settlement to the Present Time, Robert O. Law Co., 1918.
This history is in two volumes, the first being a general history of Grand Rapids and Kent County, the second being a series of biographies of area leaders.
White, Arthur S., Ed., A third volume devoted to Kent County, Dayton, Ohio: National Historical Assoc., 1924.
Etten, William J., A Citizens' History of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Published by A. P. Johnson for the Campau Centennial Committee, 1926.
    Written in honor of the centennial of the establishment of Grand Rapids in 1826 this book is a helpful history of the area and of many of the institutions which survive today, or which might have been known by our Grand Rapids grandparents. The full-text of this entire book is online.
     

    Online publishers:  Kent County Michigan GenWeb Project.

Centennial Celebration and Homecoming Historical and Program Book, Rockford, Michigan, 1839-1939, Centennial Executive Committee, Rockford, Michigan, 1939.
    A souvenir program distributed at the festivities celebrating the centennial of the town of Rockford, this book consists of a series of histories of Rockford and it's various associations, organizations and industries. About half of the chapters in this book are online.
     

    Online publishers:  Kent County Michigan GenWeb Project.

Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections - Various years.
The various Old Settlers' Associations of the counties of Michigan often published articles, histories and reminiscences relating to the early days of the state. Some of the Kent County records have been placed online.

History of Newspapers and Editors from Grand Rapids

Bibliography
 

Compiled by Jennifer Godwin
Created: 2 April 2000