Western Wayne County Genealogical Society
 
Has your membership lapsed?
Rejoining is easy.
See the section on Joining or Renewing below.
 
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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
November 2020
Monday, November 16th      WWCGS General Membership Meeting
 (via Zoom Webinar)   
Guest Speaker:  Sue Cromwell   Sue has been a member of the WWCGS for over 25 years. She is also a member of the Famington Genealogical Society and has served as its president in the past. Sue started her researching back in 1978, and has written eight (8) family history books of her parents' families. She is now researching her husband's families. Most recently, Sue finished a 642 page book about her life story!!!      
Topic: “If You Don't Write It, It Will Be Gone Forever!”
You have done many years of research and have located a lot of information. So what are you going to do with it? You're going to write it down by way of a very readable family story. “ I always do things the easy way, so I can show you how as well”
January 2021
Monday, January 18th       WWCGS General Membership Meeting 
 (via Zoom Webinar)  
Guest Speaker:  Kathryn Lake-Hogan, UE, PLCGS
Kathryn is a Canadian professional genealogist who revels in teaching people how to find their ancestor(s) in Canada. She is the founder and owner of the Canadian-based genealogy business, Looking4Ancestors.

The author of research guides featuring Canadian genealogy, Kathryn has written articles for Family Tree magazine, The In-Depth Genealogist, and the Association of Professional Genealogists journal, APG Quarterly.

Kathryn is the past Dominion Genealogist of the United Empire Loyalist Association of Canada (UELAC), a past board member of the Association of Professional Genealogists, and the past virtual chat coordinator of Canadian Studies with the National Institute of Genealogical Studies.

After having solely hosted, presented, and produced 40 episodes of the weekly webinar series, Genealogy with a Canadian Twist during 2018-2019, Kathryn is now hosting the webinar series on a monthly basis.

Recognized for her knowledge of Canadian genealogy, Kathyrn is a popular speaker and instructor of presentations, workshops, and courses at genealogical conferences, and research institutes including the Ontario Ancestors Genealogical Conference and Family History Show, the National Genealogical Society Family History Conference, the New England Regional Genealogical Conference, the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG), and the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP).

A native of Ontario, Canada, Kathryn Lake Hogan has deep roots in Canada through her Loyalist lineage, as well as ancestry in New England, England and Wales

Topic:  “All Kinds of Loyalists”
During the American Revolutionary War, approximately 35% of the population of the Thirteen Colonies were loyal to King George III of Great Britain. Was your ancestor one of them? If your ancestor sided with the British, he/she was branded a Tory and faced expulsion from the newly formed United States of America at the conclusion of the war. Tips and strategies for researching your Loyalist ancestor will be shared by the Past Dominion Genealogist of the United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada.
 
 
 

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 2020-2021 or are a former member who membership has lapsed, you can easily renew or reactivate your membership. To renew or reactivate 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 Vice-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 Harvey DeWitt to discuss your ideas. 
Upcoming Events
November 11, 2020
7:00 pm to 8:30 pm
November 2020 WWCGS Board Meeting
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November 16, 2020
7:00 pm to 8:45 pm
November 2020 General Membership Meeting
Guest Speaker:  Sue Cromwell          Sue has been a member of the WWCGS for over 25 years. She is also a member of the ...
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January 13, 2021
6:30 pm to 8:45 pm
January 2021 WWCGS Board Meeting
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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.
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.