Downriver Genealogical Society

Prohibition’s Proving Ground: Cops, Cars and Rumrunners in the Toledo-Detroit-Windsor Corridor with Joseph Boggs
2022-06-15 19:00 - 21:00 (America/Detroit) | Copeland Center, 2306 Fourth Street, Wyandotte, Michigan, 48192
Do you like stories about booze, cars, cops, and crime? Then join Joe Boggs, the author of a new book called Prohibition’s Proving Ground, as he shares how prohibition enforcement and automobile culture collided on the Toledo-Detroit-Windsor corridor. With a special emphasis on the Downriver area, the presentation will focus on how our region’s automobile boom significantly aided local rumrunners but challenged those responsible for enforcing dry laws.

Joseph Boggs will bring his book to sell & sign for a discounted price of $20.

DRGS Annual Pot Luck Dinner
2022-06-15 17:15 - 19:00 | Copeland Center, 2306 Fourth Street, Wyandotte, Michigan, 48192
Setup at 5:15 pm
Doors open at 5:30 pm
Dinner starts at 6:00 pm
The meeting and program (below) begin at 7:00 pm

The DGS Annual Pot Luck Dinner returns on Wednesday, June 15, 2022, before our evening presentation. Sign-up sheets will be available at our meetings before the pot-luck to track each member’s bringing so we do not end up with all desserts! The society will provide chicken, and we ask members to bring a dish to pass.

DRGS Used Book Sale
2022-06-07 13:00 - 2022-06-09 18:00 | DRGS Library, 28639 Division St., Flat Rock, MI, 48134, United States
June 7, 8, and 9, 2022, from 1 PM to 6 PM each day.
At DRGS Library and hallway, inside Flat Rock Schools Admin Building.

Hardcover and softcover books and pamphlets
Research volumes and DRGS publications
Local city, county, and church histories
Local Cemetery books
Free will donation

28639 Division St. at Gibraltar Rd.
Flat Rock, MI 48134
Enter from the north door by the gym.

Polar Bears of WWI with Mike Grobbel
2022-05-18 19:00 - 21:00 | Copeland Center, 2306 Fourth Street, Wyandotte, Michigan, 48192
One hundred and four years ago during the winter of 1918-1919, 5,200 U.S. soldiers – the majority of them from Michigan – were stranded in a sub-arctic region of North Russia, engaged in bitter combat with the Bolshevik Red Army. They had arrived in Archangel, Russia on September 4, 1918, and their battles continued long after the Armistice was signed on November 11th. Eventually, they were withdrawn from this obscure military intervention in June of 1919, but not before 230 men lost their lives. Today the “Polar Bears” are no longer with us, but they and their service to our country have not been forgotten. Their war dead are memorialized with a monument at White Chapel Cemetery in Troy, MI, where they are remembered annually with a Memorial Day service conducted by the Polar Bear Memorial Association. Mike Grobbel, president of the Polar Bear Memorial Association, tells the story of the men of the American North Russia Expeditionary Force. Mike is the grandson of a “Polar Bear” and his presentation will draw on the historical records and experiences of veterans of that campaign, plus his own experiences during a 2018 visit to the former front lines in northern Russia.
This presentation was originally scheduled for October.

Wyandotte at War – A Michigan Town Fights Back in WWII with Alana Paluszewski
2022-04-20 19:00 - 21:00 | Copeland Center, 2306 Fourth Street, Wyandotte, Michigan, 48192
Her book was released in July 2021. It is a non-fiction account of the activities of Wyandotte residents before, during, and after WWII. Over 2,200 of our citizens served in the military and thousands more fought the battle on the home front. Wyandotte lost at least 143 men during the war, and this book chronicles the sacrifice of Wyandotte’s warriors along with the challenges of our hometown heroes.
She will bring her book to sell and sign.

The Potato Famine & The Coming of the Irish to America with Terence O'Leary
2022-03-16 19:00 - 21:00 | Copeland Center, 2306 Fourth Street, Wyandotte, Michigan, 48192
Ireland awoke to the beginning of the Great Hunger in 1845. Experience the heartbreaking stories of the Irish during the 5 long years of the Potato Famine. While it was a time of great injustice when more than 1 million Irish died, it also became a tragic blessing for over 1 million Irish who fled to America and survived. As an Irish storyteller, Mr. O’Leary’s quest is to keep the famine story alive and acquaint modern-day Irish-Americans with the tragic but also the triumphant history of our Irish ancestors.

Terence O’Leary will be bringing and signing his Irish Crossings books. The books are $12.99 each. Two books are $22.99 and the Irish Crossings Trilogy is $32.99.

New York’s Burned-over District: Revival, Reform and the Migration to Michigan with Jim Craft
2022-02-16 19:00 - 21:00 | Copeland Center, 2306 Fourth Street, Wyandotte, Michigan, 48192
It is generally recognized by even casual students of Michigan history that many of the state’s early settlers came from western New York. It is rarely appreciated, however, that this region of New York, known as the Burned-over District, played a central role in the great religious revival that swept the country in the first half of the 19th Century. Nor is it recognized that this “Second Great Awakening”, particularly as it evolved in western New York, set the stage for social and political reforms that led directly to six Constitutional Amendments, the Civil War and shaped how much of the country responded to the industrialization and urbanization of America in the 19th and early 20th Centuries. From Jackson Prison to Kellogg’s Corn Flakes and the birth of the Republican Party, ante bellum Michigan was greatly impacted by the events which occurred in Burned-over District in the 1820s and 1830s. Jim Craft will discuss the causes and course of this significant but underappreciated aspect of Michigan and American history.
He will bring his book to sell for $10 and sign

Eloise with Tyler Moll
2022-01-19 19:00 - 21:00 | Copeland Center, 2306 Fourth Street, Wyandotte, Michigan, 48192
Eloise has a long and interesting history spanning more than 130 years. He will be covering the founding of the Wayne County poorhouse and seeing its evolution into an asylum, tuberculosis sanitarium, and general hospital among many other uses. The Wayne County house, later known as Eloise, would become one of the largest facilities of its type in the country. At its peak over 10,000 people lived and worked there, yet within 40 years of this, the Wayne county house would close completely and be abandoned. We will see the rise and fall of Eloise, the Wayne County Poorhouse and Asylum.

Weird Downriver - Curiosities and Little Known Stories from Downriver with Jakki Malnar
2021-11-17 19:00 - 21:00 | Copeland Center, 2306 Fourth Street, Wyandotte, Michigan, 48192
Whether you are new to local history or an old pro, this program will have something for you. Join us to learn about Slocum’s “Island”, Death by Tuna, Wyandotte’s own DB Cooper and much more. While the Speaker, Jakki Malnar, is in the building she requires everyone to be masked. In order for everyone to hear her properly, she will be unmasked during her presentation. If you can’t or won’t wear a mask, you will not be allowed to attend this presentation.
While the Speaker, Jakki Malnar, is in the building, she requires everyone to be masked. In order for everyone to hear her properly, she will be unmasked during her presentation. If you can’t or won’t wear a mask, you will not be allowed to attend this presentation.
This program has been rescheduled from October 20.

DRGS Beginners Genealogy Workshop 101
2021-10-21 18:00 - 19:30 | Bacon Memorial District Library, 45 Vinewood, Wyandotte, Michigan, 48192
A class for beginners covering five-generation charts, family group sheets, research logs, vital records, and census records.
Space is limited. Please register by e-mailing Sherry at GENEGAL26@YAHOO.COM

The Erie Canal with Gary Rembisz
2021-10-20 19:00 | Copeland Center, 2306 Fourth Street, Wyandotte, Michigan, 48192
The Erie Canal is America’s first superhighway, over 364 miles long. It was built without steam power and through the Adirondack Mountains, up and down hills, massive boulders, and uprooting giant trees. How did they get all the water to the canal and keep it in? How did they make water run uphill? It was built with picks and shovels and muscle and blood, and an American dream.

Membership sharing
2021-09-15 19:00 | Copeland Center, 2306 Fourth Street, Wyandotte, Michigan, 48192
We are back in person at Copeland Center! Our program invites members to speak on findings, research, relics, family stories, or any other genealogy-related story you would like to share with our group. It’s been a long year, and we are excited to see you again. Depending on the number of people who wish to speak, we may limit time at the podium to 5 minutes.
