Census

Dickinson was not made a county until May 21, 1891, which is well into the period of Michigan's censuses.  This means that you will not find your ancestors in Dickinson County until the turn of the century. 

Only those censuses that are free and have free access are reported here.  Dated notes are injected where necessary in between census years.  They should be used as guides to your next census step. The maps are provided under the Census section with the corresponding year and description. The maps provide a good indication of the boundry changes.  


Census year

At that time Dickinson was part of...

Notes
    1763-1783 Quebec Territory 

1790
Northwest Territory Northwest Territory organized from current-day areas of Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, majority of Ohio, and northeast Minnesota.
Northwest Territory was also called Huron Territory.
1800 Indiana Territory 1787 - 1800  Northwest Territory
1791 - Michigan incorporated into Upper Canada
ca 1796 - first settlers into Michigan
1796 - Wayne County created.  It contained all the present State of Michigan except the western part of the Upper Peninsula, with the addition of northern Ohio and Indiana, and a strip of eastern Illinois and Wisconsin bordering on Lake Michigan.
Note:  District-wide census losses include those for the Indiana Territory and Northwest Territory. These have no known substitutes except for some isolated tax lists.
1810 Illinois Territory
  (see notes)
1803 - West half of Michigan to Indiana Territory; east half to Ohio Territory.  Except for the eastern tip, all of the UP is in Indiana Territory.
1805 - Lower Michigan organized as Michigan Territory out of Indiana Territory.  U.P. is divided into thirds - west end to Illinois Territory; central portion to Indiana Territory; east end to Michigan Territory.  (The land that will be present-day Dickinson County is in Illinois Territory, created 3 February 1809.)
Note: District-wide census losses include those for the Indiana Territory and Michigan Territory. Partial losses include those for Illinois Territory and Ohio.
1820 Mackinac County 1816 - Indiana Territory dissolved, all of the U.P. added to Illinois Territory.
1818 - Illinois Territory dissolved.  All of Michigan, the U.P. and Wisconsin added to Michigan Territory.
1830 Mackinac County  
1840 Michilimackinac County 1837 - Michigan achieves Statehood
8 March 1843 - Michilimackinac County is renamed Mackinac
1850 Marquette & Delta Counties  
1860 Marquette & Delta Counties Note on the map:  Bleeker County was organized in 1861 and renamed Menominee County 19 March 1863.
1870 Marquette and Menominee Counties  
1880 Marquette & Menominee Counties  
1890 Marquette &  Menominee Counties Note:  Over 99 percent of the 1890 population schedules were destroyed in a fire, which took place in January 1921 at the Commerce Building in Washington, D.C. Of the 62,979,766 persons enumerated in 1890, a total of 6,160 names could be extracted from the surviving schedules. These names were all indexed and microfilmed as National Archives Series M496 on two rolls of film.  Marquette & Menominee Counties were not part of the surviving schedules, nor was any part of Michigan.  However, a replacement for the 1890 census might be able to help you. 
1900 Dickinson County Dickinson County was created 21 May 1891.  Sagola, Felch and West Branch Townships were taken from Marquette; Breen, Breitung, Norway and Waucedah Townships were taken from Menominee County; Metropolitan was taken from Iron County ~ that county being formed only a month prior.
1910-1950 Dickinson County