Search Houghton County Clerk Records

About the Houghton County Clerk's Office

Jennifer Kelly serves as the Houghton County Clerk. The office sits on the second floor of the Houghton County Courthouse at 401 E. Houghton Ave. in Houghton and answers the public at 906-482-1150. Hours run Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., but the office will not process money transactions after 4:00 p.m., so plan payments before that cutoff.

The role is broad. The clerk is the Clerk of the Circuit Court, the chief election official of the county, and the county's Vital Records Registrar. The same office serves as clerk to the county board of commissioners, the board of canvassers, the election commission, the plat board, and the concealed weapons licensing system. Renee Cunningham is the Chief Deputy County Clerk, and deputy staff handle accounts processing at the counter.

You can review the office roster and its full duty list on the county's County Clerk directory. That page is the authoritative source for staff names, phone numbers, and the office's responsibilities.

The directory confirms that a single office handles court clerical work, elections, and vital records, which is why so many public records requests in the county land on the clerk's counter first.

What the Houghton County Clerk Does

The clerk maintains public records that reach well beyond the courtroom. The office holds birth, death, and marriage records, concealed pistol license paperwork, notary public filings, assumed names, circuit court files, and the minutes, resolutions, and contracts approved by the county board. On the service side, the clerk issues marriage licenses, files notary bonds, registers voters, takes passport photos, processes concealed pistol license applications, files DD214 discharge records, and helps residents with genealogy.

• Vital records: births, deaths, and marriages
• Marriage licenses and certified copies
• Voter registration and election administration
• Concealed pistol license and notary bond filings
• Circuit court clerk of record functions
• DD214 military discharge filing and genealogy help

Two programs set this office apart from a generic clerk's desk. The clerk links a free Notary Fraud Alert service that lets notaries monitor recordings made in their name or under their seal, and it runs Honor Rewards, a county veterans discount card program tied to Fidlar.

Houghton County Vital Records and Genealogy

The clerk's vital records run deep, which makes the office valuable for both current needs and family history. Birth records reach from 1867 to the present, with an index that starts in 1893. Death records also run from 1867 to the present, with an index that begins in 1911. Marriage records go back even further, from 1855 to the present, and every one is indexed.

Access rules differ by record type. Birth records are restricted to the individual or the parents, in person or by mail, unless the record is more than 100 years old, at which point it opens for genealogy. Death and marriage records are more broadly available. You can read the county's own explanation of the birth record rules on the clerk's birth certificates page.

The 100-year rule is the key line for genealogists. A birth record older than a century is treated as open, so long-ago family entries are far easier to obtain than a recent birth certificate.

Death and marriage records follow their own request path, and the county lays out both on a shared page. Review the details on the clerk's death and marriage records page before you order.

Because the marriage index runs unbroken from 1855, staff can usually locate an old certificate with the couple's names and an approximate date, which is a common genealogy request.

How to Request a Certified Copy

Most people who contact the clerk want a certified copy for a legal or personal purpose. The office offers four request channels, and the online portal is the quickest for a standard birth, death, or marriage copy.

1. Decide which record you need and gather the identifying details, such as full names, the event date, and your relationship to the record if it is a restricted birth record.
2. Choose a channel: order online through the vital records portal, mail a completed PDF request form, phone the office at 906-482-1150, or send a request by email or fax.
3. Pay the fee, remembering that card payments add a 3% processing fee and that money transactions stop at 4:00 p.m.
4. Receive the certified copy by mail, or arrange counter pickup, and order extra copies at the same time to use the lower add-on rate.

Online certified copies are ordered through the clerk's vital records portal at houghtonmivitals.permitium.com/rod. Telephone orders run through 906-482-1150, and email or fax return uses countyclerk@houghtoncounty.gov or fax 906-483-0364.

Records Request Channels and Fields

The clerk publishes several ways to submit a request, and each channel needs the same basic information to locate a record. The table below lays out the channels and what each one requires so a request is complete on the first try.

The county is unusually clear about photo identification and about the card-fee add-on, so read the instructions on the record page before submitting. A restricted birth request that lacks proof of eligibility will be turned back, which is the most common reason a mail order stalls.

Houghton County Clerk Fees

Vital record and service fees are set by the office, with a senior discount on certified copies for record seekers age 65 and older. The schedule below covers the charges the clerk's counter handles most often.

Ordering more than one copy of the same record at once is the simplest way to save, since each added copy costs far less than the first. Marriage license fees are covered separately, and divorce filing fees belong to the trial court rather than the clerk.

Note: The senior rate of $10 for a first certified copy and $3 for each additional copy applies to record seekers who are 65 or older.

Marriage Licenses at the Houghton County Clerk

The clerk issues marriage licenses along with the certified marriage copies that follow. At least one applicant must be a Houghton County resident to apply here, and the office runs an online marriage application portal that walks couples through the residency, document, and timing rules before they finish at the counter. The county spells out the license process on the clerk's marriage license page.

That page confirms the residency rule and the document checklist, so couples can gather what they need before making the trip to the second-floor counter.

Both parties bring a certified birth certificate, a current photo ID, and a Social Security number, and the license cannot be applied for more than 33 days before the wedding. For the full application steps, fees, and the divorce record path, see the county's marriage and divorce records page. Court divorce files, unlike marriage records, are handled by the trial court rather than the clerk's vital records desk.

That same online portal handles certified copies of the marriage record once it is filed, so couples can return to it later for the certified proof they may need for a name change or benefits.

Court Records and the District Court Clerk

The County Clerk is the clerk of the circuit court, but it is not the only clerk in the courthouse. The 97th District Court keeps its own clerk and magistrate office on the third floor for traffic, misdemeanor, small claims, and landlord-tenant matters. Sorting out which clerk holds a file saves a trip to the wrong counter.

For felony, larger civil, and family cases, the County Clerk is the record office as clerk of the circuit court. For district-level matters and citation payments, the separate district court clerk handles the file, and that office is covered on the county's District Court Clerk page. Statewide case lookups for both courts run through the Michigan MiCOURT case-search system rather than a single county search engine.