Some of our most precious moments get captured in photographs. Before digital cameras came along, many people kept photos in picture frames or albums. Throughout many living rooms in homes across the country, you can still find displays like these. The problem now is that these photos are deteriorating. There could come a time, in […]
Browsing Posts in Family Lore
– By Mary Alt After the Civil War, Ottawa County officials found they had veterans who needed a home. In May, a documentary film on The Ottawa County Poor Farm will have its premiere in Holland and Grand Haven. When the Ottawa County Poor Farm received its first resident in 1866, no one could have […]
Pieces of my family history are “news” in the Grand Rapids Press. This snippet published in 1950 is an interview with my grandfather, Kenneth Bennett. Both he and my grandmother were rural delivery mail route carriers. My earliest memories of him involve the many cars he owned and I was fascinated how he could drive […]
One local spot about fifteen-minutes from DeVos Place is Pietro’s Italian Restaurant. A sentimental favorite in Grand Rapids originally opened in 1980 by Peter Secchia (former Ambassador to Italy from 1989-1993), the restaurant is named after his Italian immigrant grandfather who came to the United States in 1906 armed with family recipes. Pietro’s has an […]
It is springtime on “The Ridge” and the orchards are in bloom. The Ridge is an agricultural area northwest of Grand Rapids. This time of the year is the most beautiful as the orchards are in bloom with apple, peach, pear and plum trees setting their crop for the year. The agricultural area northwest of Grand […]
The Grand Rapids History & Special Collection Department was established in 1904 as the Ryerson Library-was being completed. When planning this “new” library, board members ensured that a “Michigan Room” be set aside in which to preserve collections. Currently, the archives contain over 450 processed collections, accessed with a request slip. My favorite is the […]
The fourth floor of the downtown Grand Rapids Ryerson Library is a genealogist’s dream. It is filled with a variety of family history resources from all states, eastern Canada and Europe. The very best thing anyone can do before going to any library is to research resources. Search grpl.org/history before going to the Grand Rapids’ […]
This Saturday, February 3, the Black Family History Series at the Grand Rapids Public Library kicks off at the WMGS monthly meeting at 1:30 p.m. in the Ryerson Auditorium. We announced a speaker change last Friday. This is a reminder… You’ll not want to miss Tony Burroughs. As our featured speaker at the GotAncestors Annual […]
Through day-to-day accounts in Loren M. Page’s journal, kept from 1847 to 1852, get a peek at life at the “north-end” of early Grand Rapids, now the Creston neighborhood. Accounts in the diary provide a detailed and personal look at upper and lower class life in the young city, and will be supplemented by photographs and […]
I have been wanting to visit Woodville, and Pemberville, Ohio for several years. My grandparents lived in the area for several years and my father was born in Woodville and attended school there.
