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Welcome to MIGenWeb

     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. 

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Michigan's History

     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. 
 

    State Coordinator: Colleen Pustola
Archives/Assistant State Coordinator: Wayne Summers