Welcome to our site! Here you will find plenty of free genealogy and history. We are a
volunteer staffed organization affliated with USGenWeb®. New volunteers and
information submissions are always welcome. It is with great
sadness we announce our state coordinator, Jan Cortez, passed away in
April 2022. The county sites she managed are now available for adoption.
Colleen Pustola is our new state coordinator.
Michigan, from the Ojibwe word meaning
large water or large lake, was originally primarily the home of
the Native American tribes known as the Three Fires: Ojibwe
(Chippewa), Odawa (Ottawa), and Pottawatomi. Other smaller
Michigan tribes were the Mascoutin, Menominee, Miami, Sauk, Fox, and
Wyandot. The first European to enter Michigan was
French voyageur Etienne Brule in 1622. French
missionaries followed with Father Marquette founding the first
settlement in Michigan at Sault Sainte Marie in 1668. Detroit
was founded in 1701. Michigan had few settlers until the opening of
the Erie Canal in 1825. The population then quickly grew and
Michigan became the 26th state on January 26, 1837.
