Showing posts with label Michigan History. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Michigan History. Show all posts

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Another Belated Saturday Night Fun - The Best Genealogy Gift

I am late again in posting my response for this past Saturday's Saturday Night Fun, but I'm going to participate anyway. For this Saturday Night Fun, Randy has challenged other genealogy bloggers to write about their best genealogy Christmas gift. So, what was the best genealogy gift I got?

Well, the gift was a history book, The History of Michigan Law edited by Paul Finkelman and Martin J. Hershock (Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 2006). As you can tell, from the title, the book is on the history of Michigan's laws, although the articles in the book look primarily at important aspects of Michigan law and looks at the law from a social history standpoint. Okay, so the book isn't exactly a genealogy gift, but the articles in the book might assist a genealogist doing research in Michigan. If a research has knowledge of the history of a local area's laws, that researcher may be able to determine if there are any records that might provide potential leads. I haven't had too much time to look at the book, but there appears to be several articles that might be useful in my future research.

(Note, 27 February 2010: I have finally finished this Saturday Night Fun post. I also completed another backlogged Saturday Night Fun post earlier this year, and you can read it here. Enjoy!)

Monday, March 2, 2009

Something To Think About ...

I just happened to notice Brenda's post on the Michigan Grange, and I thought I would mention it since the post reminded me about something I read a few years ago.

Since I had ancestors who were farmers, it is very possible that they were members of teheir local grange, and according to one of the local history books, one of my Detwiler ancestors' son was an officer in the local grange of his area. I did read somewhere a couple of years ago that old grange records might still exist, but unfortunately, I do not remember where I read about it. Either way, the article I read mentioned that records would probably be held by the state's Agriculture college (or a college originally founded to study agriculture science), and in Michigan's case that would be Michigan State University. I suppose that it is something for me to look into, but I haven't had a chance to find out whether or not that information is true. When I get a chance to investigate the possiblity, I will let everyone know what I have learned. Stay tuned ...

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Has the Griffin Been Found?

I just learned about a court fight over a shipwreck that might be the Griffin from Brenda's post. For those who don't know, the Griffin was one of the first European-style ships to sink in the Great Lakes in 1679, and since the ship sank, people have been searching for it. At the moment, I have not decided what I think about this story, but I might post my thoughts about this case later.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

A Little Update on That Michigan History Article ...

I just want to give everyone an update on the history article for Michigan that I was going to post on this blog. I am unsure if I will actually post an article because I have decided to turn this idea into a book, but I might post something. At the moment, I have just begun to do research on the topic, and I don't know when I will finish my research. I might post some more updates on the topic in the future. I just thought I would let everyone know.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Poll Results For the Michigan History Poll!

The poll on the time periods of Michigan history is now closed, and the results are in. The question for this poll was, "Which time periods in Michigan's history interest you?" Four people voted, and the results are:
  • Pre-1763 - 0 votes
  • 1763-1796 - 0 votes
  • 1796-1837 - 0 votes
  • 1837-1865 - 3 votes
  • 1865 - 1900 - 3 votes
  • 1900 - Present - 1 vote

It looks like I'll be focusing on a time period between 1837 and 1900 for a few of articles on Michigan's history. I think my first article will be on the 1871 fires in Michigan, and I will post that article some time next year. Stay tuned for this article and others to come! Enjoy!

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Michigan History: Fires ...

I just happened to notice Jasia's post about fires that occurred in Michigan during the late-1800s. If anyone wants to know more, I could certainly do research on this topic, and post an article next year on this topic. If you're interested in this topic, please let me know. Thanks.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Another New Poll!

I've just created a new poll to determine which eras in Michigan's history interest my readers. I probably will not be posting any articles on Michigan's history until next year, but I want to find out what my readers would be interested in reading, so that I can start to do research on topics from a time period.

Here are the choices for time periods:
  • Pre-1763
  • 1763-1796
  • 1796-1837
  • 1837-1865
  • 1865-1900
  • 1900-Present

As to how I chose the time periods, I just focused on different time periods that I thought would work well for this poll. I don't know if historians would divide Michigan's history in the way I did, but the first three time periods were chosen based upon when Michigan was a colony of the French and the British, when the United States gained control of Michigan, and when Michigan became a state. You can choose more than one time period for this poll. Enjoy!