Western Wayne County Genealogical Society
Current Annual Memberships Expired on May 31st.
If you haven't renewed yet, it's not too late.
Renewals accepted during the "grace period".
 
 


Have You Found Us on Facebook?
 
 
 
Having Trouble Using Member Login or in Accessing Members-Only Areas?
 
Send an email to info@wwcgs.org with "Website Issue" in the subject line and your message will be forwarded for resolution.
 
What's Coming up?
September 2019

Monday, September 9, 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm

WWCGS Transcription Guild - Indexing Work Session
Westland Family History Center
Contact John Mills, Project Leader, to Volunteer
 
Wednesday, September 11, 6:00 pm to 8:45 pm
September 2019 WWCGS Board Meeting
Livonia Civic Center Library
All members invited to attend.
 
Monday, September 16, 6:15 pm to 8:45 pm
September 2019 General Membership Meeting
Livonia Civic Center Senior Center
 
Featured Speaker:  Judy Nimer Muhn
“Seeking a Higher Source: The Records of Faith Communities” - While there are other records that can document a family, the major events of our lives – birth, marriage and death – are often noted through the faiths of our ancestors. Through baptismal, first communion, confirmation, marriage and death records as well as the special ceremonies or roles of our faith traditions (deacon, youth leader, etc.), these resources may be the only ways of finding key dates.
 
Roundtable: Facilitator: Carl Katafiasz / Topics:  The 1950 Census, What's on the LCC Library Genealogical Computer, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission Indices, and, A Look at a Record
 
5:00 PM    Room Setup (Hospitality Team welcomes volunteers to help arrange tables & chairs.)
5:30 PM    Early Bird Special: Bring your dinner & engage with members
6:15 PM    Call to Order; Announcements
6:30 PM    Roundtable Discussions
7:30 PM   Featured Speaker
                                                                 
Monday, September 23, 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
WWCGS Transcription Guild - Indexing Work Session
Westland Family History Center
Contact John Mills, Project Leader, to Volunteer
 
October 2019                                                
Wednesday, October 9, 6:00 pm to 8:45 pm
October 2019 WWCGS Board Meeting
Location: TBA
All members invited to attend.
 
Monday, October 14, 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
WWCGS Transcription Guild - Indexing Work Session
Westland Family History Center
Contact John Mills, Project Leader, to Volunteer
                                                                 
Monday, October 21, 6:15 pm – 8:45 pm
October 2019 General Membership Meeting
Livonia Civic Center Senior Center
Featured Speaker:  Patricia Yocum
 “Getting the Most Out of Ellis Island Passenger Records” - During its peak years of operation, 1892-1924, Ellis Island processed more than 25 million people. Its archive holds nearly triple that number of passenger records covering arrivals from 1820 to 1957. In this talk we will look at the best tools and strategies to use to tap the information troves stored in these digitized records.
 
Roundtable: Facilitator: Carl Katafiasz / (Continuation from September meeting) Topics:  The 1950 Census, What's on the LCC Library Genealogical Computer, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission Indices, and, A Look at a Record
                                                                 
Monday, October 28, 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
WWCGS Transcription Guild - Indexing Work Session
Westland Family History Center
Contact John Mills, Project Leader, to Volunteer
 
November 2019                                                  
Monday, November 11, 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
WWCGS Transcription Guild - Indexing Work Session
Westland Family History Center
Contact John Mills, Project Leader, to Volunteer
Wednesday, November 13, 6:00 pm to 8:45 pm
November 2019 WWCGS Board Meeting
Location: TBA
All members invited to attend.
Monday, November 18, 6:15 pm – 8:45 pm
November 2019 General Membership Meeting
Livonia Civic Center Senior Center
 
Featured Speaker:  Jeff Mason, “Magnificent Land Records and Where to Find Them”-
Roundtable: Facilitator: Steve Schwartz / DNA Painter & Triangulation
 
Monday, November 25, 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
WWCGS Transcription Guild - Indexing Work Session
Westland Family History Center
Contact John Mills, Project Leader, to Volunteer
 


Want to Become a WWCGS Member? Or Need to Renew?

Want to join the WWCGS? It's easy. Just download the form via the link below, complete & sign the form, then return it along with your annual dues payment.
 
If you are already a member but have not renewed your membership yet for 2019-2020, you must do so soon before the grace period expires and you lose your membership rights including access to the members-only sections of this website. To renew your membership simply download the form via the link below, complete & sign the form, and return it along with your annual dues payment.
 


Ways to Get Involved

Want to become more involved with your Society? Here are some ways that you can help make your WWCGS better for everyone:
 
1) Become a part of the Hospitality Committee by:
(a) signing up to be one of two or three members who provide the break-time snacks for a given monthly General Membership Meeting. Action Step: Contact one of the Hospitality Committee Co-Chairs Marge Najarian or Charlotte Neary.
or
(b) volunteering to help arrange tables and chairs prior to a monthly General Membership Meeting. Action Step: Simply show up at the Livonia Senior Center about 5PM on the day of a scheduled Monday membership meeting and seek out Hospitality Committee Logistics Coordinator Raul Rodriguez.
 
2) Attend a monthly board meeting and learn about the planning and work that goes into making your Society what it is. Action Step: Just show up at the Livonia Civic Center Library by 6:30pm on the date of a scheduled board meeting (usually the 2nd Wednesday of the month).
 
3) Join the Cemetery Committee and help with one of its ongoing projects of canvassing, transcribing and/or photographing area cemetery grave markers. Action Step: Contact the Cemetery Committee Chair John Mills.
 
4) Contribute a family history research experience, a special family history photograph, or an interesting story from your family history for publication in the WWCGS newsletter. Action step: Contact Newsletter Chair Harvey DeWitt.
 
5) Join the Query Management Team and help respond to or redirect inquiries received by the Society. Action step: Contact President Mary Hazlett.
 
6) Volunteer as an indexer. There are indexing oportunities through the WWCGS' Transcription Guild Team working in conjunction with the Michigan Archives and FamilySearch.org. The team is scheduling one or two indexing work nights a month at the Westland Family History Center. Action step for Transcription Guild projects: Contact Team Leader John Mills for more details about volunteering.
WWCGS is also involved in genealogy indexing projects at the Livonia Civic Center Library. One library project involves indexing engagement and marriage notices that have appeared in the Livonia Observer newspaper. The newspapers are on microfilm and would require a time commitment of about two hours per work session using a microfilm reader at the Library. There is no minimum nor maximum number of work sessions for which you need to volunteer. Another Library project involves creating surname only indices for genealogical books at the Library for which no such index exists. This work may be done at home. Action step for Library projects: Contact WWCGS Librarian Shirley Connors or send an email to info@wwcgs.org with “Library Volunteer” in the subject line. 
 
7) Volunteering for a Roundtable. This involves simply sharing a personal research story, a brickwall find, or possibly something new you found on a website. An experience shared with others for 20 minutes or more will undoubtively spark questions and comments and make for a very good round table discussion. Examples: Mary Hazlett talked about the WWCGS wewbsite in September, 2018. In November, 2018, Steve Schwartz shared his experiences with census research and how he tracks all the discoveries he's found. In May, 2018, Loretta Dunham shared information on the vast holding of the Monroe County Archives. Action step: Contact President Mary Hazlett to discuss your ideas. 
Upcoming Events
WWCGS Transcription Guild - Indexing Work Session
Monday, Sep. 9th
6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Westland Family History Center
Contact John Mills, Project Leader, to Volunteer
View Full Listing
September 2019 WWCGS Board Meeting
Wednesday, Sep. 11th
6:30 pm to 8:45 pm
Livonia Civic Center Library
  All members invited to attend.
View Full Listing
September 2019 General Membership Meeting
Monday, Sep. 16th
6:15 pm to 8:45 pm
Livonia Civic Center Senior Center
  Featured Speaker:  Judy Nimer Muhn “Seeking a Higher Source: The Records of Faith Communities” - While there are other records that can document ...
View Full Listing
Michigan Research: Washtenaw & adjacent counties: Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan
In doing one's family research, valuable sources to use are local libraries.One such library is U of M's Bentley Historical Library. The library website can be found at http://bentley.umich.edu.
Need more research sources?
Check out the LINKS section of this website. There are nearly 400 links to various resource sites grouped into logical categories. It will be worth your time to see what's there for use now for for later research.
WWCGS General Meetings Open to the Public
Do you have a friend who is interested in genealogy and family history research? The monthly WWCGS General Membership Meetings are open to the public, so invite that friend and bring him or her with you to the next meeting.
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