I live in Wayne County and wandered down to Washtenaw to look up my family from the 1800's. I don't care if the County Clerk is Republican, Democrat, Green Party or anything. It is the most unfriendly place to try to do anything. They obviously don't want you there. I'm not surprised that no one will do lookups there. Try going to Ingham County. The people in Mason at the courthouse bend over backwards to help.