Welcome to GSWC!

The Genealogical Society of Washtenaw County, Michigan (GSWC) welcomes anyone interested in genealogy and local history, whether they are beginning or more experienced family history researchers. Attending GSWC meetings will help you to keep current in the world of genealogy. Thank you for visiting the GSWC website. We hope your visit will be productive and that you will return often.

We publish a quarterly journal called Family History Capers and hold eight general meetings with a business meeting and program from September to May. Starting in the fall of 2025 we will facilitate small group discussions following the program meeting. Each group will have an assigned GSWC facilitator. Individuals attending via Zoom will have the option to participate by joining a breakout room in Zoom. Please see About Meetings for new content on readiness skills for Zoom meetings with breakout rooms.

Our website features an extensive list of Washtenaw County and Michigan research links and resources; databases; and indexes. Washtenaw Research is our most important page, with twenty categories and its own page navigation. The Bible registry has over two thousand surnames and over nine thousand individual names. The library catalog has over two thousand books. Members have added over three hundred names to the surnames database. Every issue of Family History Capers has been indexed to the best of our ability. Public Downloads has forms, handouts, and reports.

We invite you to explore the site. Please see About Our Website for navigation notes.

Browse the categories on the Washtenaw Research page and click on some links. Email a member directly from Members Surnames by clicking on the envelope icon by a name. Filter the records in the Library Catalog by name, subject, or location. If you need a library look-up, please submit a request to the research committee, which meets every Monday at the library. Contact the research team to arrange for a visit to the library.

Membership Renewal

Membership renewal time has arrived! Our fiscal year runs from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025. Please note that after 30 July 2025 your access to the members only part of the website will be blocked until you renew.

Changes have been made to our website, helping to make it more useful to you! Once you go to the washtenawgenealogy.org website home page, look for the RENEW NOW button found near the bottom of the list on the left-hand side of the homepage. Follow the instructions there for renewing ONLINE (easier for us) or to renew via PRINTED FORM mailed to our PO Box.

GSWC Hybrid Meeting September 28, 2025 1:30PM

After the brief business meeting starting at 1:30pm Katherine R. Willson will present, via Zoom, "Easily Citing Your Genealogical Sources: A Roadmap of Your Research." Unlock the power of properly citing your genealogical sources to enhance the credibility of your findings. Effortlessly track down the same information again, confidently compare it with any new discoveries, and guide others to the exact sources that shaped your family history research.

After a brief intermission, we will organize into small groups in the auditorium area and breakout rooms on Zoom. The topic today is "Brick Walls" and members are invited to share their stories. A GSWC facilitator will be assigned to each small group.

How do I get a link to join the Zoom meeting? Members will receive an email invitation to register for the meeting about a week prior. Non-members, please send a request to register to info@washtenawgenealogy.org (must be received by *September 25*). Registration is not required to attend in person at Trinity Health Ann Arbor. Please see www.washtenawgenealogy.org > About Us > About Meetings for more information.

Family History Capers - Current Issue

Volume 48 - Issue 3. April 1, 2025. Contents include Washtenaw County Rural School History Series Bridgewater Township Schools (Part One); Six Degrees of Separation from the Genealogical Society of Washtenaw County; John H. Bradford Family Bible Record; Washtenaw County Farm Bureau and Washtenaw Junior Farm Bureau Membership 1944 (Part Three); Books added to the GSWC library in December 2024; The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek: A Novel (book review).

To read the current issue of Capers online, first log in. Then, select Capers Current Issue under *Members* in the menu. To read older issues go to Washtenaw Research > Capers Archive. To find a copy of Family History Capers at a library near you open WorldCat list.

Become a Member!

Membership in GSWC will give you full access to society collections by unlocking member-only indexes, databases, cemetery records, and archives. It will open up opportunities for you to meet like-minded people who will hear you. As a member you can help grow our surname database and receive messages from others with similar lines. As a member you can help us to maintain high quality programming and website content. You can help to ensure the continuation of our society and to shape its future.

Our work is done entirely by volunteers. We have projects you may be interested in, as listed on the Volunteer page. Whether your skill set lies in writing, editing, speaking, teaching, research, administration, marketing, cataloging, indexing, data entry, or field work (reading gravestones! photography!) you can find your special niche here. Or, try something new! Join us and experience the satisfaction of helping others.

Become a Donor!

Give to GSWC

Click on "Donate to GSWC" in the main menu to open the new donation form. If you are logged in, the fields will populate with the information in your membership profile.
You can choose to give by check with a mail-in form or online with PayPal or credit card.
- If by check with a mail-in form, you will be able to generate a mail-in form to print and enclose with a personal check.
- If online, you will be able to generate an invoice to save for your records and give online with PayPal or credit card.

Give to Michigan History Foundation/Archives Fund

Click on "Donate to Mich History" in the main menu to open the donations page for the Archives Fund.

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