WMGS-Blog

Western Michigan Genealogical Society

Browsing Posts in Meetings

At the Western Michigan Genealogical Society monthly meeting on Saturday 10 November, 2018, longtime WMGS member and volunteer Shirley DeBoerCG  was presented with the Michigan Genealogical Council’s Lucy Mary Kellogg Award. See below for picture gallery. Photos by Lisa Christensen and Roger Moffat.

Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park is a western Michigan gem. The 158-acre campus, 1000 E. Beltline Ave. NE, has attracted more than 10 million visitors since opening in 1995. Outdoor amenities include nature trails, a boardwalk, a Japanese garden and a replica of a 1930s farmhouse. Meijer Gardens is home to a permanent sculpture […]

Special Announcement! I am really looking forward to both Spring and the NGS Family History Conference. I hope you are too. Actually, everyone that I have talked to is done with winter and looking forward to warmer weather and different activities. Speaking of different activities. This conference is different- at least for us. This is […]

Society Night, Wednesday, 2 May 2018, 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.  Center Concourse, Second Floor, Amway Grand Plaza Hotel (Updated March 23, 2018) Society Night is a great way to meet and visit with representatives of state, local, ethnic, and historical societies from across Michigan and other states who will not have booths in the […]

What a fun day on the Silver Line in Winter! My day was warm (overcast and higher than freezing). I was ready for an adventure. This is new for me and I needed to know. I drove to 60th Street and Division Avenue, an easy exit at 68th Street then north Division a mile to […]

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 […]

Peer into the incredible closet of a prominent Grand Rapids entrepreneurial family, the Voigts. The collection of over 600 items of personal dress dates from the 1890s through the 1970s and includes pieces rarely appearing in museum collections, particularly the active wear and clothing worn privately in the home. The garments will be used to explore the fashion, culture and society of Grand […]

From 1850 to 1920 African Americans in Grand Rapids were a steady one percent of the city’s rapidly growing population. Ruth Van Stee will present on the vibrant community’s broader population before providing snapshots of business, cultural, and political leaders. She will also discuss how she explored some of her examples: a wealthy business man; […]