It is possible that an early cross-country route from Saginaw Bay to Lake Michigan proceeded up the Saginaw, Tittabawassee, and Tobacco Rivers to a point west across Ross Lake from the Beaverton City Cemetery.

At that point, the canoes would be portaged along the trail to the Muskegon River, then floated down to Lake Michigan.

The earliest documented visitors to the area were surveyors who platted the lands under provision of the 1787 Northwest Ordinance.

The county is named for Henry Gladwin,[4] British military commandant at Detroit in 1763 during Pontiac's War.

Another man, William Brayton, may have been an earlier settler; the 1860 census listed 14 residents, including two families with children.

The first issue of the Gladwin County Record (1878) mentions his 20 acres (8.1 hectares) of wheat under cultivation.

His claim to being the first permanent settler appears valid, except that just before the 1880 census was taken he and his wife went to Lynn, Massachusetts to care for his dying father.

28.1% were of German, 11.5% American, 11.1% English, 9.4% Irish, 7.3% Polish and 6.4% French ancestry according to Census 2000.

The county government operates the jail, maintains rural roads, operates the major local courts, records deeds, mortgages, and vital records, administers public health regulations, and participates with the state in the provision of social services.

The county board of commissioners controls the budget and has limited authority to make laws or ordinances.

In Michigan, most local government functions — police and fire, building and zoning, tax assessment, street maintenance, etc.