– 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 […]
Browsing Posts tagged Grand Haven
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 […]
I originally found Henry GRIFFIN in May or June of 2000. I’ve long made it a research practice to study the families and descendants of siblings of those ancestors in my direct lines. I can’t tell you how often that has paid off in discoveries of new clues to research and interesting connections in general. […]
I look for the unknown family stories. They’re rewarding. How do I find them? Persistent research on those collateral lines – and luck. The Williams family of Jamestown Township, Ottawa County & Gaines Township, Kent County was one of my wife’s major family branches in Michigan. Adams Williams was the patriarch and his wife Betsey […]
