DRGS Library

Library Hours

Our Society Library is open Tuesday from 9 am until 1 pm, and Thursday from 10 am until 2 pm. Please call the library, (734) 535-6530 with any questions or to confirm hours.

The Downriver Genealogical Society (DRGS) Library is open all year except for holidays and weather-related school closings. We follow the Flat Rock Community Schools calendar. We are usually closed during Winter Break, Spring Break, the week of the 4th of July, the week of Thanksgiving, the week of Christmas, and the week of New Year’s. Please see the DRGS home page for specific dates as they come up.

You may also e-mail the DRGS Library at info@downrivergenealogy.org.

Library Location

The Library collection is housed at the Flat Rock School Administration Building, Room 100, 28639 Division St, Flat Rock, Michigan. Wi-Fi is available on the library computers.

Library Holdings

• Family histories, both professionally published and privately done by our members.
• Ancestry chart books published by the Downriver Genealogical Society..
• Death records (indexes and/or transcriptions) Wyandotte (1897-1998), Ford City (1906-1922), Taylor (Aug 1897-Jan 1952), and River Rouge (1901-1928).
• Various downriver cemeteries.
• Materials on the seventeen communities encompassed by the Downriver Genealogical Society.
• City directories for selected downriver communities.
• Detroit Polk city directories from 1867-1941.
• Death notices and obituaries.
• Marriage, anniversary, and engagement notices from local newspapers.
• Early Woodmere Cemetery transcriptions done by our society (1868-1894).
• Complete Holy Cross Cemetery transcriptions done by our society, with an index.
• Research guides, genealogy how-tos, military materials, immigration, passenger lists, and many national and local genealogical periodicals.
• European research materials.
• Materials for French Canadian research – including Tanguay, Denissen, and Jette’.
• Many local school yearbooks and some church yearbooks.
• The Germans to America series (1840-1897).
• The Italians to America series (1880-1905).
• The Emigration from the United Kingdom series (1870-1881).
• Over two hundred indexed title abstracts (a title abstract is a history of the purchase and sale of a specific parcel of land).
• Birth notices, mostly taken from newspapers (1945-2009).
• St. Francis Xavier Baptisms, with index (1848-1922).
• Ballheim and Thons Funeral Home transcriptions.
• Indexed articles regarding World War II service personnel.

Digitized Downriver Newspapers – Phase One includes those newspapers that are smaller in size and were scanned using our existing equipment. These Phase One newspapers are now available to search and view on the Library computer. These papers include:

• • 
    Allen Parker
  • 
    Brownstown Times
  • 
    Lincoln Parker
  • 
    Melvindale Messenger
  • 
    Southgate Sentinel
  • 
    Taylor Tribune
  • 
    Woodhaven Times
  • 
    Wyandotte Independent

• Phase 1: News-Herald, March 1987-July 1990. These newspapers consist of the weekend editions of eight newspapers that debuted Downriver when The Mellus and the News-Herald newspapers merged on March 8, 1987.
• • The Allen Parker 1987-1990
  • The Brownstown Times 1987-1990
  • The Lincoln Parker 1987-1990
  • The Melvindale Messenger 1987-1990
  • The Southgate Sentinel 1987-1990
  • The Taylor Tribune 1987-1990
  • The Trenton Times 1978
  • The Woodhaven Times 1985, 1987-1990
  • The Woodhaven Weekender 1964
  • The Wyandotte Independent 1987-1990

• Phase 2: Ile Camera, May 1945 – July 2003 & 2007-2011. This phase consists of the Ile Camera newspaper of Grosse Ile, Michigan.

• Phase 3: Wyandotte Tribune 1947 – 1961. This newspaper covers Wyandotte, Michigan, and touches other nearby downriver communities.

• Phase 4: Ecorse Advertiser/River Rouge Herald 1947 – 1984. The Ecorse Advertiser and the River Rouge Herald merged in 1972. These communities remained the main focus of this newspaper.